For some silly, self-imposed reason I feel a little obligated to hand make the school valentines we give out. If I'm being completely honest, this is not really my thing. Last year we did get pretty into it making mustaches and lips on sticks, but usually I go for a paper heart with some glitter and call it a day. Valentines kind of stump me...having boys makes it even harder, because they don't want anything too cute(pink is cute, love is cute). So for this year I'm going a little artsy, making a school of fish with heart shaped tail fins. I totally swiped the "school of fish" concept from a snack valentine I saw on Pinterest. My valentines are so easy to make I think they hardly warrant a formal tutorial. All you need to do is make a template of a fish body, use the template to make the bodies from red card stock, cut out hearts from tissue paper (this pretty design is from Target), and print out or write the "our school is cool" tagline on the back. Dust your hands off, you are done, my friend. xo.
Last week I did a tutorial and giveaway* for Jasper's mustache-on-a-stick valentines. This week before the big day, I'm sharing Wylie's. When I was at Alt Summit I got a package of pretty striped paper straws as a party favor, which I gave to the boys when I got home, because they are nutso for straws. Oddly enough their favorite use for them is to drink the broth from the bottom of their soup bowl (maybe that's a hot tip for someone). Because Wylie's in preschool I thought his little buddies would probably also delight in a few straws of their own. It's as simple as it looks. A heart punch, some glittery card stock, a box of 144 straws $8 from Paper Source, and a little twine to tie it all together!
*And the winner is...CHASA DOMINIQUE, congratulations!
Apparently valentines are kind of girly. So says Jasper. We sat down and brainstormed what to do for this year and he decided on these little mustache and lips on sticks, because of all of the fun we'd had with our own set from The Curiosity Shoppe. The tutorial is below, but HEY! I have a fun little announcement...
I'm going to be sending one special reader the supplies to do this featured DIY. All you have to do is leave a comment on the post (not on facebook) and you'll be entered to win. I will even ship to jolly old England if need be. TO ENTER you must LEAVE A COMMENT! A nice one please. Winner will be randomly selected. So today's post will be February's giveaway. You have from today until next Thursday to enter. I'll package up everything you need to make 25 of these mustache and lips on sticks!
Supplies:
12x12 sheets of glitter stock (scrap booking paper)
Thin popsicle sticks (found at craft stores)
Hot glue gun
Scissors
A pen
A pencil
Card stock scrap to make a stencil
Draw out a mustache or a pair of lips (reference mine or make your own) by folding a piece of scrap card stock in half, drawing half the mustache and cutting it out (this makes it symmetrical)about 3 inches maximum.
With a pencil trace several mustaches/lips on your chosen colors and cut them out and erase any marks on the paper.
Place a drop of hot glue on the right hand side of the back of the paper (most of us are right-handed) and apply a popsicle stick, pressing, allowing to cool for 15 seconds.
Write a greeting on the backside of the stick to let the kids know who it's from!
Pretty easy, huh?
Glitter and school glue are two of my favorites. I excelled at glitter art as a young lass. Yesterday, I had to extol the virtues of creating handmade Valentines to my disgruntled kid, who pondered out loud about why we didn't get them at the store like everyone else, and made some noise about having to write "xo, jasper" so many times. Really this post is just to show off my new Roboto Glitter Hipstamatic lens (with a little Cherry Shine flash). I'm totally distracted by this crazy idea I'm working on to open a pop up shop this Winter. More to come. Happy Heart Day!
