1.20.2016

3 Easy Handprint Valentine Crafts

I've come to terms with the fact that Marcus isn't real big into crafting. It's just not his thing, and that's ok. But, that's not to say I don't want some of those cute crafts I see floating all over social media to happen in our home, too.

So, for Valentine's Day I decided Marcus, Julia and I would whip up three handprint/footprint crafts that would require very little time from either child, but would still fulfill my desire to have said items don our home and make for some cute Valentine's to send to the grandparents.

May it also be noted I did these pretty much all at the same time. We were able to knock out hand and foot prints rather quickly, and the kiddos were able to move on to their next desired activity.

Hand & Footprint Valentine Bouquet
What You'll Need
Paper or cardstock
Paint colors of your choice - I'd recommend three different colors for the flower
Paint brush
Marker
Two little hands and two little feet

How It Comes Together
This is pretty self-explanatory.
I first painted did Marcus' hands and made the flowers, and let those dry. Pro tip - I have zero patience for paint drying, so I threw the paper in the microwave for about a minute. Bam! Dried paint.
After the flowers were dry I quickly painted Julia's feet and pressed them down onto the paper to create leaves. Again, threw the paper in the microwave for speedy dry time.
After the leaves and flowers were properly dry I added a few stems to finish off the bouquet.
I then added a the little saying about "hand" picked bouquet with a marker.
This one will be dropped in the mail and sent off to the grandmas and grandpas.
Total craft time: approximately 10 minutes

Little Love Bug
What You'll Need
Paper or card stock for background as well as wings
Paint
Paint Brush
Glue
Marker
One little hand

How It Comes Together
This one was a Marcus-only effort.
We started with painting Marcus hand and adding the print to the card stock. Then I threw the paper in the microwave to dry.
Meanwhile, I quickly cut out two hearts that would eventually form the bug wings.
After the paint was dry Marcus helped me apply glue to the hearts, and then he helped place the hearts onto the bug's body.
With a marker I added the bug's eyes, nose, and mouth.
At the bottom I wrote the little "Love Bug" phrase.
Again, we'll be sending these to the grandmas and grandpas for a little Valentine's Day love.
Total craft time: approximately 10 minutes

LOVE Canvas
Please note the little smudge spot between the "V" and "E". That's courtesy of Julia's drool. I wanted to fix it, but thought better, this perfectly reflects what stage the kids are in their little lives.
What You'll Need
Canvas large enough for your child(ren)s hand and foot prints - this one is an 11x11
Paint color for canvas background and paint color for letters
One little hand and one little foot

How It Comes Together
Lightly apply a base color all over the canvas.
Allow canvas to dry. This I allowed to happen organically, as I was a little worried what might happen if I threw the canvas into the microwave.
After canvas is totally dry apply paint to one hand and place where you would like the "O" to be. Do the same for the feet, and where you would like the "V" to be.
After the "O" and "V" have dried complete the canvas with the "L" and "E".
This one is going to be Scott's Valentine's gift from the kids - even though Scott did help me get Julia's wiggly little feet onto the canvas. So, not so much of a surprise for him. But, it will be fun for Marcus to give his dad a gift, so all isn't lost.

And there you have it, three crafts that took about 15 minutes of participation from my kids - just enough time! - and little keepsakes that have met all my mom-crafting dreams.
Total craft time: approximately 4 hours (including dry time for paint)

There you have it. Three quick and easy Valentine crafts that even the most unenthused crafter can do to appease the momma desire to have a little hand or footprint creation.

15 comments:

  1. These are all so cute! The "love" one is the only Valentine's Day craft I could think of this past weekend when we were crafting. The bug and flowers are so cute and I definitely need to do those! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Super cute ideas! I have a feeling my little guy won't be very into crafts either but my girls definitely are. I love the "handpicked" card! That would be great for us to make and send to all our family back in WI!

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  3. I love these. The grandparents will go gaga over them!

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  4. Yep, these are grandparent gold!!! I love doing art like this for holidays because it's easy to send in the mail to my in-laws. So cute!

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  5. I love these!!! And I've been wanting to do them with Mason too. I need to get on it. I love your pro tip!!! I would have never thought to put the paper in the microwave!

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  6. I so need to do that Love one with the kids. I don't have any prints from when Reese was under 1, so I want to make sure I have Charlotte's this time around. What kind of paint did you use?

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  7. These are so cute! I want to try the love bug one with my niece and nephew.

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  8. Oh those are just precious. I miss having little kids with little hands. Maybe Emily's are still small enough to make something like this!

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  9. Crafting has never been my thing, so thank goodness for preschool and the adorable stuff Liam does there!

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  10. These are super cute! I may have to copy you!

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  11. These are so cute! I miss the preschool days when they used to make cute things like this. I feel like they don't do near as much in Kindergarten. I mean, it's understandable...but I remember when I was in Kinder we made all kinds of momentos and such for our parents. Times have surely changed!!

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  12. Love these! I love doing crafts like this with my kids and I need to jump on valentines day or it'll be gone before I get something out to the grandparents. :)

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  13. So so so cute! Love each of these, but especially the LOVE canvas! Handprint/footprint art is my favorite! ;)

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  14. I did the vase with flowers with my niece and nephew but I've never completed a single handprint craft with C I don't think. #momfail

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