6 Easy Kid and Parent Friendly Projects for Valentines Day!

Are you crafty??

Here are six easy projects you can do with candy hearts to spruce up your Valentine table! 

We don't typically do a lot of decorating for Valentines Day, but it sure is fun to put a bit of the Valentine spirit into the days festivities.  why not have a fun afternoon with the kids and share a few minutes after school today to bring a touch of love to your home or table? These 6 crafts are the perfect way to do that! All of them can be done by you or by your kids, and all can be done in 30 minutes or less. These are fantastic ways for you to have fun, to be creative, and to foster the same in your children.  Enjoy these simple crafts that take no more than a bag of candy hearts and some things you probably have around the house! Enjoy!

The Romantic Candle! 

Time: 5 minutes

Find a few of your favorite sayings on the large candy hearts.  Heat up your hot glue gun - low temp glue guns work just fine.  Glue the hearts to the lower portion of a candle, spaced evenly. (I used a red candle left over from the Christmas holidays) Place in a pretty candle holder and Viola' ! A romantic candle to brighten your table! 

Note: ALWAYS use caution when burning candles - extinguish the flame before you leave the room and before it gets down to the level of the candy hearts. 

I Give You My Heart Plaque

Time 30 minutes

Separate candy hearts by color - a great way for your kids to work on color recognition and organization.  Use as many colors as you'd like.  Draw a heart on a piece of cardboard or other solid base. If you want and accent color on the base, apply that first - covering the entire base.  Use white glue to apply the hearts, one color at a time, to the inside of the heart.  Let it dry before standing upright. This is a colorful way to give your heart, or your child to express how much they love mom, dad, siblings, or other family!

Heart Jewelry

Time 20 minutes

For the little ones, a simple candy heart necklace can be made from ribbon and hearts.  Choose one large heart and approximately 14 small hearts in the sayings and colors of your choice.  Cut a piece of ribbon approximately 18 inches long.  Starting in the center, glue the large heart with low temp hot glue. Working out from the center, glue the smaller hearts in the pattern you desire.  

For the more experienced jewelry maker, use beads and jewelry findings to create a pendant style necklace.  Adhere findings to the heart using hot glue and string on a simple string rope.  

Keep My Heart

Time 30 Minutes

Using a re-purposed candle jar from the holidays, or any other container you have, create a "Keep My Heart". Glue a piece of fabric to the top of the lid and let it dry. Using low temp hot glue,  glue a large heart to the center top of of the jar and let completely dry.  Using small hearts, choose your favorite colors and sayings to line the lip of the lid.  Adhere with low temp hot glue.  In minutes you can have an adorable keep sake for Valentines day!

Sweet Hearts and Flowers for Your Hair!

Time 10 Minutes

Find some of your last year's spring silk flowers and create a fun hair decoration.  Decorate the center of the flower using a single large candy heart in your favorite color.  Affix the heart with low temp hot glue and let dry.  Affix the newly decorated flower to a hair pin or clip and you have hearts and flowers for your hair! 

A Vase for Your Valentine Flowers!

Time 20 minutes

Using two containers create this candy heart vase.  Insert a small container into a larger one - making sure that there is about 1 inch between the perimeter of the smaller container and the larger one.  Fill the space between the two containers with candy hearts.  Fill the inner container with your favorite flowers or greenery! Simply stunning! 

Love is in our actions. Take the time today to have fun and be creative with your kids.  These are simple projects that you can do together to make your Valentine's Day a bit more fun! If your kids are too little or are grown, have fun with these projects yourself. We show love by what we say, but also in the effort we make to show those special people in our lives that we love them.   ENJOY! 

Do you have any other suggestions? I'd love your comments and feedback on these easy crafts! 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

When I was a resident in the beautiful state of TX, I could grow anything. For that five years, my garden was beautiful! Anything I planted bloomed, thrived, produced fruit and made my back yard a peaceful haven. I had tulips, crocus, daffodils, butterfly bushes, hydrangeas, sunflowers. I could toss a melon seed in the ground and in a few months I’d have my own vine - peppers galore….you name it, if I put it in the ground it grew.

I have now lived in AZ for almost 7 years. In that time, I have yet to plant a bulb that will bloom a second season, seasonal flowers that will actually last an entire season, or a vegetable plant that actually bears anything edible.

Why! Why! Why!!!!

I love gardening, but have failed miserably. I know it is possible to garden here, I know plenty of people that do. I even know where my problem is with it. The soil and the climate are different here. I just need to adjust to it- maybe adopt a new strategy and plant something different and appreciate it for what it is.

It’s kind of funny how life is a lot like my garden.

There are times when it thrives, produces fruit, flourishes with blooms and possibility, and provides a comfortable and stable environment. The conditions are right for easy existence. The ground is fertile, and provides a healthy and nourishing foundation for growth, happiness and self discovery. There is plenty sunshine to warm the ground where new seeds are sown, and plenty of rain to water them so they can drink and grow. The roots take hold, and before you know it, the garden of life is in full bloom.

Then there are other times in life when there is struggle and drought. Rocky soil and beating sun thwart the efforts to grow. Seedlings my sprout, but the roots are shallow and they soon whither and die. The soil and the climate are different.

It is at these times that we need to change our strategy. Maybe the seeds we are sowing aren’t appropriate to the soil we are in. Perhaps the climate may be fine for a cactus, but not for a fern. We want what we had in our previous garden, but that may not be possible. We therefore must find new ways thrive and grow in ways that are appropriate to the place we are at. And, we must be willing to see the beauty in a garden that looks a little bit different than what we are used to.

When I moved here from TX, a good friend of mine gave me a garden gift that sits in my patch of dirt in my back yard. It says “Bloom Where God Plants You.” It took me a while to get the courage to live that. The climate and soil of life have changed. But, I am beginning to plant new seeds. Those seeds are beginning to grow. Soon they will be a thriving, beautiful garden!