"One in a minion" Valentines 2014

This week has been a whole lot of fun, we have had a good bit of snow for our parts and playing with the kids was wonderful. So, at the end of it all we ended up doing our Valentines last minute and though this wasn't our original plan, it turned out pretty cute.

Minion sticks and baked sugar cookies... The cookies are always a hit when kids can help bake, at least my kids, they LOVE to bake. Also, they LOOOOVE Despicable me so we wanted to do something little to do with that too that they could help with and they really enjoy crafts. Of any kind!

Here are some photos of what we did, maybe it will give you an idea of something you can enjoy doing with your own children or do the same as we did! It was incredibly easy (except clean up lol)!

First we baked allot of sugar cookies, and yes I make home made sugar cookies and all but when baking with the kids we sometimes just choose the simple route and we did a cookie mix.

 
 

Next we made some adorable little minion sticks... "Your one in a minion" I wrote on it and they could help paint, put eyes on etc what ever you want to let the little ones help with. These self stick googly-eyes are great and I had everything needed on hand. All you need is a sharpie, large popsicle sticks, yellow paint and googly eyes! Minions have some crazy hair so just play with it with a marker and make some fun different faces.

Just throw them in a cute valentine goody bag and tie it up... Cute and easy!

We did little handmade tags with some yellow paper (for the minions) cut into hearts and just wrote the to/from on it!

Grandparents gift ( Valentine's or whenever!)

So, if you saw m prior post on valentine's day you know I promised a grandparent valentine... Well, I know this isn't going to post early enough but due to my sick kiddos we were a little delayed getting things done for this year. BUT, on the plus side, this is an amazing idea for any occasion so here goes!

What you need:

Unfinished wood 8x10 (big enough for toddler hand prints and 3x5 picture)

Picture printed out on REGULAR paper, no photo paper!

Mod Podge

Craft paint for hand prints

Paint pen (or brush to write with)

Hardware for hanging on wall

FIRST: I'll give you a quick summary of how to transfer the photo onto wood in case you are doing a separate craft and just need that part; then you can continue on and the rest will answer any questions you have and explain how we did it... Cover the wood where your picture will be placed with mod podge, place the picture (printed on REGULAR paper) face down on top of the mod podge, press down evenly, let it set overnight. Using a damp cloth rub off paper and the photo will be on the wood, then moisten it with a damp rag and using your fingers gently rub off extra residue. Cover with mod podge again.

Found the idea of how to transfer pictures to wood on pinterest (love this site) but I found it on so many different places I don't have an original source to give you.  

Get your kids together and get out the paint! Oh what fun! I don't have any pictures of my kids doing this because at 1 & 2 years old they needed some help and I had too much paint to take pictures. (Next time I'll enlist my husbands help :)

Here is the wood with the hand prints on it...

   After the paint dries line up the pictures where you want them so you know it will fit how you like.  

   

Then coat the wood where the picture will be placed with mod podge, place the picture face down on the mod podge. Press it down making sure it is touching the wood good.

As you will notice I put mod podge on the backs of the pictures for some reason but there is no need to

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NOW THE HARD PART... YOU HAVE TO LET IT SET OVER NIGHT! 

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OHHH, If you are any where near as impatient as I am with stuff like this the wait drives you crazy lol! But, if you've waited over night you can now take a damp wash cloth and gently rub the paper off. Toward the edges rub out and not in so you don't catch the edge of the photo and pull up too much of the picture. 

 

 

(Side note: the damp rag will make it look like you have all the residue from the paper but give it a few minutes to air dry and you will notice white splotches again, gently wipe over it with a fresh damp rag to moisten and using your finger tips gently rub to get the remainder of the film off. This takes a little bit of trial and error of thinking you are done and having to go back and do it some more, you should be able to feel whether it is smooth or still has residue.)

 

This is where I was rubbing the remaining residue off... remember to do it gently!

 

 

At this point you could easily cover it with mod podge for the final coat and be done but we did want to do something a little more to add to the "sentiment" of the gift for the grandparents and my brother and sister in law (aunt and uncle). 

Here is our final product:

Using a paint brush since we didn't get to pick up a paint pen we added initials at the palm of each print and added the date and occasion, Valentine's 2013!

And after we added those touches we covered with mod podge and let dry.

(Oh, and the original plan was to make the hand prints form a heart shape but I quickly found out my kids aren't old enough to be that cooperative, especially when they are playing in paint. But, if your kids are older or you can get them to work with you well enough I think it would be really cute to have the heart with the palms overlapping as the bottom of the heart and the fingers forming the top.)

 

Hardware on the back... 

 

AND here are the proud artists... They woke up to see them dry and Annabelle picked it up and carried it everywhere and saying she made it. Was so happy to hand them out to people too! Oh, and excuse the Christmas pj's, it is my daughters absolute favorite pair and we haven't seen the need to put them away yet.

Easy to do toddler Valentine!

Doing crafts with my little girl is the best! I'm sure when my son gets a little bigger he will join right in there with us. This year we did her first "valentine's". We are doing something special for aunt and uncle and the grandparents which I will share once they are done (haven't quite finished those yet). But first, take a look at the cutest little valentine bags ever, and they are cheap to make too!

Looking for ideas I found the "banana's over you" theme for valentines stuff, and who doesn't love banana runts? So, this is what we came up with. Also, another great thing for toddlers, STICKERS, they love stickers, or at least mine does. So, of course, this includes stickers!

We made 4 valentines this year, this is what we purchased for the 4.

And everything was purchased at Hobby Lobby, of course! (except the candy)

What you will need: (Forgot to keep the receipt so I'll guess on price to what I can remember)

-Small jewelry storage zip lock (large pack is approx. 2.99)

-Small letter stickers (I purchased 2 pkgs at 50% off 1.99)

-Monkey stickers about 2 inches or smaller (1pkg 1.49)

-Large Card stock paper in preferred colour (2 sheets, .50 each)

-Skinny ribbon in preferred colour (1.99 1 roll)

-Hole punch (can be purchased for 5.00 or under I think)

-Runts (and other candy if you want extra, 3-4.00)

 

Cut the card stock in strips about 3x6, fold in half.

Then, is is where my Annabelle came in, STICKER TIME!

 
 

Take the strips of card stock and arrange the letter stickers to make "Bananas over you" and place the monkey sticker on as well.

  

(excuse the mess on the table, we were in the middle of the grandparents valentines too)

Cut strips of ribbon about 8 inches long. 

Place folded card stock over bag zipper and punch holes thru bag and paper together. Once you add the candy to the bag (we chose to do runts for the banana theme and a twix for chocolate too, except one bag which is for a younger baby we just put a few banana's and then some m&m's and 3 musketeers for a softer candy he could eat) place the paper over the bag and pull ribbon thru holes and tie in a bow.

 

Now look how adorable? Annabelle LOVED to pick out which monkey each one should get and help put them on.

 

Hoping you all enjoy this idea and enjoy making valentines with your sweet little one as well. Keep a look out and I'll have the grandparents valentines up on the blog soon!

HAPPY VALENTINES TO YOU AND YOURS!