Valentine's Day is an opportunity to unleash your sentimental craft projects. I mean that in a sincere way. When I was growing up, I coveted the mass-produced, commercialized valentines that had "to" and "from" printed on the shiny card stock. The only effort I put into "making" valentines was writing in names and stuffing them in envelopes. Now that I have a daughter, I have much more interest in teaching her art-making skills. And expressing herself. For a Valentine's Day project (for a special someone in her life=DAD) we decided to make a box of love. Start with any container you'd like to re-purpose: a craft box, tin bandage or spice box, fancy tea or cookie boxes.
We then used Clementine's natural paint to cover the box in a combination of red and pink. Whenever my daughter has the chance to choose our flowers, she loves to pick a combination of pink and red. I would never think to combine these colors, but have grown to love them together...mostly in flower arrangements and valentines.
Next step: fill loosely with cut-out hearts, folded paper or fortune-cookie-like strips. You could also applique/collage your expressions of love with diluted natural glue (it dries clear). We regularly read a French book called "I Love," which is filled with sweet thoughts from a kid like, "I love the smell of my soft, old bunny. He smells like apples, licorice, soap, roses, Mama's perfume, soup, rice, toast, wax, wet dog and especially, my warm, cozy bed in the middle of the night." And, "I love Sunday night when Mama says, "I don't know what to make for dinner." And papa says,"what about pancakes?"
Write down what you appreciate, what you recognize, what you love about that person. You may want to hang on a wall and add to the collection as your love grows!
What are some of your favorite Valentine-making ideas or memories? Please share in the comments below.
