I love making handmade Valentines for people and my son and I didn’t see eye to eye about this at first. He wanted to hand out Toy Story Valentines he saw at Target and I wanted him to make them himself for his classmates. Well… semi handmade Valentines are our compromise which will likely become a tradition.
It satisfies his need for characters but still serves the purpose of making custom Valentines for each of his friends. Each was made with the friend in mind which was time-consuming but thrilling to see him put that much thought into it. Honestly, I don’t know if the stars just aligned, but he loved this craft. We even left the kitchen table as our ” Valentine” factory so we can make more today.
- Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper, some store-bought valentines (whatever your little one begged you for), heart stickers, scissors, paint, glitter (Come on it’s Valentine’s day let them have glitter!), colored pencils, and anything else to make them fun and sparkly.
- Start by cutting the construction paper into hearts. Ours are not the most perfect but as you will see they still end up beautiful.
- Time to customize your semi handmade valentines! We started with paint.
- Used colored pencils.
- Glitter
- The works! No two were the same. Yes we made a mess but it was so fun.
- Choose which character valentine each recipient will like the best.
- We originally made them like this with the store bought valentine on the back
but most ended up with it on the front and my son used the whole back to write his name. If you follow me you know how I have been trying to encourage his writing. I didn’t even ask him to do it, he grabbed the pencil and started signing his semi handmade valentines all on his own. - Oh and for those of you who ask how I manage crafts while my little one is awake …
- This picture isn’t really a “step” in the tutorial but it captures how much fun we had, which is really the whole point of this blog!
Don’t miss this. CBS Los Angeles featured our Heart Shaped Pizza on their site . We are making those again for our Valentine’s Day meal. Do you make something special for your kids’ dinner on Valentine’s Day?
Lenetta @ Nettacow says
Hee hee – we totally did this already! I had a couple of packages of heart doilies that I thrifted last year after Valentine’s day, and I picked up a pack of Snow White Valentines at the thrift shop this year. (Why yes, I do adore our thrift shop!) We glued Snow White on and then added heart stickers. Perfect!
Sarah says
The picture of the baby made me laugh. We have that same toy and my baby plays under it a lot when my boys and I are doing crafts!
Shelley C says
Oh my gosh, there is nothing not to like about this post or this idea. I wish I had seen this yesterday… 😉 I love your son’s tie. And the baby is adorable! I can’t wait until my newborn plays and smiles like that!!
admin says
Glad you like it!
Oh doilies would be so pretty with Snow White . I looked for doilies in my art closet but could only find pumpkin ones ;P they might be in the Abyss somewhere but I am not brave enough to dig through right now!
That tie … he’s wearing it with his PJs right now pretending to be Washington State Patrol.
Janet D says
We did something very similar but with non character cards I printed from the internet. It was a lot of fun!
For Valentine’s Day we are having a Red, White and Pink meal. Pink dinner ham which, if I have the time, will cut with a heart shaped cutter. Red beets, white mashed potatoes and cauliflower. Oh, and cherries for desert. The best part was brainstorming with my son as to what we should pick.
Michelle says
This is a great idea!! My daughter received something similar to this, but it was a big heart with a “Toy Story” temporary tattoo attached. We honestly know nothing about “Toy Story”, but it seems pretty popular. Your son looks adorable with his tie!!
Andrea says
Love it! I have to admit my favourite Valentines I got from my students this week (we partied early because I have 5 classes to celebrate with!) were the homemade ones actually made by the kids themselves. Such a sweet treasure!
Amy Pertl-Clark says
I LOVE the heart shaped pizzas!!!! So cute and look delicious. Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful ideas.