Oscar's valentines

Oscar's been pretty interested in crafts lately, and loves to tape, cut, fold, draw, and write. With this being his first year in pre-school, I was inspired to think up some valentines for him to help me put together to give to his classmates. I know this is sort of last minute for this year's Valentine's Day, but hopefully some of you can keep this bookmarked for next year.

Just download the template here, and cut and fold along the guides provided. Carve out the hearts with an Exacto knife - it's a bit tricky I know, but it gets easier with practice. Then I had Oscar write his classmates' names and his name in the space provided. I packaged up little fruit gummies in some flat clear cellophane bags I had, and stapled it to the edge of the bottom flap (Oscar was able to help me staple a few, but it was tough for him). Fold up the back flap, apply double-stick tape to the small top flap, and press down tightly over the back. Enjoy!

Paper flower tutorial

I thought some of you would enjoy a quick tutorial on how to make those little paper flowers I used as part of my table setting a couple weeks ago. The credit for these go to Martha Stewart (I saw this idea nearly 10 years ago in her magazine, but haven't been able to find it on her website). So here I go..

Step 1: Draw a spiral on a 4x4" square sheet of paper


Step 2: Cut out spiral along lines you have drawn


Step 3: Begin rolling up the spiral from the outside


Step 4: Keep on rolling until there's no more left to roll


Step 5: You're done!


I used a slightly heavier weight paper for this one, but you can use normal paper as well. You can use squares of various sizes to have different sized flowers. Besides sticking them on branches, they would be great scattered on the table as well. Heck, you can even make a little bouquet of them. Have fun!



Note: You may use a bit of glue or double-stick tape to keep the flower from unrolling and loosening up with time. I didn't glue the ends for these specific flowers and they held up alright.