L.O.V.E.

Oh my goodness! I LOVE the holiday of Love, Valentine's Day! Not that you shouldn't show, give, share love throughout the year, I just appreciate a day focused solely on love. What a great reason to give my students awesome Valentine's!

 It wouldn't be appropriate to create Valentine's projects without a plethora of pink and red supplies. Pink scissors? Check. Pink ribbon? Check. Red and white baker's twine? Check. Pink and red stamping ink (in a variety of shades)? Check. Pink and red pens? Check. Stamps and punches full of hearts? Check. I think I'm ready to start!

Using the stamp seen in the picture above, I used two ink colors in order to create more play on the tags. 

Twenty-five tags later!

As usual, I packed the gifts in brown, paper lunch sacks. What can I say, they are inexpensive. Cheap version of craft wrap, but in a more convenient, mass-gifting, sort of way. 

I used the same two ink colors from the tags to stamp the heart pairs on each bag.  One color at a time to increase speed by not having to keep rewashing the stamp. 

I also own the most perfect Valentine themed punch, the one that I purchased for the bookmark and card projects from last year! I picked it up at JoAnn Fabrics with a 50% off coupon and my 15% off teachers' discount card. 

So it only made sense that when I punch the hole for tying the bags shut, the hole should be heart shaped. 

 When I finished packing the bags with novels, pencils, and Tootsie Pops, I sealed them by folding the top down once. The heart shaped punch allowed me to thread baker's twine through the tags and bag and finish with a small bow.  

All lined up and ready for anxious little (I suppose not really that little) hands to open them and create big, beaming smiles. 

How can you not LOVE Valentine's Day? For me it is a great excuse to spoil my students (They actually outdid me in that category, my desk was out of control with wonderful treasures) and remind them in a tangible way of how much I care about them.

It's not a day to think about the love you don't have, or wish for. It's about giving and sharing love with ones who are in your life at that time. And perhaps people you loved have come and gone, which exactly why you have to embrace the day and love people while they are with you. Don't let a single day pass without telling, showing, sharing, love to someone.  Your love may make all the difference. ©

Give a Little Love!

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching! I've been busy creating my Valentine's gifts this past week, and was able to get two projects out of one set of materials! BONUS! 

I found an adorable set of bookmarks on Pinterest that I decided would be absolutely perfect for my students.  The premise was simple and quick. I needed multicolor paint chips, a heart-shaped hole punch, a regular round punch, and ribbon! All things that I have or can acquire at a cheap price. The paint chips (like the snowman) were free from the Fred Meyer paint department. I picked up a roll of pink ribbon from our brand new Joann's, 10 yards for $0.50.  I already owned the necessary hole punches, so I had a low cost project on my hands; the best kind!

Hearts punched from the edge of the paint chips.

After punching the hearts along each color block, I punched a single round hole in the lightest color block.  I then cut lengths of pink ribbon, about 8 inches each, to tie off the top of the bookmark. I simply folded the ribbon in half and put the cut edges through the hole, then laced them through the loop at the other end and pulled tight.  I think they turned out quite well if I do say so myself! :)

The finished product!

I was able to use the punched out hearts for my next project! I created a heart shared mosaic card for my boyfriend.  I set up the design on the table then glued them into place one by one.  I used a white blank card as the base and Elmer's clear craft bond glue.

Punch scraps turned art!

Process, one heart at a time.

To finish the card, I used a red ink pen and jotted a small scripted note.  iloveyou.

Finished card, maybe I should start production... :)