Heart Art for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a special day to show loved ones how much you care, especially kids. Often, parents buy cards, flowers or chocolates for their kids. If you’re looking for a creative way to celebrate with your family, here are some ideas:  

“Every year we put out a little mailbox and all the neighborhood kids deliver Valentines to each other!” shared Danielle Rolfes, who lives in West University. This Valentine’s Day, Danielle will also enjoy some quality mother-daughter time by taking her kindergarten-aged daughter to a Valentine’s Day-themed cooking class to make kid-friendly snacks together. 

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Jessica Laviage likes to tape hearts with loving, descriptive words written on them to her daughters’ bedroom doors, a nice keepsake for them. Then she says her husband Brian “takes us girls to dinner!” 

Every year, my kids and I create a heart-shaped, handcrafted Valentine card to send to out-of-town friends and family members. This year, we were inspired to repurpose materials like packaging and gift wrap. We all have piles of used gift wrap, ribbons and magazine pages, right? Now is your chance to turn them into art! You can hang up these hearts for a festive Valentine’s decoration around your home, write a note on them with a Sharpie to turn them into Valentines cards or tie them on to presents to use as gift tags. Here’s how we made this year’s craft: 

Use up all of those ribbons you received during the holidays to make this easy Valentine’s Day craft with your kids.

Upcycled Heart Art
Make your own customized heart to hang up at home or give to a loved one. This project allows families to get creative together, while repurposing materials. Kids ages five and up will enjoy picking out the papers and ribbons and helping to wrap the hearts. Make sure an adult does all of the cutting. Kids can do everything else. 

Materials:

• Printer paper
• Cardboard or cardstock
• Magazine pages or gift wrap
• Glue stick
• Ribbon
• Pencil
• Scissors

Directions

1. Fold a piece of paper in half and cut half of a heart shape out of it, starting on the folded side. You can also draw the line first and then cut along it. Now you have a heart template. 
2. Use your template to trace a heart onto a piece of cardboard. Cut out the heart shape.
3. Cut two more hearts out of interesting magazine pages or gift wrap. Glue one onto each side of the cardboard heart, making sure that the decorative side is facing outward.
4. Cut ½” slits in the side of the heart about an inch apart from each other all the way around. It is up to you if you want to cut more or fewer of them. 
5. Use one long ribbon or tie several different ones together. Wrap them around the heart by tucking them into one slit and then crossing the ribbon over to fit it into another one. Keep wrapping the ribbon around and across the heart, tucking the ribbon in until all of the slits are filled. Then tie the two ends of the ribbon together. Both sides should have a nice retro shabby chic look to them. 

Happy Hearts Day!