Easy Valentine Box

All of us parents are scrabling to come up with a Valentine Box this weekend. 
My child just did a diorama (?) depicting bears in their natural habitat with my very last shoe box. 

Now what?  I'm not buying a pair of shoes just for the box.  That is just plain silly. 

So what am I to do?  Naturally, I look in the trash and recycling bins. 
What I DO have are these great plastic grape boxes from Costco.

 Take some strips of tissue paper and apply elmers glue with a brush to the interior of the box.  The tissue paper will go on easily, just brush it flat.  Don't worry about using too much glue, the white will fade as the glue dries.

 Then the fun part: use little squares of tissue wrapped over the end of a pencil, dip them  in hot glue and then apply the frilly design to the outside of the box.  The hot glue is super child resistant, and the glue sticks instantly.  Please don't let the kids use hot glue-this is the parent part. (They can stick the poofs-you work the gun). 

Ah, the traslucence of the tissue paper and the frill of the poof makes the perfect valentine box.

Have a sweet day!

Fun Valentine Tutorial

I think Valentines Day is such a *sweet* day. 
I love coming up with crafty valentines and working on the kid's valentine boxes with them. 

My kids read their valentines over and over...they keep their cards year after year...even if they are just Star Wars store bought and the kids name was signed by their mom.

Here's what my kids are giving out this year:

You still have this weekend to make some super fun valentines with your kids:

Take your child's photo with their hand exended as if they are handing you something.

Edit your photo at a fun site like snapfish that allows you to add a border and text.

Then punch holes in your picture right at the edges of your child's fist. (the key to this is a long reach hole punch) 

Slip a lollipop through the holes, and have a fantastic, funny Valentines day!