A simple, homemade valentine idea

Last year Valentine’s day rolled around and I decided it would be fun to make valentines with Jay. I knew that he didn’t really care (and likely wouldn’t remember what we did) but I still wanted to be able to do it with him. In the spirit of a last minute craft, we went to work around our house finding things to create with.

We grabbed a bunch of paper, paint and used our fingers to do a whole bunch of finger painting all over a few sheets of paper.

Then we got to the fun part (for me), where I got to contribute to the artistic nature of these little Valentines. After Jay was done, I went through and cut each page into a few little heart shaped pieces. The quirkier the hearts the better, I didn’t want these to be perfect, that takes away all the charm! I cut in places that I thought would be aesthetically pleasing, and I love the way they turned out. Obviously, if you have an older child, you could give them all the artistic license and let them cut their hearts themselves. We wrote on the back of each heart a sweet, little sentiment and there we had it. A quick and easy homemade Valentine.

And is it just me, or do you prefer those kinds? I love seeing sweet, simple valentines and the creativity going into them over a store bought one (although, this year we are doing store bought Minions ones, so no judgment coming from here!).

And while you’re in the mood for making, whip up a batch of cute heart-shaped Valentine’s sugar cookies. Here is our favorite sugar cookie recipe if you’re interested.

Happy almost Valentine’s Day!

 

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DIY Christmas Card Display

I’ve been searching for a simple way to display Christmas cards for a while now. I don’t love hanging them on my fridge so I never put them there, and I don’t want to have a millions cards taped to my wall.

I love the simplicity of this project. I put it up last week and I have been loving the look of it so much. Everyone who comes over comments on it.

If you haven’t put your Christmas cards up yet, this is the way you need to do it! Super simple and adjustable depending on how many cards you usually receive. If you receive tons you can make it as big as you need. Just extend it further down the wall, or even make the horizontal lines longer to fit more cards.

What you’ll need:

twine

decorating clips

small clothespins (mine were 1 3/4 inches)

scraps of greenery

scissors

tape

  1. hang clips using instructions on package. (took me 30 seconds max & no nails!)
  2. cut a strip of twine, long enough to zig-zag through the decorative clips
  3. hang twine, starting with the top clip. Tape twine to the top clip.
  4. following, string twine back and forth (in a zig-zag like pattern) until you reach the final clip.
  5. tape twine to the bottom clip. make sure the twine is really taut, so it doesn’t droop when you hang cards up.
  6. using the clothespins, clip your Christmas cards and your twine together.
  7. hang scraps of greenery up with the clothespins in between cards.