Welcome to day 7 of Toys In The Dryer's 14 days of Valentines From Feb 1-14 we're doing non-stop Valentine's posts to celebrate this lovely holiday! One thing that I remember from my childhood that was special was the Valentine's boxes my mom would make for me. At our school we always had a contest to see who could be the most creative and crafty in making their "mailboxes" for Valentines.....and I will admit, I always won! (Thanks mom!) A lot of schools are sending home the request to make Valentine's boxes (because of budget cuts they no longer are making them in schools) so I thought it would be fun to share some inspiration with you! (I only wish I had photos of the amazing boxes my mom made for me.) First thing you will want to do is get creative in your structure! You could use a basket and weave ribbons, you could make a box out of an old shoe box, use an actual mail box, or you can even use paper plates. I hope some of these photos will inspire you to get … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2012
Tutorial for making "50 reasons we love you" deck of cards
Welcome to day 6 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! From February 1-14 we'll be doing non-stop Valentines posts to celebrate this lovely holiday! I had seen a version of "50 reasons we love you" floating around the internet and I thought it would be SUCH an amazing gift to give....of course with my own special tweaks to it. I really hope you like this project and will give it a try too. What you need: a deck of cards paper hole punch paper (either sticker paper or regular and mod podge) zip ties Step 1: gather your cards and use a paper clip to hold them all aligned, punch two holes into each card Step 2: loop a zip tie through all of the cards and secure Step 3: (this part takes the longest) keeping in mind that the average deck of cards measures 2 1/2" X 4 1/2" create 50 reasons you love the person you are giving it to, leaving the first card for the title "50 reasons I love you" and the second card to say "by (insert name) and a date. I used a … [Read more...]
Woven Hearts
Welcome to day 5 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! From February 1-14 we'll be doing non-stop Valentine's posts to celebrate this lovely holiday. Today we're doing woven hearts. I showed the above photo to a few friends of mine and I got the same response each time--"I remember making those!" Some made them out of felt, others made them out of paper like I did with my girls. FYI: felt is MUCH easier to work with because it doesn't tear. Here's what you'll need to make your own woven hearts: Felt or paper of two different colors (we used paper because I was too lazy to get more felt) Scissors Glue (optional) The steps below are the same if you use felt or paper. 1) Cut a long rectangle out of each color paper making sure they are the same size. 2) Fold the rectangles in half, put them together then round the unfolded edge corners. 3) Still folded, line up the two rectangles at a 45 degree angle. Note (make a light line or mark) where they … [Read more...]
Wax Paper Hearts
Welcome to day 4 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! From February 1-14 we'll be doing non-stop Valentine's posts to celebrate this lovely holiday! Wax paper hearts are a combination activity and craft. This only involves a few items too! Here is what you will need: Wax paper Pencil sharpener Crayons Cookie Sheet Parchment paper (or construction paper will work too) Scissors and string Remove a long sheet of wax paper from the container and place it on the cookie sheet. Have your child (or help them) take Valentine's colored crayons (white, pink, red, a little gray) use the pencil sharpener to create crayon shavings. Spread the shaving out all over the wax paper. Fold the paper in half. Cover with parchment paper. *This part is for the adults* Iron on the lowest setting until the crayon shavings are completely melted. Set the wax paper aside to cool completely. Use a scissors to cut out heart shapes from the wax paper. Attach a string and … [Read more...]
14 days of Valentine’s Fun Stuff Fridays (#9)
Remember when Linkys were all the rage in blogging? They were a great way to find and get to know other bloggers before social media and Pinterest became mainstream. It didn't hurt that they brought a ton of traffic to your site too. Lindsi and I started our Fun Stuff Fridays linky back in 2011. We kept it going for 20 weeks before it fizzled out (or we got sick of doing it, I'm not sure which happened). It is now soon to be 2017 and at lot of the links in those linkies no longer exist. Plus, I've let my link up subscription lapse so you can't get to them anyway. Instead of deleting the Fun Stuff Fridays posts, however, I have decided to clean them up and make sure our featured links are still valid. After all, on a rare occasion I get traffic from one of these old posts. The linky may be gone but the featured posts are still valid as of December 2016... Welcome to day 3 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! Welcome to Fun Stuff Fridays. Can't wait to see your … [Read more...]
Surprise Valentines
Welcome to day 2 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! From February 1-14 we'll be posting non-stop Valentine's posts to celebrate this lovely holiday. Today we're making Surprise Valentines! I hope your kids have just as much fun as mine did while making these! Here's what you'll need to make Surprise Valentines: Cereal boxes or some other kind of thin cardboard Paper in Valentines colors Glue Scissors Candy Tape Step 1) Cut your cardboard and some paper into pieces approximately 3 x 3 inches. You'll need 2 pieces of cardboard and 2 pieces of paper per Valentine. Step 2) Glue the paper to the colored side of the cardboard to cover it up. Set them aside for later. Step 3) Take an 8.5 x 11 in piece of paper and cut it evenly into 4 strips the long way. (Yes, I realize there's only 3 strips above. My daughter was using the 4th strip.) Step 4) Accordion fold each strip into 8 sections. Step 5) Cut a half-heart out of the folded accordion … [Read more...]
