Valentine's Day "Work"

I LOVE setting up Valentine's Day "work" for our girls' Montessori shelves.  They have been excited by all of the new additions!  Here's one simple work that E(2) has enjoyed...



She puts the toothpicks in the shaker.  She got a little frustrated that they leaned to the side, but she handled it well.




O(5) also enjoyed completing this work.  She calls this type of work a "relaxing work."




The Valentine's toothpicks are cupcake decorations that came with a pack of cupcake liners from Dollar General.

Valentine's Cards...a little late!

O made many, many Valentine's cards over the past month.  Most of them were for Elliott, E, and I.  She also made a couple for her grandparents that turned out very cute.  We're good about getting cards made, but not so good about sending them.  She finally gave this card to her Guhguh today. 


We had a lot of fun making these cards together.  She made one for me, too, but we are going to put pics of the girls in the cupcake liners (so it's still not finished). 

Valentine's Day Cheerio Treats

The girls and I made these Valentine's Day Cheerio treats yesterday, and they are DELICIOUS!

We melted the butter (about 3 tablespoons) and mini marshmallows (about 3/4 of a bag) using the microwave.  Then we poured in the Cheerios a little at at time and stirred.  I didn't measure how much Cheerios we used...we just kept adding more until it looked right.




We then added in Valentine's Day m and m's.  Yum!




I pressed the mixture in a glass dish and let them sit over night.



This morning I cut them using metal cookie cutters.  This was NOT easy to do, and it definitely would only work with metal cookie cutters. 

There is only one Cheerio treat left...I'm so tempted to eat it, but I guess I'll be nice and divide it with Elliott and the kids in the morning.

Heart Crayon Valentines

O and I finally finished making the Valentine's for her class today.  The idea for these crayon heart Valentine's came from Family Fun. 

First, we soaked the crayons in hot water.  This was the best idea ever, and it worked beautifully.  Last time we made number/letter crayons, we just peeled the paper off the crayons, and it was a painful nightmare. 





We then broke the crayons into little pieces and put them into a heart silicone tray (I think it came from the dollar section of Target a few years ago).




I baked the crayons on 275 for 20 minutes, and let them cool and harden in the oven so that the colors wouldn't mix when I moved them.  I cut out circles and wrote "You color my world!" on them.  O wrote her friends' names on the backs of the cards.  We attached the crayons to the cards using double sided foam tape. 



O is very proud of her Valentines, so I hope that her friends will like them!

No-Sew Gnomes for Valentine's Day

I wasn't going to make handmade gifts for the girls for Valentine's Day this year...until I saw these heart gnomes on The Crafty Crow.  They looked simple enough, and I made a few changes to make them even simpler! 




 
I printed the pattern from Wee Folk Art and got to work! 




I realized about halfway into this that I should take pics for a tutorial.  The room was pretty dark, so the pics aren't the best.

Here are a few of the pieces cut from wool blend felt (bought from Prairie Point Junction...I have lots leftover from the felt fairyland that I made for O's 4th bday). 




I glued the felt to the wooden people using Aleene's No-Sew Glue 4 oz (I love this glue!).





I then glued the cape to the person.  I held it in place for a few seconds.  I thought that I would need to pin it, but it stayed in place with no problems.




I put a line of glue down the side of the hat and rolled it to the right shape.  I used clips to hold it in place for about 10 minutes before attaching it to the gnome's head.




I drew hearts on the felt using a disappearing ink fabric pen and cut out the hearts.  I glued one heart to each gnome, and then glued the hats to their heads.  Done!  It was nice to start and finish a project in one night...a rarity around here!

I like the look of the gnomes much better when the edge of the felt is blanket stitched.  However, the kids won't notice or care, and I was in a hurry, so this worked for me! 

 Last year, I made no-sew fortune cookies for the girls, and the year before that I made heart shaped felt sugar cookies.  I'm glad that I made these last minute gnomes, or I surely would have regretted slacking on the handmade gifts...or maybe not as I'm trying to filter out much of the stuff that clutters our home and lives :)

A Basket Full of Valentine's Day Card Making Supplies

O really enjoyed making Valentine's day cards when we were at G and G's house this weekend, so when we got home I put together this basket of card making supplies for her...she was THRILLED and got right to work! 





In the basket are Valentine's Day stickers, a heart puncher, a glue stick, scissors, cookie cutter (to use as stencils, red and pink contruction paper, white cardstock, heart doilies (from the dollar section at Target), folded construction paper with a half heart drawn on the side (so she can independently and successfully cut her own hearts), a stamp pad, and markers.  O loves to make cards so much that I may put together baskets like this for her for all holidays! 

One good thing about this craft is that when she is done, she can just put everything back in the basket which makes clean-up fast and easy. We are keeping the basket in the center of our kitchen table so that it is out of reach of sweet E (except when she climbs on the table!).

Walking the Line...Valentine's Day Style :)

This is the last Valentine's Day post, I promise! For this activity, I used a long piece of red yarn that I shaped into a heart on the rug. O REALLY enjoyed walking the line that was shaped like a heart! She's very into balancing lately, so she had fun balancing beanbags on her head as she walked. We really need to walk on the line more often!

Valentine's Paper Dolls

O has enjoyed these fun Valentine's Day paper dolls that I printed on magnetic paper. Although, I admit that I was more excited about them than she was :) I'm looking forward to making more magnetic paper dolls for her soon. Happy Valentine's Day!