Mummyology

So, if you hadn’t already guessed by the fact that the high street shops, supermarket aisles and Pinterest boards have all gone mad for a bit of ‘Heart Art’ but our next excuse to get crafty is nearly here! Thursday is Valentines day!

There are loads of amazing ideas out there, but with my in-laws here for a short break and my husband taking the week off work as well, all plans we had to create amazing hand crafted love tokens for my girls and I to give my husband have gone out of the window!

One good thing is that my man and his dad have given themselves a garden project to get on with so they aren’t getting under our feet too much and we are able to collaborate on some brilliant but quick secret crafts without daddy seeing! (Bea is totally hilarious about keeping it all secret and at the same time rubbish at keeping secrets!)

SO this week, I thought I would share with you our 10 top Valentine gifts and crafts – some are super quick and easy and some are ones I wish I had been able to do / will be doing next year!

1 – Cards – Is there anything nicer than getting a homemade card from your kids? My mum still has all of the ones we gave to her so I really try to make sure my two get the chance to make their own for their daddy. Freya and I had a go at some of the great ‘heart art’ ideas that I had seen online over the last few weeks to make Daddy and our family some cards last week. We tried the Toilet paper heart stamp, the cookie cutter heart stamp and the potato stamp – the cookie cutter was by far the best for her little hands with some really cute results.

2 – Collage – I am a previously confessed hoarder, so grabbing last years valentines cards and some birthday cards with hearts on was easy! Bea sat and did some cutting out of all things lovey dovey to make a collage for her card. This is just a few of the hearts and flowers she managed to find on our card collection but it made a lovely card!

3 – Make a hug! In one of our covert craft moments, Bea and I made this lovely little ‘hug’ to give her daddy. Very simply, its two of her hands drawn around and cut out (by her) and then a concertina of card in between the two hands – making a little cardboard cuddle. She is really into her writing practice now so she also wrote ‘I love you’ on the hands ….. and then ‘this much’ on the concertina hug. How nice to carry your own hug around with you all day on Valentines day!

4 – Pocket hearts – We have a lovely book called The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn which was given to Bea before she started pre-school. It tells the story of a little racoon who is worried about going off to school. His mummy kisses his hand and describes how this special kiss will always stay on him and remind him how much his mummy loves him no matter where he is. We still kiss Beas hand when she is having a worry about going off to class or a new activity and she in turn kisses our hands to make us remember her when we are going out which is lovely! I had seen this idea of a little love heart to send kids to school with from the Crafty Crow too and we thought it would be lovely to send her daddy to work with a special cuddly love heart in his pocket! They were super easy for Bea to cut out of some leftover felt and Freya helped to decorate it with glitter glue. Not so easy for the kids to sew together so I did that for them (I really want to get a kids sewing set, its on my to do list!) I stuffed it with some toy stuffing and a little paper heart Bea had cut out and done a big lipstick kiss on… now Daddy will be able to take her love to work with him – note to self, make smaller hearts next time!

5 – Lunch – I often cut the girls lunch sandwiches into fun shapes so we will definitely be sharing a ‘Love lunch’ together on Thursday and have heart shaped sarnies.

6 – Cookies – We like to tell all our extended family that we love them on Valentines day too so we will definitely be spending some time making these lovely cookie pops from The Imagination Tree. Its not just about the mummies and daddies, we will be telling the grannies and Aunties just how much we love them too. How cute do they look?

7 – Photo – If I manage to steal both girls away to take a photo like this one from the ‘How to Mommy’ for my husband, I will be very pleased. I simply love the idea and think it makes a lovely simple and affordable present.

8 – Love map – Something I have seen on my favourite online place to shop, Notonthehighstreet.com is this personalised map art. I think it would be a lovely picture to put together of special places you have been with your family, or indeed where your extended family are. My husband was not born here in Jersey so I would love to put one together with his home town in England where his parents and younger brother still live, his family home with us here and his brothers home town in the USA. I might get online and get map printing….who needs to buy something if you can craft it yourself…

9 – Chocolates! I had every intention to make some choccy truffles with the girls for their chocoholic daddy but simply haven’t had the time… these amazing shop bought ones will definitely do…. maybe we will decorate the box instead!

10 – Time – Gone are the days that my husband and I would romance each other on Valentines day…. is that bad?! I can’t wait to simply enjoy Valentines day together. Every year my husband and I ‘discuss’ how much he doesn’t like how commercial the whole day has become (is this his excuse for not lavishing me with gifts?!)

I am on the other side of the scale and LOVE the excuse to tell everyone, not just each other, how much we love and appreciate them. I really truly don’t expect over priced red roses but a bunch of daffodils (just coming into bloom here and my absolutely most favourite springtime flower) would be lovely. Most of all though, I can’t wait to spend time together. Having daddy off work for a whole day during the week and during the school holidays is quite a treat for all three of us so most of all, on St Valentines day this year, much more than gifts we will be enjoying the love that we have for each other as a family and will probably just pop to the park or go for a walk.

Do you celebrate Valentines Day with your kids? What will you be doing this year? Let us know, we love to hear from you – and we LOVE you our readers! Happy Valentines to you all. These and a few other Valentine crafts can be seen on my Pinterest board click here to take a look.

Other stuff you might enjoy:

5 Gift Ideas for all the Family 5 Fast craft ideas Grow a Valentine’s Day crystal heart A Quick and Easy Shamrock Craft All we want for Christmas… 20+ fab ideas for busy mummies Easy craft and food ideas for Christmas 4 EGGstremely easy Easter ideas 8 ideas for simple play