Hip hip hooray! It's the second day of fun and easy Valentine crafting magic from the minds of Penni and Lyssa. We're back with more real-life papercrafting ideas for Valentine's Day and great tips for using things you already own to express your love this holiday.
If you missed day one of our week-long series, click here to see it. Then Pin it and share with your friends!
First up today are some adorable punch art critters! Around my house we tend to send cute or funny Valentines rather than serious or elegant ones.
Real-Life Tips & Tricks #1: You can use any cutesy animal stamp set to create Valentines, even if you don't have specific stamps for the sentiments. We used Foxy Friends and the coordinated Fox Builder Punch (bundle both and save) to make our woodland Valentines for today's post. Using grays and black to coordinate with our red and white color scheme, the little critters send their love on cards and little gifts.
Recognize the little Post-It Note Pad & Pen? Get the instructions in the 100% Free Tutorial Library! Small tokens like this (and the alternate standing Post-It Note holder below) make great Valentines for co-workers, teacher and friends. Who says a Valentine has to have candy in it? Give them a practical alternative and something they'll really use!
We used the Sending Love red and white patterned paper stack for these projects, but for sayings, we just used the everyday sentiments in the Thoughtful Banners stamp set and coordinating Duet Banner punch (bundle both and save!) We found a lot of sayings that could work for Valentine's Day as well as many of the "lesser" holidays.
Real-Life Tips & Tricks #2: everybody wants their cards to look good, but nobody has time to sit there and design them all from scratch. Enter the Cheat Sheets Collections! Using a red and white color scheme, you can turn any of the layouts into a Valentine, like this cutie Paper Circle Daisy card Penni made using a design from Cheat Sheets Collection #6. Not sure what Cheat Sheets are? Click here to watch one in action!!
PS--Real Red Glimmer Paper adds a great touch to your cards, but if you don't have any of the red, you can color your white Dazzlin' Diamonds glitter paper with a red ink pad and a sponge. Just be careful to dab and not rub, or you'll transfer a bunch of glitter to your ink pad (which sounds fun but might cause problems down the road).
Our last share for today's post is a quick idea for classroom Valentines. It's really kind of silly how much we pay for a box of those dumb character cards at the drugstore, when kids love making their own so much better--AND we all have suitable stamps in our own closets to do it with!
They are literally just one layer of paper with a pun on it, after all. Come on, parents--we can do better than this!
Real-Life Tips & Tricks #3: Penni and I cut red cardstock bases and plain white cardstock panels to layer on them. Then we went through our stamps and found all kinds of sets with fun sayings to coordinate. None of them are actually Valentine sets. Does it matter? Not a bit! The kids will have an hour of fun, and they won't have exactly the same generic (and pricey) character valentines as all their classmates. Tape a sucker or pencil to the back of these and you're good to go! You can even use washi tape to make it pretty : )
Now for the giveaway!
We can't have a blog series without prizes, right? Enter by leaving a comment on any of the five posts in this series (max five chances to win; US residents only, sorry!) We'll draw a name next for one person to receive a bundle of the Valentine projects featured during this week PLUS a free package of Dazzlin' Diamonds 12x12 Glimmer Paper! Contest ends Sunday night, January 29, 2017. No purchase necessary to win, but all products featured on this blog are available at Shop with Lyssa!
I can't wait to share tomorrow's creations!! Wait until you see what Penni and I have cooked up for you! Thanks for stopping by Song of My Heart today. Don't forget to enter the giveaway!
love love love your Valentine ideas...........thanks for sharing
hugs
Posted by: deborah essay | 01/24/2017 at 08:45 AM
Love the way you used those cute little animals with your Valentines! As always, thanks for sharing your talents with us!
Posted by: Tracy | 01/24/2017 at 08:46 AM
What an adorable treat holder. Looks like the perfect thing for a small candy bar to be given to my MOPS moms. Any chance on sharing how to make it.
Posted by: Kimberley Martini Young | 01/24/2017 at 04:05 PM
Cute projects and ideas! Thanks for doing this series.
Posted by: Vicky Blackwell | 01/24/2017 at 06:13 PM
You guys ROCK! Those ideas are so darn cute! Keep up the great work. I can't wait to see tomorrow's ideas.
Cammi
Posted by: Cammi | 01/24/2017 at 06:35 PM
Those classroom cards are the Bee's Knees!
Loving it all.
Thanks for sharing with us!
Posted by: Paula Poindexter | 01/24/2017 at 06:51 PM
Great ideas for any holiday ... thanks for a great set of ideas
Posted by: v swetnam | 01/24/2017 at 06:55 PM
I love your ideas!!! The grandkids and I will be getting busy stamping. Thank you!
Posted by: Kathy | 01/24/2017 at 07:19 PM
I love the little raccoons on the Valentine cards. Such an adorable idea!
Posted by: Sandi Kaustinen | 01/24/2017 at 07:42 PM
Valentines Day is my favorite holiday. I love the colors. You shared some really great ideas. I plan on right away to make the Post-it-Note Holder. I also love making treat holders for my nieces and nephews...Thank you so much for sharing !
Posted by: Cheri L | 01/24/2017 at 07:47 PM
Thanks for sharing your inspiration with all of us!
Posted by: Kathy | 01/24/2017 at 08:06 PM
You two come up with such cute ideas. Thanks!
Posted by: Renee Hughes | 01/24/2017 at 08:21 PM
These are cute cards for any age!
Posted by: Beth Jones | 01/24/2017 at 08:47 PM
Those class Valentine's are wonderful! They would be great fun to create!
Posted by: Sherylee | 01/25/2017 at 02:12 AM
What a great idea to use the animal stamps for Valentine's Day cards! I love them.
Posted by: Terry Duncan | 01/25/2017 at 01:18 PM
Love this idea of not using the typical Valentine stamps. Thanks so much for sharing.
Posted by: Caroline R | 01/25/2017 at 07:41 PM
I love today's projects!! The fox bundle is the perfect set for making all different animals for valentines, and I ADORE the little valentines you made using "everyday" sets and sentiments. I can't wait to whip some of those out myself now :) Thanks so much for your wonderful inspiration!!
Posted by: Deepa M. | 01/26/2017 at 08:50 AM
Awesome ideas, love the idea of using non-valentine stamp sets.to make kids valentines.
Thanks for the idea.
Posted by: Denise Phillips | 01/26/2017 at 08:44 PM
Like the little raccoon with the tiny heart "necklace."
Posted by: Diane Durbin | 01/27/2017 at 12:14 AM
Such cute Valentine ideas. My grandkids would love making these classroom valentines.
Posted by: Elisa | 01/27/2017 at 11:50 AM
So much fun! I was making valentines for a children's hospital project and totally forgot about the fox builder punch - I could have had a whole series of critters on some. Plus more that are not necessarily valentine sets. I need to file this for next year. I love the treat holder and the sticky note pad holder. AL great ideas!
Posted by: Chris R. from Iowa | 01/27/2017 at 01:29 PM
Thinking outside of the box unlocks all kinds of creativity, doesn't it? I hope you had as much fun making these cards as I have in looking at them and imagining how I can do the same. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Carol Smith | 01/27/2017 at 07:32 PM
cute cute projects thanks
Posted by: marge | 01/28/2017 at 10:27 PM