2.15.2012

Homemade Valentines

I'm not super crafty but I do love making homemade Valentine's cards!

This year, we melted crayons for little Valentine's surprises.

This is a super easy craft and fun to do with a preschooler.
First - find crayolas & unwrap them.
(I found that if I soaked them for a few minutes, the paper came of easier.)
Also - I bought some cheapo crayons at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents.  HUGE MISTAKE.  When I opened the box, I realized I had been LIED to.  The box said "assorted colors."  The crayons were wrapped in various assorted colors of paper.  But.  The colors were all red, green, gray, & brown.  
YUCK!
So I raided my meager supplies. (Will doesn't use regular crayons as they are difficult for him so I don't have much on stock.)

Break the crayons into smaller pieces and sort them into a heart mold.
(Will LOVED this part.)
Bake at 250 degrees for about 15-20 min.
Pop them in the freezer for 10 min & then pop them out of the mold.
Beautiful heart shaped crayons!
(You could use a muffin tin to make round ones too.)
For our cards to far away family and grandparents & the greats, both kids dipped their thumbs in paint  (red for Will, yellow for Ellie) and then we made thumb print flowers.  Will drew green stems and I wrote "thumb-body loves you" on the cards.
There's something about their little prints - makes my heart so very happy.
(As a side note, I used to fear and dread the inevitable handprint crafts that comes with having a toddler and preschooler.  I worried that my child with hand differences wouldn't be able to do them.  But then a friend gently convinced me one year to join a group of friends for a turkey handprint craft and when my mind went numb because I wanted to cry and didn't know how to make his turkey print look "right" she did it for me and I LOVE that craft so much.  The turkeys don't look like everybody else's but they look like HIS and I adore my Thanksgiving apron with his handprints on them.  I'm thankful for that friend pushing me to do it.  (And for the other friend who made a beautiful print of his feet one time using his prosthetic legs.)  And even though our handprint crafts might look different, how I love them.)

3 thoughts:

Christie M said...

What a cute idea! When we were at camp last year, they did hand prints on the wall near the pool. Sarah's hand print was different than most, and there were a few foot prints instead, LOL.... but I LOVED seeing that brave girl's hand print on that wall. We are looking forward to showing it to daddy this weekend. :)

ywilbur said...

I am so trying that crayon project. You can't believe how many crayons people (school, dentist, grandma, church) give me and neither of my boys use them. Kharan prefers markers since he has trouble with pressing hard enough. Wish I'd have seen that before the party. I could have made the 9 kids in his small class hearts and etched names in them....Perfect for next year.

Whaaa...they want Kharan to repeart Kindergarten due to language delays---they are testing for dyslexia. I'm not sure yet but he is supposed to have jaw and hand surgery next year so maybe for the best. He is so worried he won't be with his friends though!

Annette Honeycutt said...

And let me just say... THANK YOU!!! :) Awesome idea- I really wanted to go "candy-less" for Valentine's this year... but I caved. Way cute heart crayon! :D

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