Handmade Valentines

Somehow I managed to squeeze in some crafting time with my kids this weekend in between episodes of Revenge.  Do you watch that show?!  Oh. my. word!   My sister-in-law told me that I needed to start watching it, so I took her advice.  I watched the premier show on Friday night and got hooked.  I then proceeded to watch all 13 episodes on hulu.  I'm just that crazy!  My house is a mess, my laundry isn't done, but I'm ready for a new episode this Wednesday night.  ;)   I did do Valentine crafts as planned with my kiddos, so it's all good.

I decided to go with handmade Valentines this year, and the kids were totally on board with the idea.  I also made the executive decision that we would not be giving out any sugar this year.  Instead we're giving pencils.  I know it's like being the house that gives raisins on Halloween, but in my defense both kids will be having sugar-filled class parties.  I figured we didn't need to add to the hype - or hyper - if you know what I mean.

The boy is crazy for origami so we made these fun pencil toppers.

For the girls.

For the boys.

Be still my geek heart!  I want to keep this Yoda bouquet for myself!

To make these origami characters we used the tutorials from these books that my son loves - The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back.  The author of those books also made an instructional video.

Here are the instructions for how to make an origami Yoda.



You can find the Darth Vader tutorial on you tube as well.

The girl, while she loves Star Wars too, wanted something a little sweeter.  So, we made butterfly pencil toppers for her classmates.

I showed you the pin that inspired this here.  These were so simple to make.   I just free handed some butterfly wings on card stock and used them as a pattern to cut the rest.  I folded them in half and cut 2 small slits to hold the pencil.  Then I just used a pipe cleaner for the antennae.  Simple and fun.

All of the pencils were found in the dollar spot at Target.

I love a handmade Valentine.  Especially when made by little hands!  So what did you do this weekend?

*Linking up at Home Stories A to Z, Tip Junkie, Vintage Wanna Bee