You can recycle old scraps of felted sweaters and fleece to create your own unique felt heart pin for Valentine’s Day. (Do you recognize the Lava Girl hot pink felt on the back?) Over the weekend I started sewing the pin on the left, once my daughter saw what I was making she wanted to make one too. I tried to insist that she had to sew her heart using a different stitch because the blanket stitch would be too hard for her. She begged until I gave in and taught her the stitch, then she stitched her heart on pretty much perfect all by herself. Guess mom isn’t so smart. Tomorrow we will be wearing these all day to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Make one of these for your daughter, teacher or babysitter. They will look lovely on your shirt tomorrow!

How To | Felt Heart Pin

Supplies:

• Felt Scraps
• Fleece Scraps
• Embroidery Thread
• Sewing Needle
• Straight Pin
• Poly-fil or Wool Stuffing
• Bar Pin
• Fabric Scissors
• Stick-on Gems

How To:

1. Cut out a square shape from your felt.  (I have some Fiskars scalloped edge fabric scissors I used to cut the edges of my squares.)
2. Cut out a heart shape from felt or fleece. Pin in place onto the felt square.
3. Using a blanket stitch (click here for a how to) sew almost all the way around the heart. Leave a small opening for stuffing.
4. Stuff the heart with a small amount of stuffing, then continue sewing the heart onto the felt square.
5. Stitch words or a design in the center of your heart or add gemstones.
6. Sew the pin bar to the back of the felt square.

Back side of felt pin.

The post How To | Valentine Felt Heart Pin appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Shhh, I don’t want to give away the surprise, but we made this Valentine gift for my husband. I am pretty sure he will find the perfect spot on his desk at work to display this little piece of artwork. What could be cuter than hearts made from tiny fingerprints? This was such an easy project to make. You should get some supplies and whip one up too!

How To | Fingerprint Heart Canvas

Supplies:

• 3.5″ x 2.5″  Canvas (I found mine at Jo-Ann’s for $1.99)
• Mini Art Easel (Jo-Ann’s)
• Acrylic Paint or Stamp Pad
• Rub-on Letters (Mine are Heidi Swapp from Making Memories and may not be available anymore.)
• Paint Brush
• Krylon Clear Acrylic Coating Spray
• Diaper Wipes
• Wax Paper

How To:

1. Choose the colors of acrylic paint you are going to use and squirt a small amount of each color onto your wax paper. (Or have your stamp pads ready.)
2. Use a paintbrush to paint the tip of your child’s pointer finger. Have them hold their finger straight and lift the canvas to their finger. Press their finger onto the canvas at a slight angle. That is the first half of the heart.
3. Paint the tip of your child’s finger again and repeat the above step but angle their finger the other way to create the second half of the heart. Use a diaper wipe to quickly and easily clean off your child’s finger.
4. Repeat above steps to create multiple fingerprint hearts. Let dry.
5. Use rub-on letters or a marker to write a message under the heart fingerprints.
6. Spray your canvas with an Acrylic Sealer to protect the artwork and the writing.
7. On the back of the canvas write the date and name of each child and the placement of their fingerprint.

The post How To | Valentine Hearts Fingerprint Canvas appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I drew up these fun cartoon-ish looking faces to use on our Valentine’s cards this year. I have the free download below if you want to use them for your cards too. Super cute, but there is a little assembly required! The recipients are gonna love them though. (Please remember this art is available for personal use only.)

How To | Silly Face Valentine’s Day Cards

Supplies:

Silly Boy Version -

• Silly Mustache Boy Valentine Art
• Mustache Art
• A2 Size Envelopes (fits 4.25″ x 5.5″ size card)
• Smooch Spritz in Cherry Ice by Hampton Arts
• 20mm (or so) Googly Eyes
• Popsicle Sticks
• Black Paper
• Tape
• Glue Dots
• Glue

Boy Version How To:

1. Print out Silly Mustache Boy Valentine Card art. Trim to size. (I printed the words directly on the back side of the card. I did not make mine a folding card.)
2. Print out Mustache Art. Cut mustaches out of black paper. (I used my Silhouette (in Illustrator) to cut out the mustaches.)
3. Glue googly eyes in the correct spot on the cards.
4. Put a small piece of tape on the boy face under the nose. Then adhere the mustache on top of the tape using a glue dot. This will allow the mustache to be removed later without tearing the card.
5. Insert Boy Valentine’s Card into envelope and add a Popsicle stick inside the envelope too.
6. To create a design on your envelope, cut out a heart shape and lay it on your envelope. Use Smooch Spritz and spray your envelope. Lift off the heart and you have a cool heart void left!
7. Seal and deliver.

Text on the backside of the Boy Valentine reads: “Valentine, Let’s make silly faces together.” Along the bottom in small print it says, “Use crayons or markers to color the picture on the front. Carefully unstick the mustache from the front and attach it to the enclosed popsicle stick. Hold the mustache in front of your face and make your own silly faces.”

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Supplies:

Beautiful Girl Version -

• Beautiful Girl Valentine Art
• A2 Size Envelopes (fits 4.25″ x 5.5″ size card)
• Smooch Spritz in Cherry Ice by Hampton Arts
• 18mm (or so) Googly Eyes
• Paper Punch
• Glue
• Bobby Pins with Pad (mine are from here)
• Cabochon Flowers (mine are Martha Stewart from Jo-Anns)
• E6000 Glue
• Wax Paper

Girl Version How To:

1. Print out Beautiful Girl Valentine Card art. Trim to size. (I printed the words directly on the back side of the card. I did not make mine a folding card.)
2. Glue googly eyes in the correct spot on the cards.
3. Using your Bobby Pins with pad, glue a cabochon flower onto each pin using E6000. Do all your gluing over wax paper or other disposable surface. E6000 has a tendency to run out of the tube quickly. Set aside and let dry.
4. Use a paper puncher to punch a hole in the hair of the girl card. (See pic above for placement.) Insert a bobby pin into the hole.
5. Insert Girl Valentine’s Card into envelope.
6. To create a design on your envelope, cut out a heart shape and lay it on your envelope. Use Smooch Spritz and spray your envelope. Lift off the heart and you have a cool heart void left!
7. Seal and deliver.

Text on the backside of the Girl Valentine reads: “Valentine, Let’s be beautiful together.” Along the bottom in small print it says, “Use crayons or markers to color the picture on the front. Afterward carefully remove the bobby pins from the front and put them in your hair. You look marvelous darling!”

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Free Downloadable Art:

Click Here – Silly Mustache Boy Valentine Card

Click Here – Mustache Art

Click Here – Beautiful Girl Valentine Card

The post Printable | My Silly and Beautiful Valentine Cards appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Here is something you can make your little sweetheart for Valentine’s Day, a hand-crank music box placed inside a cute hand-painted wooden box. When my daughter (now 6) was a baby I always sang her “You Are My Sunshine” while I rocked her to sleep. My daughter and I still love to sing this song together. (Have you heard this version by Elizabeth Mitchell?) Below are the instructions for creating your own wooden music box.

(I also wanted to mention that this would be a beautiful way to present an engagement ring.)

How To | My Sunshine Music Box

Supplies:

• Hand Crank Music Box (I found mine here.)
• Wooden Box ($1 at Michaels Craft Stores)
• Paint Stirrer Stick
• Acrylic Paint in White, Light Blue and Yellow
• Acrylic Paint Gloss Sealer (comes in same size bottle as the acrylic paint)
• Paint Brush
• Small Craft Sponge
• Black Stamping Ink Pad
• Small Alphabet Letter Stamps
• 4 Small Screws
• Wood Glue
• Dremel Tool
• Saw
• Sand Paper

How To:

1. My music box needed to be attached to a piece of wood and glued into the bottom of the wooden box. I found a paint stick was the perfect width. I had my husband cut the paint stick to the correct length. Then he screwed the music box to the paint stick.
2. Next my husband marked where he needed to cut a notch and hole for the music box crank arm to slide down into. He used a dremel tool to cut the opening.
3. You will want to paint and embellish your box next and wait until last to glue your music box inside.
4. Before painting your box, sand lightly with sand paper. (I didn’t do this and should have in hindsight…)
5. Paint the outside of the box with blue acrylic paint. Let dry.
6. To create the clouds, lightly dip the corner of a sponge in white paint. Dab in a circular motion creating cloud shapes all around the box. Let dry.
7. Paint the heart on the top yellow. Let dry.
8. Use your alphabet stamps to add “my sunshine” on top of the yellow heart. Let dry.
9. Paint over entire box with the acrylic sealer. Let dry.
10. Adhere your paint stick with attached music box to the bottom of your painted box using wood glue.

The post How To | My Sunshine Music Box appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

The kids and I recently used air-dry clay for the first time. It was really fun and easy to use. I have thought of a hundred (okay maybe not that many) projects in which we can use this clay.

My daughter and I decided to make a small dish for her teacher for Valentine’s Day. We are going to fill the dish with chocolates and put it in a cellophane bag with a pretty tie and tag. The teacher can sit it on her desk to hold paper clips and odd and ends. It would also be perfect to make for grandma or mom to hold rings and jewelry. My daughter was really proud of how her finished bowls turned out. It was a great project that she did mostly herself.

How To | Clay Dish

Supplies:

• White Air-Dry Clay by Crayola (found in children’s craft section at Jo-Ann’s)
• Rolling Pin
• Decorative Edge Scissors
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Water
• Wax Paper

How To:

1. Choose a lump of clay and knead it in your hands until softened. Add a tiny bit of water if the clay is too hard.
2. Roll out clay on wax paper, then shape sides up to form a bowl shape. We used a small square shape jar and put that in the centered of the rolled out clay and then shaped the clay up around the jar.
3. Use a decorative edge scissors to cut clay off around the rim of the bowl and create a pretty edge.
4. Use your finger to apply a small amount of water to the bowl to smooth out any rough spots.
5. Let dry until clay turns white.
6. Use acrylic paints to decorate your bowl.
7. Fill with chocolates or candy and wrap in cellophane bag and tie with pretty bow. Give to your Valentine!

The post How To | Valentine Catch-All Clay Dish appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.