All you Need is LOVE: Family Valentine Fun and Crafts

Valentine’s Day is such a special time of year to spread some love and cheer. It’s a time to celebrate love and friendship, to spend time together as a family crafting, baking, making Valentine’s, having tea parties and eating lot’s of chocolate! The kids and I have been busy making some holiday crafts and working on our Valentine’s, for each other, family and friends. This year more than ever, it’s extra special to send out some handmade Valentine’s to those who might need an extra reminder that they are not alone and are loved!

A favorite and simple craft for kids of all ages and one that is adaptable with the seasons and holidays is making sun-catchers for your windows. My kids love making these and never seem to run out of creative ideas for their festive sun-catchers. I particularly love seeing them light up our dining room like stained glass especially during the colder, darker winter months. All you need for this craft is some sturdy card-stock paper, contact paper, tissue paper and scissors.

Directions:

• First have either you or your child cut out the frame design out of card-stock. For the one above we made a heart.
• Next, cut out your contact paper so that it will overlap a bit on the frame of your card-stock. Then, peel the paper off the contact paper to reveal the sticky side and stick it to the frame.
• Cut up the tissue paper and stick it to the sticky side of the contact paper. It’s as easy as that!

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Another favorite in our house and a great way to introduce children to sewing is making hand-sewn felt hearts! Teaching your children to hand sew is one of the best skills you can give to them. It helps develop fine motor skills, builds self-confidence and patience. It also helps children practice communicating and following instructions along with encouraging them to use their imaginations and creativity. I have sat with all my children from an early age (2 or 3) and practiced hand sewing skills either with felt projects or lacing cards. It’s an activity that you can share in together with your child and as a family. We often gather round the dining table with our hand sewing supplies and listen to a good audio book or music and spend time crafting together. It is a calming and therapeutic activity.

To make these felt hearts all you need is some felt, embroidery floss, fabric scissors, some stuffing (could be actually stuffing, or cut up old clothes) and a sewing needle.

Directions:

• First have your child draw their design on the felt with chalk. Fold felt in half so that you can cut out two equal shapes at one time (the back and front of your project). Cut out design with fabric scissors.
• Next, cut a medium-length strand of embroidery floss (not too long or the kids tend to knot or tangle). Layer your design one on top of the other and start sewing around the edges of the felt, leaving a 2-inch wide space open to fill with stuffing. If your child is young, you can help them push the needle through and pull it out always reminding them to pull the needle away from themselves.
• After stuffing your design, then sew the gap closed. You can then run a string through the top to hang your stuffed creation. We made our Valentine Hearts and tied them to some yarn to hang together in the window as garland.

Like sun-catchers, another craft we love making for all seasons are jars decorated with tissue paper to put candles in and cozy up our home. This simple craft was made using a recycled jar, some tissue paper hearts and Elmer’s clear glue (modge podge and regular Elmer’s glue work well too and dry clear).

Directions:

• Wash and dry a glass jar
• Cut out tissue paper designs
• brush glue with a paint brush onto jar, place tissue paper on the glue spot and then brush glue on top of tissue paper so that it won’t tear off easy. Spread glue over each spot at the time you are ready to adhere the tissue paper.
• Let it dry