Tootsie Pop Valentines

Remember this post?? Well, I finally have a school-aged child and was able to try it out for myself! It was lots of fun and pretty easy. My son loved them too. Click here for the how-to.

What did you hand out for Valentine's Day? I'd love to hear about it.

Fruity Love

I love all the lovely sugary treats that I am seeing on blogs lately for Valentine's. The trouble is I couldn't possibly make them because then I would eat them. So these little cuties are a great alternative for me. They are the cutest little stickers to put on various fruits (apples, pears, bananas, etc) for the ones you love. So SWEET yet simple. You can click HERE to download these and print them out on sticker paper.

Do you have any other low-fat ways to show your love?? Please share in the comments if you do!

Shower Notes

Crayola Bathtub Markers sound fun for a children's birthday gift. But I would never think to give this to a spouse for Valentine's Day so that you can leave love notes in the shower. Kind of a fun idea don't you think? You can check it out here or order them here. Apparently they are hard to find in stores. But I haven't checked myself.

This would also be a very cute gift for a wedding shower.

XOXO Letters

My grandma made this cute Valentine set for her mantle. She bought the wood letters (aren't they cute with the hearts in the O's) at the craft store and painted them pink. Then she traced each wood piece onto some scrapbook paper and cut it out slightly inside the traced line (so that the paper didn't totally cover the painted wood. She used mod podge to seal the paper on the wood. Then used embellishments like buttons, flowers, and ribbons to dress up each letter. I love her paper choices and embellishments. So cute.

Don't know how to mod podge? Go here.

Valentine Paint Sample Cards

photo credit

Have you seen these cards made out of paint swatch samples yet? So you can get those free paint sample cards from Home Depot or Lowes and turn them into beautiful Valentine cards. And these samples would be great for any holiday card. We're talking lots of possibilities here. Check it out here and here.

Valentine Pillow Notes

Cute little Valentine pillows. Made from dish towels (simple sewing so even I could handle this one). With little pockets for "Why I love you" notes to your kids (or anyone special to you) for the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day. I'll be starting this tradition next year for sure.

So click here for the details and the tutorial. And watch for the after holiday sales for those Valentine dish towels (these were 50 cents each). Aren't they cute?

A "Snappy" Valentine

You can print this cute little alligator out and put him together in a 'snap'! Then you can fill him with a fun Valentine treat. Just go here for the free download. And to think I grew up handing out boxed valentine cards. What was I thinking? These are so cool.

Love You Banner

How could you not love this banner? Banners are another one of my new loves these days and I would be so happy to get one as a gift. If you have the storybook cricut cartridge then you are set. The black background shape was made using this cartridge (set at 5.5"). The patterned paper is cut to 4x6 and the letters were made from the same cartridge (set at 4"). Add a little ribbon and stuff here and there to add to each letter. I also like that she used eyelets to thread the ribbon through the top of the paper to prevent it from tearing.

If you love banners too then you should check out more: simple magazine Valentine Garland, a glittery Thankful Banner, Holiday Bunting made with Christmas paper and recycled Christmas cards, Trick or Treat banner using freezer paper, mini Easter bunting...

Don't you think it would be fun to show up on someone's doorstep with a happy little banner for any occasion? I know it would cheer me up!

Send a link of your banner or one that you love. I would love to see it!

Felt Fortune Cookies

I like this idea for packaging a little treat found here. You can make fortune cookies out of felt and put little treats and notes inside.

Here are the easy peasy instructions (slightly modified from website)...

1. Cut a 4 1/2" diameter circle out of felt

2. Cut a piece of matching ribbon slightly shorter than 4 1/2" and cut a piece of wire slightly shorter than 4 1/2" with wire cutters

3. With a hot glue gun, glue the wire across the diameter of the circle and then glue the ribbon over the top of the wire (as pictured in the second picture above).

note: you can also use matching pipe cleaner in place of the ribbon and wire and glue it down with hot glue

4. Fold the circle in half with the wire/ribbon going along the inside of the fold.

5. Take the two ends of the fold and pull them back towards eachother (but not touching), bending the wire in half, to form a fortune cookie shape

6. Carefully fold up the top flap of the fortune cookie and insert small treats and fortunes.

Variations: For Valentine's Day include a scripture reference about love or a quote about love instead of a fortune. But, this isn't just a Valentine idea. You could make the fortune cookies any color for any holiday or theme. Even a Christmas neighbor gift idea: "We are 'fortunate' to have you as a neighbor!" could be inserted into red and green fortune cookies.

Cream Soda Bottle Valentines

These empty cream soda bottles created a sweet valentine jack pot. Check it out here if you want the how-to. This was made as a gift for a husband but it could easily work for anybody on your list (minus the lovey tags on the bottles, of course). I love how the cardboard case has been recovered and used as packaging.

Valentine Wreath

A little piece of holiday decor is always a nice gift. At least I think so. I think it's fun to have something new and exciting to brighten up my house. I found this valentine wreath here with a tutorial. It's made out of cupcake liners along with a little hot glue, a wreath form, and some ribbon. I loved the idea and hope you will too.

For Kids: A Unique and Personal Candy Valentine

If you are looking for a unique valentine candy and card combo for your children's school classmates look no further! This idea was found here. A picture was taken of her child holding her fist out. A "Happy Valentine's Day" was added to the picture in Photoshop. Then once the picture was printed out (4x6") she cut a slit just above and below the child's fist and inserted the sucker. She added a little glue to the back of the picture where the stick came through to keep it from falling out.

This is a fast and easy Valentine idea, but still so cool! I absolutely love it.

Don't have Photoshop? Download Gimp for free here.

XOXO Valentine Frame

I made this a few years ago. It was my mother-in-law's idea for a craft group she was doing. She found these little white shadow box frames on sale at a craft store for 99 cents. First, we chose a Valentine themed paper as our background. We removed the back panel of the frame, traced it on the back side of the paper, cut it out, and glued the paper to the front of the back panel. Then I took the "X" and "O" which she also got from the craft store as is and glued pre-painted hearts (from the craft store) on them. I also wrapped some wire around each letter. Then the letters were glued to the paper with heavy duty glue (E6000). I also added a piece of wire and a heart to the outside bottom corner of the frame with some hot glue.

Variations: some of the other crafters painted their frame red, covered their letters with paper, and/or painted their letters.

A simple gift to put together that is great for the person that appreciates a "low calorie" Valentine.

Heart Shaped Bouquet

Using two colors of carnations you can make a heart shaped bouquet found here. Click on the link for simple instructions.

Heart Wax Paper

A simple idea to dress up your baked goods found here. Just cut hearts out of tissue paper. On an ironing board lay down a layer of paper towels, then wax paper, tissue paper hearts, another layer of wax paper, and another layer of paper towels. Set an iron to medium heat and lightly iron over the layers to set the hearts onto the wax paper.

Consider all of the different shapes you could use to dress up your wax paper for baked goods. This could be great for any holiday or occasion.

Plant Gift Bag

Add this to the countless things you can do with a brown paper lunch sack. I found this cute Valentine gift bag for a potted plant here. I love getting potted flowers because they last a lot longer than cut flowers and this is a great way to dress up a planter. I especially like the bag with the ribbon weaved around it on the right.

Fudge Hearts

Maybe this looks so good to me because I didn't get enough homemade fudge over the holidays. I found this idea here for some heart-shaped fudgey Valentine treat. I need to get me a candy thermometer and try this out! Let me know how it goes if you decide to do this.

Here is the recipe and instructions:

(Makes about 4 dozen 1-inch hearts)

Ingredients

Canola oil for the pan and cutters

1 1/4 cups milk

3 1/2 cups sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

Pink gel food coloring, (optional)

Directions

Lightly oil a 9-inch-square pan. (A smaller pan will make the fudge thicker and more difficult to cut.) Place milk in a heavy 12-quart saucepan. Stir in sugar; add butter. Over medium heat, stir constantly, until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Increase heat to medium high, bring to a boil, and cover with lid. Let boil for 2 minutes, and uncover. Do not stir; clip a candy thermometer on side of pan, and let mixture boil, over medium-low heat, until it reaches 240 degrees (the soft-ball stage), 15 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice water bath.

Immediately remove pan from heat, and dip the base of the pan in the ice water for 5 seconds. Let the fudge sit at room temperature without stirring, with the thermometer attached, until the thermometer reads 122 degrees and mixture is lukewarm, about 40 minutes. If using food coloring, add 1 drop. Stir the fudge with a wooden spoon until it changes from glossy to opaque and is thick and creamy, 2 to 5 minutes. Quickly pour into prepared pan. Use piece of plastic wrap to smooth fudge into the pan, creating an even surface. Let cool completely, 2 to 3 hours, and cut with 1/2- to 1 1/2-inch heart cookie cutters. (Oil the cutters with the canola oil inside and out before using.) Fudge will keep, well wrapped in plastic or in an airtight container, up to 1 week.

Treat Cups

I know it's really early to be thinking about Valentine's Day but sometimes I find really cute ideas a little too late and I always wish I would have started earlier. So here I go. This is one of my favorite packaging ideas because it is simple - found here. These are made with clear plastic cups with a piece of cardstock wrapped around it. And I love the heart cut-out window, don't you? Then you glue a piece of double-sided crepe paper around the top of the cup and fill it with treats or gifts and tie a ribbon around it. Click here to get a free template for the paper that fits around the clear cup.