Valentine's Crafts with Kids by Hannah Prismon

Valentine’s Day has to be one of my favorite holidays for crafting. It’s romantic, a little frilly and it’s a great opportunity to talk about love with your kids while you're making something special for someone special. Here are some projects we’ve been working on at our house.

1) Handprint Heart

Since this is the first Valentine’s I’ve had three kids, I wanted to do something personal to commemorate the occasion. Since I’m a sucker for anything with my kid’s handprints, I decided to make a sign with all three of their prints in the shape of a heart. I mixed a dark pink for my oldest son’s print, mixed a little white in my paint for my middle son’s print and added a bit more white for my baby girl’s print. Then I painted a rough heart in white around all the prints. If I had it to do over, I definitely would have waited until my husband got home to help get her to hold her hand out flat! Still, it worked out! You could also do this with your own handprints above your child’s or do their hands and feet together. I made mine on wood, but you could do this on white canvas, burlap canvas or on the back of the glass from a picture frame.

2) Heart Box

I have to give all the credit to my Kindergartener for this one. We were walking through the craft store and he saw these paper heart boxes and told me he’d like to make a box for his teacher for Valentine’s. When we got home I gave him the option of covering it with tissue paper and Mod Podge or with washi tape. He chose the washi tape and I think it came out really cute! If you have a kiddo like mine who doesn’t seem to be that much into making crafts, try taking them to the craft store with you and letting them pick out something to make. You might be surprised how inspired they get when they see all of the fun supplies!

3) Window Hearts

We have this 9-paned window in our front door, and in the fall we gathered leaves and stuck them to contact paper to cover the panes. They look neat with the light shining through them and they make a good privacy screen, too! Right now we’re working on some new designs for Valentine’s Day by cutting out hearts from tissue paper and sticking them to the contact paper. You could use a variety of colors of paper for the hearts or use confetti or glitter to decorate. Get creative! This is a simple craft that even the littlest hands can help create.

Have a LOVEly time crafting!
Hannah

The Hill of Calvary Easter Craft

Here is a super cute craft to do with your little ones to teach them about the Resurrection.  Here is the link (thanks Angie).

Craft Love

From Kelly Nishi:

Hey moms! Looking for some valentine's Day crafts to do with your little ones this week? Here are some easy ideas that even the littlest ones will enjoy!

Mini Mailboxes



Supplies:
- Mini mailboxes
- Decorative paper
- Mod Podge
- Alphabet stamps
- White cardstock
- Glue
- Felt hearts
- Paint
- Wooden candlesticks

Trace the fronts of your mini-mailboxes onto sheets of decorative paper, then cut out and use ModPodge to attach to mailbox fronts. While ModPodge is drying, paint wooden candlesticks in desired colors and set aside to dry. Once mailboxes are dry, cut heart shapes out of red felt and use hot glue gun to attach to fronts of mailboxes, on top of decorative paper. Use alphabet stamps to stamp names on white cardstock, cut cardstock in small banner shapes, and glue each name on top of felt hearts. Add additional trim to front of each mailbox, if desired, then use a glue gun to attach mailboxes to candlesticks. Even the youngest kid will love opening and closing the mailboxes to fill them with family valentines!

Heart Garland



Supplies:
Watercolor paper
Food coloing
Water
Paintbrush
Heart punch
Twine
Tape

Brush water onto your watercolor paper, the more the better. Then, before the water dries, add your food color drops. A few drops go a long way. Let dry. Once dry, use the heart punch to make your cutouts. Measure the amount of twine you’ll need so your garland will be centered. Tape your hearts to your twine. Hang up and enjoy!


Too complicated? Try making heart stamps with your toddler out of a toilet paper roll!



Or, try this cute valentine with just some paint and a marker!



Whatever you do this valentine's day, I hope you give your family a squeeze and tell them you love them! Happy Valentine's Day!!

ADVENT CALENDAR IDEAS!!

Hope everyone enjoyed  making their Advent calendars! It was a fun project to do!  I loved watching everyones personalities come out  while making them- from the precise engineer to the free flowing, non-perfect Artist- each one was different but all reflected their creator ! Below are a few links to ideas you can use for your advent calendars.True story of Christmas- Re-usable advent,
Free Advent Activity Printables, Free Advent printable Verse Cards. Enjoy!
- Kacey

Christmas Gift Ideas That Bless The World

Hey Girls,
Finding cute, thoughtful gifts isn't always easy.  We wanted to pass on a few ideas that are really beautiful and would bless the gift receiver and help change the world.  fashionABLE is a non-profit business that sells scarfs.  What makes these scarfs really special is they are made by African women living in poverty.  Buying scarfs provides these women with jobs.  When you buy the scarf you also get a little note with the story of the woman that made the scarf, which is really neat.  Here is one of their products:

Another company is call Bajalia Trading Company.  They sell jewelry, accessories, art, baskets and other products made by people from worn-torn countries China, India, Afghanistan and Africa.  They are committed to providing fair wages and employment opportunities to places in the world that are economically disadvantaged.  Here is some of their jewelry:

  

Happy Shopping!!!

We're Goin' On a Leaf Hunt

I grew up in Southern California where there really isn't seasons.  Okay, there are some changes, in about late December, some of the deciduous (SAT word, oh ya!) trees do change colors, but nothing like Colorado or really any other cooler climate place.  My first REAL season change in Colorado was fall.  I had never experienced a real fall, where leaves actually change in October and the weather cools down instead of warming up which is the usual trend in the Orange County area (granted in Colorado that can be the trend, too).  Who would have thought?  Cool weather and beautiful orange, yellow and red leaves were not just in books.  :) I love fall!

Walking in this new wonderland is one of my favorite things to do with my kids.  We take along a bucket and collect all of these wonderful leaves until our bucket is full.

Then we go home and make some fun leaf crafts with our bounty of colorful leaves. My personal favorite is a handprint tree.  

First gather a 12x18 piece of white or light blue construction paper, some brown paint, regular white glue, a paint brush and your leaves. 

Paint your child's hand and about half of his or her forearm with the brown paint.  This is a great sensory activity and is fun interesting to see if he or she is ticklish or if it has a calming affect. 

Press your child's hand and forearm gently down on the construction paper, making sure his or her finger's are spread apart. 

Now you have a tree trunk.  Take the white glue and the leaves you collected and let your child glue on the leaves to the paper. 

This is a great activity for 2+, but you can still go on a leaf hunt with children younger than that.  After collecting the leaves, dump them into a tub (even a small plastic shoebox will work) and let them crinkle and crunch!  Oh what fun!

Enjoy!

-Allie