CRAFT: DIY VALENTINE 2012

Attention readers (1/31/13): Due to the popularity of the DIY Valentine You Rule Project, I have reposted the information on my new blog RE:LocatedLiving.com and as a bonus have included a printable.  See you at my new home.  Hope you will follow me there where I will have  plenty cool projects to come.

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This year I decided to get a little more ambitious with Valentine, partly inspired by my Modern Valentine Inspiration board.  The banner above takes a cue from the design seen here, but is even simpler to make.  I lucked out while browsing the aisles of Michael’s and found thin red foam “paper” that came PRE-glittered.  I had fully intended to buy adhesive and glitter, but when I saw the pre-glittered paper (at only $1.49 per sheet), I knew that it was meant for me.  While I do love making things, I also believe in using shortcuts when possible.  Avoiding getting glitter all over the house was one very worthwhile shortcut.  All I had to do was 1) outline the shapes of the letters, 2) cut with scissors, 3) string on some baker’s twine. Et voila!

For my son’s class gift, I actually figured out a non-candy gift to distribute to his classmates.  It’s a ruler!  The project was super simple.  1) I scored vintage-looking wood rulers at Target for 47 cents each, 2) I printed the “You Rule” message on some red construction paper, 3) cut slits on either end to slide the ruler through and decorated with a little glitter-heart from left-over scraps.  Did I mention the glitter paper also came with an adhesive backing?  Peel and stick. How cool!

Since  I was left with a lot of scrap glitter paper and plain red construction paper from the two projects above, I decided to put them to use in a garland which is somewhat inspired by the one on my inspiration board. In my case I went more asymmetrical with hearts of different sizes and circles.  I used construction paper, glitter paper AND pages from an old book. I used the latter to make it seem like an old love poem, but really I just checked my bookshelves to see what book was most tattered and could be sacrificed.  I found and old Robert Ludlum, The Aquitaine Progression that was printed in 1984 so the pages were nice and yellowed.  We probably picked it up for free once when staying at a B&B.

Lastly, I created this T-shirt for my son.  He wears a uniform to school but for Valentine kids are encouraged to wear red or pink.  I looked around for cute, inexpensive T-shirts to suit the occasion like I had found last year, but to no avail.  So, I decided to make one using a simple T-shirt from Michael’s that cost a mere $2.50, plus some iron-on letters.  Initially I thought I might go with an “XOXO” message as I like it’s graphic nature, but since my son and his class mates are just 4, I didn’t think using letters, that are used as symbols for  hugs and kisses would aid in their literacy. In fact, I thought it might be a tad confusing.

Hope you like these ideas.  Do tell me what you’ve come up with.