Happy "I love you" Day

Valentine's day has come and gone and as much as I wanted to post this yesterday  - on the actual day -  real life often gets in the way of blogging :).

Many times I have great intentions that don't materialise - you too? - like sending Valentine's cards or giving Valentine's favours to our loved ones. Yesterday I sent some flowers and a Valentine's card to two important ladies in Little One's life...his teacher and the class assistant. It was such a good feeling to GIVE and to say THANK YOU. I lay in bed last night thinking, that if I had done that for every important lady in his life (excluding me) I would have had to buy a whole lot more flowers and we would have had to make many more cards. Isn't it such a blessing to have people around us that help us to love and to raise our children. I am grateful! 

Anyday can be "I love you" day ...who might you spoil today?

PS. Card via the super Allison from No Time For Flash Cards

Silly Valentines

Oh I can be silly - it's one of those things I like about myself - I think my children like it too. 

So I had great fun and giggles thinking up silly Valentines. The kiddos joined me. Big One with his own ideas (as always) and Little One enjoyed punching out little hearts... everywhere... he loves my punches.

Big One's... 

My Inspiration:  

My Heart Is Like a Zoo

A delightful book by Michael Hall - twenty animals all made from heart shapes. And the best part, twenty different emotions and behaviours for you to chat about with your child. It's a super book that can easily be used in play therapy too. Do click on the link above and grab the kids for a super little trailer of the book. Really cute.

Heart Zoo (from Katherine Marie's Happy Hearts Theme of the Week)

My dear friend Katherine inspires me so and makes me look at every piece of pretty or interesting paper in a new fun visually creative light. If you do go visit over there, I know I've probably lost you for now, but that's okay - I won't blame you. :)

Happy Valentine's day!

The Heart Project

(Due to some unforeseen internet trouble, this post is a day late - my apologies.)

I'm very excited to be sharing some super news today!

Behind the scenes and in an effort to raise funds for the American Heart Association, I have had the privilege of being part of a wonderful collaborative project hosted by Jamie from hands on: as we grow. More than 70 fellow bloggers have contributed over 100 gorgeous heart-shaped crafts to a book called The Heart Project. This book is filled with beautiful photographs of the crafts and all the bloggers links are available, so that you can read the "how-to" if you would like to recreate the project.

The inspiration behind this great effort is a little girl called Ellie, and you can read more about her here. 

The e-book is a gift to you, for a very small donation of $5 to the American Heart Association (that's less than R40 for my South African readers) . A printed copy (which I'm really excited about) will also be available for $20 and $5 of that will go to the Association. Both versions of the book will only be available during the month of February, so hurry if you want a copy :)!

And if you need some more encouragement,  Craftprojectideas.com is contributing $1 for every e-book sold this month. That means in addition to your $5 donation Craftprojectideas will donate another $1 on your behalf (up to $500).

To add to the fun, many of the participating bloggers are also having giveaways linked to the book and there will even be an opportunity to win a printed copy of it. To see all the giveaway action, head on over to hands on: as we grow. Jamie has set out all the details for you very nicely. 

And just to wet your appetite, I have included a few preview pages here.

My projects shared in the book are speckled origami hearts, made last year, and some heart finger puppets, which I shared in my last post.

So don't hesitate - it's a great cause. To purchase the e-book, click on the first button and to purchase the printed version, click on the second. 

US $20.00

Order the Printed Version

Till next time.

Heart Pencil Toppers and Finger Puppets

Valentine's day is no biggie in our home. But,  I do love hearts and I do love red and I also love I-love-you ideas, so this day always get's my attention.

I was thinking of a simple craft for kids to do...a little gift to give a teacher, or friend...something sweet. Isn't Valentine's day just a perfect reason to tell someone you like them, or love them. I think so. Pencil toppers came to mind, inspired by some heart finger puppets I saw many years ago (in the nineties!) in an American Parent's magazine. 

  

To make pencil toppers, cut out two identical felt hearts. I drew the heart onto a piece of felt and then folded it double, so that I could cut out two hearts simultaneously. Draw a line to indicate where you need to put your glue (see top photo), leaving a gap for the pencil. Glue the two pieces together and wait for it to dry. If you want the heart to stick to the pencil (and not slip off), put some glue on end of the pencil, before you pop the heart on.

Or you could make a heart finger puppet family...

Easy craft and a sweet gift.

Till next time.

PS. Shared this at Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Fingerprint Fun

                                                                                  

 I remember seeing an Ed Emberley Fingerprint Drawing Book a number of years ago and it immediately piqued my interest. I looked high and low for these locally, but couldn't find any in stores or at the library. So I was very excited to find out that Ed has a terrific website and that I could easily order his books (at great prices too) online.

In the spirit of our Doctor Doctor fun and checking out the human skeleton, I was tickled to find a cute fingerprint tutorial of  
Mr. Boney Parts on the website.

Big One's version...

Using the super Melissa and Doug Ink Pad, Big one and I spent some time creating fingerprint art. I won't tell you who made what, but I will say this -  my creations are definitely "cute", whereas Big One's are "cool".

 

Could you tell who made who?..I'm sure you could :)
 

Speckled Hearts

 

These were our Valentine's gifts for the awesome grandparents we are so blessed to have in our lives.

We took an A4 sheet of red paper and Big One wrote an "I love you because..." note on it. We then wrapped this around a nice slab of chocolate and decorated with speckled hearts (I don't know what else to call these :)). 

I think everyday...any day...is a good day for an "I love you" note...don't you?

To make our speckled paper, I gave Little One a toothbrush and some watercolour paints. He found the toothbrush spraying rather tricky, so this was a good fine motor workout for those little fingers! 

I found the origami heart pattern in an amazing book, Origami for children, by Mari Ono and Roshin Ono. I also found a similar pattern here, if you would like to make some of your own.

PS. I'm linking this to Tot Tuesdays @ My Delicious Ambiguity.