Heartfelt Valentine's Day Leis
We love this gorgeous Valentine's Day heart lei by guest blogger Marie LeBaron featured on Craftzine!
Made using paper hearts, a hole punch, straws, and string, this festive lovely lei can be decorated with personal sayings or decorations and given out as a valentine to friends, or simply used for some fun, Valentine's Day playtime. What an easy and inexpensive neat idea for a craft project that can double as a gift -- so long, store bought valentines!
Shake It Up
If you've got a little one who just loves to make some noise, don't miss out on these easy peasy DIY Valentine's Day shakers by No Time For Flashcards.
A quick and easy project for small hands, these cool homemade shakers are made with paper plates, paint, a Ziploc bag, and fun pom poms and jingle bells. And for the younger musicians out there that can't resist putting things in their mouths, Mama Alison recommends using ripped paper and dry rice as safe, yet still fun, alternatives. Check out the full post for the full tutorial and great tips on making your own Valentine's Day noise shaker.
Queen of Hearts
Filth Wizardry shares an excellent tutorial on how they put their garage's leftover cardboard to good use by letting the kiddos craft it into Valentine's Day heart crowns.
An equally neat idea for seasonal creative-play fun, these dazzling crowns are a great Valentine's Day art project for all ages. Simply set up a table with paint, old cardboard, and a variety of "crown jewels," and you've got one fun party on your hands for this year's pint-sized Valentine's Day royalty.
Recycling Love
Mama Lisa from Good Knits explains how she made these beautiful recycled heart crayons for her son's Valentine's Day party favors one year at school. And if your home has plenty of old crayons that are no longer used, consider turning them into some new multicolored favorites!
To get started, simply choose the colors of your liking and break them up into individual tins to get a colorful new crayon. Note: Lisa admits that though many of the tutorials she saw recommended using an aluminum pan, she had much better luck with a silicone shaped pan.
Stuck on You
These Valentine's Day heart magnets from Red Bird Crafts are absolutely adorable -- and they can be used year-round on the fridge for much-loved artwork!
To make your own, Mama Emily says that you'll want to have acrylic paint, wooden circles, magnets, and hot glue on hand. For her decorative and colorful hearts, she carved her own heart stamp -- and also includes how to easily do so in this post. Pair your lovely new magnets with a homemade decorated bag, and you've got a fun, DIY Valentine's Day gift that can continue to be used in years to come.
Valentine's Day Accessories
We love these fun "sweetie sunglasses" offered up on Mom Tried It -- and we have a feeling that your tots will agree!
Simply made using colorful craft foam and pipe cleaners, these super cool homemade shades are sure to inspire plenty of dress-up play fun this Valentine's Day! Also a great idea for festive party favors, these crafty sunglasses are a great art project for children of all ages. Check out the full post for included tips on making a decorated envelope to hold each pair of glasses.
Color-Me Carnations
Loralee Lewis shows us just how easy it is to take plain white daisies or carnations from the market and turn them into dazzling, vibrant colors... By only adding food coloring!
Your children will love watching the flower dramatically change in color as they simply drop the food coloring into the bottom of the flowers' water vase. Overall, a neat Valentine's Day project for both kids and adults -- and one that is sure to make youre living room shine with color!
Super Sweet Jewelry
Se7en includes a great Valentine's Day ideas round-up, but it was this "sweet heart" homemade candy necklace that totally won us over.
To make your own, simply string up some favorite sweet jelly candies on a wire and treat your beloved to a delightful Valentine's Day snack! Check out the full post for the quick and easy tutorial.
Tugs at the Heart Strings
Little Birdie Secrets has an excellent idea for making heart strings that can be used for Valentine's Day garlands, necklaces, or fun and festive decorations. Gotta love crafts that can be used in a variety of ways!
To doll up their own strands o' hearts, Little Birdie Secrets used a variety of cute buttons, a heart punch, rhinestones, glitter glue, and assorted paper -- but the options are truly endless with what you could potentially use. We also love the hearts punched from music scores -- such a unique and beautiful idea!
Heartfelt Handprints
Here is a cute and clever "heart" project that is the perfect craft for smaller hands! A neat idea for a Valentine's Day gift for family, we can't get enough of BKids Crafts' handprint heart artwork.
To get started on your own, paint your child's closed fists with the color of your choice and just stamp it onto a background paper for an easy and memorable Valentine's Day art piece! All in all, one idea that works equally well as a keepsake or a crafty project for kids.
Paper Pretty
Seattle mama blogger Blair of Wise Craft shares this adorable tutorial for making Valentine's Day hearts out of colorful tissue paper.
A perfect craft project for younger children, these homemade bright and beautiful hearts only require construction paper, glue and some tissue paper. Easy! And not to mention, these hearts would work great as school valentines, home decorations or just some fun, weekend artwork.
DIY Bouquet Beauties
We cannot get enough of Maya*Made's fantastic paper flower bouquets! In her excellent tutorial, Maya shows how she used a homemade potato stamp to make her heart petals on newspaper and brown butcher paper.
Punch in some holes for pipe cleaner stringing, add a cute button and you've got a beautiful Valentine's Day bouquet that is ready to be shared with your special valentine. Tip: This lovely crafty bouquet could be an excellent, thoughtful gift for teachers!
Play Dough Love
No Time for Flash Cards' features this neat idea for making play dough cupcakes -- a perfect treat for a February birthday party or Valentine's Day party favor!
Simply make or buy some colorful play dough and turn them into pretend cupcakes. Top them with a homemade paper heart pick and viola -- you've got yourself a pretend play Valentine's Day cupcake party!
Glittery Goodness
Skip to My Lou's Cindy fairly warns, "...if you don't LOVE glitter stop reading!" -- but these hanging glitter hearts are sure to make any home sparkle this year for Valentine's Day.
Cleverly made using cereal and cracker boxes, these hearts only require glue, glitter, and a little fancy sewing on Mom's part before they're ready to be strung around your home for the Valentine's Day festivities. Cindy also notes that she placed the hearts between parchment paper and under books to keep them flat as they finished drying. Fantastic!
Waxy Wonderful
Here We Are Together includes a sweet tutorial on how they taught their little ones to make wax-painted Valentine's Day hearts for pretty window decorations -- and we love the stained glass look!
Though the painting and wax dripping is easy enough, Mama Kate-Abigail warns to use caution while letting younger children drip the lit candles and to make sure that all hair is out of the way. Tip: If you feel uncomfortable with a younger child using the lit candle, let them do all of the painting and direct you on the color choices of the wax and where the wax should be dripped. Other than that, hang your festive new hearts and enjoy!
