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.

Don’t you just love a cute charm with a simple statement. My daughter and I made these for each other for Valentine’s Day. She wore hers to school and lots of other little girls wanted one too. So we spent another afternoon making more of these necklace charms.

How To | Clay Necklace Charm

Supplies:

• White Air-Dry Clay by Crayola (found in children’s craft section at Jo-Ann’s)
• Rolling Pin
• Rubber Stamp
• Toothpick
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Water
• Wax Paper
• Wire
• Ribbon

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 clay into a small ball.
3. Use rolling pin to flatten the ball to form a thin-ish circle.
4. Use rubber stamp to press image into clay.
5. Use the toothpick to poke a small hole through the top of the clay.
6. Use your finger to apply a small amount of water to the image to smooth out any rough spots.
7. Let dry until clay turns white.
8. Use acrylic paints to paint your charm.
9. Make a loop using your wire and thread the ribbon through to create the necklace.

Roll clay into small ball.

Flatten clay with rolling pin.

Press image into clay and poke a hole with toothpick.

The post How To | I Love You Clay Necklace Charm appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

We made this clay magnet as a Valentine gift for my daughter’s classroom helper. It was fun to make and to paint. After it was finished we wrapped it in a cello bag and added a matching birdcage gift tag made with the rubber stamp.

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
• Rubber Stamp
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Water
• Wax Paper
• Hot Glue and Gun
• Magnet

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 and cut into an oval-shape. Use rubber stamp to press image into clay.
3. Use a decorative edge scissors to cut clay off around edge of oval.
4. Use your finger to apply a small amount of water to the image to smooth out any rough spots.
5. Let dry until clay turns white.
6. Use acrylic paints to paint clay magnet.
7. Use hot glue to add magnet to back of dried clay image.

The post How To | Clay Valentine Magnet appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.