Last-Minute Valentines

Here are two things you could totally make tonight, in time for Valentine's Day tomorrow. I find Valentine's brings me a wealth of creative inspiration. I am  not one who shuns the holiday as one manufactured by the greeting card companies. I think any day that promotes we share and express our love for one another is wonderful. It's not about being single or not- it's about all the people that fill our lives with love. I can always remember my mom giving us Valentine's gifts as children, and she still does. Thus I find that my girls are the ones I find myself most thinking of in terms of Valentine's gifts and projects. Plus, little ones are the perfect recipients for so many things that may otherwise be considered too schmaltzy for adult consumers. Little kids, and girls especially, delight in the overabundance of pink, hearts and other themed motifs. It's wonderful to be able to indulge this, so even if you do not have your own children, think of a little person in your life who would enjoy these. Or even a not-so-little person.

These drawstring bags were adapted from a tutorial at Skip to My Lou. I just adjusted the size to meet my needs and sewed a little red (felt) heart. Of course, with the felt. Double-sided red and pink satin ribbon never hurts either. Fill it with candy, love notes or other trinkets and they'll be thrilled to have this bag to reuse over and over again for all those little things they collect.

For Bella's classmate Valentines, I used Dana's  Heart Breaker printable. So easy- all you need is paper, staples and candy. I used construction paper that I trimmed to fit in my printer, but you could easily print it on regular paper and enlist your kids to color them in. Print, cut-out, staple, fill with candy, staple closed, voila! I used about a tablespoon of an m&m + cinnamon heart mix in each one. Plus, who doesn't appreciate a little N*Sync reference any day of the year? (Charlotte and especially Emily, I'm looking in your direction....)

 

Even the non-craftiest person can put these classmate Valentines together tonight. I have at least 2 more things I want to make tonight for my girls.  I'm so weird. You'd think it was a career or something. Or at least lucrative. But nope, I'm just a stay-at-home-mom who pretends that these things matter and hope that my girls think so too. Since they're only 2 and 5, I have a pretty good chance of that being on my side. Also, we need a little more cause to celebrate in our lives, and the way I do it is with paper and fabric, deconstructed and then reconstructed again to resemble something different.