Valentine Crafts & More -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Last week's Crafty Weekends Party was huge and there were so many great ideas I was a bit overwhelmed with putting together all the features!! Put that together with a busy week (and Hazel first snow day of the school year and the second is tomorrow) I didn't get much adult crafting done. We did however make some fun Valentine's Day crafts. The crafts I am sharing today involve two kits from the Paper Source which I purchased for us, so this is not really a review per say. I will provide you links when possible. I do not receive any compensation if you click them or purchase from them. They are solely for your convenience.  The first kit is the Ombre Heart kit which is actually in the clearance section and no longer available on-line. I made the teacher Valentine (the large one) and added on some of the words of 1 Corinthians 14.

Word World: Be My Valentine DVD Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.

Are you ready for Valentine's Day? We have several ideas but have not begun to make them. However we have taken some time out to put us in the mood and watch Word Wolrd: Be My Valentine on DVD. 

Doll Valentine Play Date

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Every year Hazel's school usually has the Friday around Valentine's off for a teacher's development day and it is right before February vacation. The past couple of years we have invited some friends over for a Valentine's Day playdate. This year we invited friends and their dolls. Two girls were able to come and the three girls had so much fun!! When they first arrived they picked out a mailbox for their doll and decorated it. I picked up small mailboxes at Target in The Spot section for $1 each. 

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Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! There were so many amazing ideas. I had a hard time limiting my features, but I came up with some Valentine's Day Features and Other Features. By the way with Valentine's Day tomorrow, I am going to write a bonus post about our Valentine Doll & Me Play Date. I hope you will come check it out. Then on Sunday I will co-host the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (link live 2/15 at midnight). If you are sharing anything cultural/multicultural please come back and share again there! Now onto our features.

Valentine's Gifts and Doll Party Supplies

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Yesterday I shared Hazel's lucky ducky Valentine cards for her classmates and teacher with free printables. It is a little hard to put a card with a rubber duck into an envelope. However we wrapped them in a piece of red construction paper and then used these great We Know What Love Is stickers to seal them.  They are not pretty, but at least the card is hidden and the stickers have a Scripture and Valentine theme. (Hazel goes to a Christian school.)

Lucky Ducky Valentines with Free Printables

Now I know I have talked about Hazel's Ducky before. When I saw this idea for a Valentine, I knew we had to do it. Of course, I cannot find where I saw it. Sorry!! However, I found red and pink mini rubber ducks at Michaels and bought two packages of 8.

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Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were so many amazing ideas shared!! If you have not checked them out, please do so. For features this week we have a few Valentine Features, Book Features and a category I am calling Play and Learn Features.

Easy Valentine Tic-Tac-Toe Game Craft

I have been seeing these felt tic-tac-toe games for Valentine's Day everywhere. Some are for sale and others are crafts made by kids or parents. I wanted to give it a try. I thought about sewing it all and making the lines out of stitches, but I wanted it to be simple enough for a child to make so I decided on gluing on ribbons.

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It has been a crazy week here. We were hit with Blizzard/Winter Storm Juno. Hazel was out of school for two days due to the storm, and Steve was at work for around 36 hours straight. Plus it was Multicultural Children's Book Day on Tuesday! Our internet is acting funky, so I have not been posting as much this week. Sorry! However we had an amazing turn-out at last week's party!! If you have not had a chance to check them out you should!! There are many, many ideas from winter, Valentine's Day, educational and more!! I chose a few favorites for you with the categories being Winter, Penguins, Valentine's Day and Miscellaneous. Please check them out and go back and check out the ones I didn't have room to feature!! A huge thank you to everyone who shared with us and to those who took the time to see what others shared!

DIY A Doll's Valentine's Day Box of Chocolates

Today is Multicultural Children's Book Day! Be sure to check out all the great book reviews!

Note: Links are provided for your convenience, but I receive no compensation.

While exploring one of my favorite craft stores, The Paper Source, I found these cute little heart boxes that looked like the right proportions for a doll's box of chocolate for Valentine's Day. I bought one for Hazel's dolls. Hazel of course wanted to have four. One for each doll. I bought her three more with conditions of helping clean the house today since we are snowed in. First we painted the box red both inside and out. I was going to add ribbons and flowers, but we have not gotten that far yet.

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Have you ever had one of those days where your computer just doesn't want to work. That is how my night is going, but it seems to be behaving now. First a huge thank you to everyone who shared last week with us! And a special thank you to everyone who took the time to visit what others shared!! This week our features are winter related, Valentine related and Others.

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Have you entered my current giveaway for a wooden watch?

 Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! There were some amazing ideas as always!! And a very special thank you to everyone who visited the posts shared!! For features this week we have penguins & more and Valentine's Day and more.

Free Valentine-Emphasized Scripture Printables

Have you seen all the wonderful Valentine's Day crafts that involve John 3:16? I love them!! Oriental Trading has a kit to make 12. I love the craft one on Catholic Icing: John 3:16 Valentine Craft. When Hazel can write better we will be doing this. A few years ago I did a couple of printables of it in different fonts. Click on the picture to get each one.

Then this year forgetting I had done the other year and once realizing it knowing I wanted a different Bible version than the one I used I made another one this year.

Then after doing the heart peacock craft with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, I decided to make one using that verse since it is so often used at weddings and is about love.

Then I made them both smaller to fit in the little frames I picked up at Michaels when they went on clearance.

 I love that we can keep them out all year. I know the frames are meant to be vertical, but I already had them.

Click any of the pictures to get that printable!

These printables are my Valentines for you!! I hope you like them!! Have a day full of love and friendship!! For more Valentine's Day themed ideas check out:

• Free Printables for Valentine Cards and Teacher Gifts 
• Celebrating Valentine's Day with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 
• Valentine's Day Crafts some with Scripture and Bible References
• Simple Felt Hearts for Garland or Wreath
• For the Love of Geometry: Geometric Love Poems
• Strawberry Heart Muffins
• Felt Heart Gift--Hand Sewn
• Lavender Heart Sewing Lesson (Hand Sewing)
• Preschool Made Simple Valentines
• Valentine Tea Party
• Valentine Swap & Lots of Valentine Crafts
• My Valentine's Day Pinterest Board

Free Valentine Printables for Cards and Gifts

Today I am going to share a few ideas for Valentines which we made this year as well as teacher gifts. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of our main Valentines for Hazel's class and her party was yesterday since tomorrow is a teacher conference day. However we had some foam hearts and sparkle letters to write the names and then on the other side we used a label that says "Make no mistake, you are my Valentine." and we used glue dots to put heart erasers in the middle. The labels are available here and we used Avery 8663 (clear shipping labels).

For teacher gifts Hazel decorated some small jar candles. I took the labels off them first. Then she glued on some hearts from scrapbook paper. Next she glued on tissue paper. We used Mod Podge glue for these. Next we used one of the scripture stickers that Current sent me. Then I did a thin coat of Mod Podge over all of it. We used the high gloss Mod Podge. We left them to dry overnight. The next morning I tied on bows and added heart labels. One side of the label said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" and the other side said, "You light up my world! Love," and Hazel wrote her name. We also made labels for some Lindt Chocolates that I bought on clearance at Christmas time for all of her teachers (she has three specialty teachers--music, gym and library) that on the back said, "Thank you for being so sweet! Love," and she wrote her name. All of these labels are available here. I printed them on card stock and glued the fronts and backs together.

Since Hazel does not have school and she has been asking for a playdate with her four best friends at school, I thought we would do it on Valentine's Day. Only two of the friends can make it (next week is vacation week so a few are taking advantage of the extra day to leave). Hazel insisted on exchanging Valentines with them again. So this time we used some Valentine themed pencils and made these:

 

Hazel is writing her name on them and decorating them. These Valentines are available here.  She also wanted to have a book swap so we asked the girls to bring an unwrapped book as well. I thought it was perfect for International Book Giving Day. And since it is International Book Giving Day, I got a book to give Hazel--one of her favorites, The Little Moon Princess by YJ Lee. We also gave a book to her classroom, Jan Brett's Mossy, and will be giving The Colors of Us by Karen Katz to our public library. We made a donation earlier this week at the library for their book drive for this day as well. I love the tradition of giving her a book for Valentine's Day since it is not something wasted or candy. What do you do for Valentine's Day with your kids?

Celebrating Valentine's Day with 1 Corinthians 13

I love teaching Hazel about God when talking about love. I saw this wonderful craft over at Meaningful Mama: Heart Peacock Craft Teaches True Love. I fell in love with it and knew we had to do it. I love that it visualizes 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. (Source)

We used the patterns provided at Meaningful Mama. We added and eye for the peacock and some legs. Hazel told me it needed legs, so we used a pipe cleaner. To make the peacock, we used cardstock. I cut out 16 hearts and one body. Glue the hearts together so they overalp and then add the body. Hazel put the body on, so it is a little crooked. Then you add the words.

The words are of course from the Bible. We taped the pipe cleaner on at the end--folding it in half and then folding the ends to be feet.

Besides reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, we also love the picture book by Lisa Tawn Bergren, God Gave Us Love. We wrote about it during Advent for the week of Love. For some more Valentine themed ideas check out:

• Valentine's Day Crafts some with Scripture and Bible References
• Simple Felt Hearts for Garland or Wreath
• For the Love of Geometry: Geometric Love Poems
• Strawberry Heart Muffins
• Felt Heart Gift--Hand Sewn
• Lavender Heart Sewing Lesson (Hand Sewing)
• Preschool Made Simple Valentines
• Valentine Tea Party
• Valentine Swap & Lots of Valentine Crafts
• My Valentine's Day Pinterest Board

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Thank you to everyone who shared last week and to all of you who took time to check out what others had shared. I'm running late with this post since there were so many wonderful ideas shared!! If you have not had time to check out all of them (over 100), please do. They are so inspiring! Instead of sharing most clicked (it was a tie), I thought I would share some favorites and Olympic-themed posts as well as some Valentine-themed posts. Now the favorite is really one for Hazel since she LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There are also many more wonderful posts (and even more Valentine-themed ones)!! I had a hard time choosing which is why there are so many shared!

Valentine's Day Crafts

We have been so busy with other February events, that I haven't had time to share some of the Valentine's Day crafts we have been doing. Here are three simple crafts.

February Happenings: Paul Galdone, Canada and Black History Month

With the busy start of February, I have not had a chance to preview the month for you. February brings some added events such as Valentine's Day, Presidents Day and Black History Month. We have joined some other great members of Multicultural Kid Blogs to bring you the Black History Month Blog Hop. We have already shared posts on Thurgood Marshall and the song We Shall Overcome. For Valentine's Day we have shared a simple sewing project of a felt heart so far.

Another event coming up this month is:

 International Book Giving Day is an initiative aimed at increasing children's access to and enthusiasm about books. To participate you donate or give books to children either ones you know or a charity or a classroom or library. Will you join us is celebrating?

For Virtual Book Club for Kids the author this month is Paul Galdone. Now most people know something of Paul Galdone's work since so many of his titles are classic stories. He illustrates them and tells the traditional tale. We will be sharing a Galdone book next week with you!!

For Around the World in 12 Dishes, we will be exploring Canada. This will be the twelfth country we have explored in this series!! We have had so much fun exploring the countries. Hazel is always asking where we will be exploring the next month. The new season begins in March. I hope you will join us exploring our neighbor to the north with food, stories, music and more!
Stay tuned for more reviews, giveaways and crafts!!

Sewing Lesson: Felt Heart

Hazel received a gift card (well actually several) for her birthday. With one of them she bought a children's sewing machine. She has really wanted a sewing machine since I sew so much.Her little sewing machine does a chain stitch and if you are not careful you can pull all the stitches out when you remove the fabric from the machine, but she loves it!

She has been practicing on scraps of fabric I have given her, but I wanted to find some simple project where she could actually make something. I found one on Pinterest. The website it comes from is in an Asian language, but the pictures were enough for me to figure it out. To make some simple felt hearts you need a piece of felt, a sewing machine and some scissors. 

1. Taking a piece of felt, fold it in half the long way (if you want you can cut it in half the long way--I found I liked just folding it). 
2. Stitch close the fold.
3. Unfold the felt and fold it over your stitches (so the stitches are inside the fold). 
4. Stitch close the cut edge.
5. Cut your felt into "strips". Each strip is a heart.
6. Now you can hand sew them to be a wreath or a garland. The site I got this from used wool felted balls in between hearts for the garland. You could also use other large beads.

Now I need to hand sew ours to make a garland. It is such a fun and easy sewing project and it got Hazel using her machine (though the felt was a bit thick for her machine) for something useful. I secured the ends on the ones she sewed, so we would not lose all the stitches. 

For some more Valentine's Day Ideas check out:

• For the Love of Geometry: Geometric Love Poems
• Strawberry Heart Muffins
• Felt Heart Gift--Hand Sewn
• Lavender Heart Sewing Lesson (Hand Sewing)
• Preschool Made Simple Valentines
• Valentine Tea Party
• Valentine Swap & Lots of Valentine Crafts
• My Valentine's Day Pinterest Board

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Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! We had some amazing ideas shared. I hope you have had time to go check some out. We had a tie for most clicked.