It's Been a Hearty Day!

I'm feelin' the love around these parts as my boys feverishly prepare for Valentine's Day. We had a pretty hearty day and I wanted to share. Things are really no different than you remember...

Believe it or not, the little paper Valentine's are still popular. My kids are going with the Incredible Hulk and Sports motifs this year.


They spent a messy afternoon decorating their Valentine Boxes for school. I still remember that feeling every year - I hope I get a Valentine! Now, as a mom, I know that the children have to give one to everyone...why didn't I get that as a child?



They helped bake and decorate cookies for Valentine's Day Parties. For cookie decorating tips to follow.

And, finally, they worked on special Valentine gifts for their teachers.

I came across this idea while browsing Just a girl's blog and knew it was the perfect project for us. An inexpensive, useful gift for a teacher, brilliant!

Here is what you need:

A clear bottle of hand sanitizer (Walmart $1.79)
Beading wire
Beads
Ribbon
Rub on transfers
Cardstock


Remove the label from the sanitizer by saturating the label with cooking oil and letting it sit for a few minutes. Then dunk it into hot soapy water and it should slide right off.

Make sure the bottle is well dried and apply the transfers. We found it easier to tape them in place before rubbing with the stick.


Now, use your own creativity to decorate the neck of the bottle with the beads and wire. You can thread the beads and make curls or bends to hold them in place. The kids will have fun with this part.


You can wind the wire around a pencil to create a curly cue

And make your own charms to hang by bending your own heart

See?

To finish it we added a card and tied a coordinating ribbon around the neck.