Valentine's Day for kids?

Spoiler Alert: This is not a cutesy, DIY Valentine posting today.

 

I have been thinking about this for the last couple of days. Mainly because whenever I pop onto Pinterest lately, I am bombarded with

Valentine's Day crafts, decorations, jewelery, and Valentine related clothing.

#1. My kids are in elementary school. That's a K-5th grade, so 5-12 year olds. Um, they shouldn't have Valentines. They shouldn't have boyfriends or girlfriends. Sure they can have crushes and think someone is totes cute, but I really feel that is about as far as it should go. I'm no prude, or fuddy duddy. I got engaged and moved out at 17, with the man I felt was the love of my life and I would spend forever with. 17 years later, we are still married and have 2 wonderful kids, who know that I was 17 when I moved out, but I have a hard time being okay with it for kids nowadays.

 

#2. Do people actually decorate their homes for Valentine's Day? I mean I know people who do themes for Christmas, winter, Thanksgiving, autumn, 4Th of July, Spring, & Easter (this one mainly for their kids). But is there sense in decorating for days like Valentine's and St. Patrick's. Why not Groundhog day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or even President's Day. I mean do you put up a foam Mt. Rushmore on your mantel? Do you hang little paper Groundhog head garlands on the trellis? How about putting a MLK Jr. mannequin in your yard in January? Ya, sounds spectacular to me.

 

#3. I'm willing to bet that the moms out there are the ones who scour the internet for these adorable little V-day card ideas, trying to find the perfect one. The perfect one has to meet several requirements:

• Cost to make
• Supplies on hand versus need to purchase
• Cuteness/Coolness
• Ease to make/ skill level required
• Does it come with something extra (candy or toy)
• Will any other moms probably do this or something like this

Once you find your perfect lil' idea, you begin. Time and energy spent coloring, printing, folding, cutting, taping, pasting, sweating, crying, drinking, giving up, jumping back in because you'll be darned if your kid doesn't bring something totally adorable or awesome in.

 And now I guess we are giving teachers, mailmen, bus drivers, the pharmacist and neighbors V-day cards & treats too. When does it end? 
Well the pharmacist is cool in my book; the places I'd be without that angel ;)

See, look at these adorable ideas that I...my kids ;) would love to do!

 #4. The candy and toys. They come home with a bag full of cards and junk because the school has made it mandatory that if you bring something in for one kid, you must bring enough for everyone. And most of the other kids also brought cards with a candy or toy attached so they will be cool. I DON'T WANT MY KID TO HAVE ALL THAT CANDY! And I'm the bad guy when I tell them that and ration it to them like it were the Great Depression. (which they haven't even learned about yet)

And if you do send them with empty store bought cards, they are most likely to be passed over and thrown out without being opened or read.

How do I know this? Because 2 years ago my darling son brought home his bag and when we went through them, he pulled one out and looked sideways at it and said "hmm, no candy" then dropped it on the table. Since then he has come to understand appreciating the thought and effort put in to things.



 (FYI: My daughter just walked by and told me she was impressed with how much i am typing)

 So I have this parent part of me that wants to ask the teachers to have kids not bring candy in this year. And I have the cool parent, that used to be an un-cool kid, part of me that wants to keep my mouth shut.

 

Maybe if I send in one of these vintage gems then they will politely ask me to just not send anything in next year ;)

 

Rollerball painting

Materials needed: Paint, box lid, paper, something that rolls.

(We used a marble and a bouncy ball)

 

Kam did 3 colors on each side

 

I did 3 on top and 3 on the side

 

And away we go!

 

Keep rolling til you get the desired effect.

These are our finished beauties

 

Paint Chips REALLY!

Ok so I have to address this new rage of crafting using these paint sample cards from the home improvement sections.

You know the ones I mean.

The garlands made from punching shapes from the cards,

and the pictures and chandeliers made from them as well. 

I have a big issue with this because it is just more waste.

I can understand if you have a couple of these paint chips left over from trying to decide what shade of pink to paint a room or perhaps you want to convince your husband to repaint the boudoir so you bring home 3 or 4 choices to show him. But going to the store and snatching up like 50 cards just so you can make some craft is beyond me. I feel bad taking 5 let alone grabbing the whole dang pile.

Isn't it bad enough the over growing waste and the so few trees we have left that people are purposefully making it so we have to cut down more trees to produce more paint chips.

I dunno, perhaps it's just me pms'ing so I'm feeling more earth friendly or something, but I just had to vent. I am normally the first to encourage new methods for crafting or upcycling, but I just don't get this one. Sorry if you don't agree, you don't have to. Feel free to blog about it ;)

(This one I like)

Paper roses

So i saw this on the web and I had tried before but theynever came out right. But i think i wasnt cutting my paper correctly. The trick is to not worry about making a perfect circle and also to use hot glue. Regular glue takes too long to dry and these need to be glued in place or they just look like a big crumple of paper.
After I made these I decided to go ahead and stick them on a branch like i saw in the picture tutorial and i must saw I love it.
If I make more i think i will paint the branch white first for a more whimsical look (like for my daughters room) or even bright pink or purple.

I made these using an old Snow White kids book. I normally dont condone the destroying of books, but i knew this would be for "art" so i justified it. Plus I dont like Snow White personally so i was not heart broken to cut her face ;)

What do you think? Something you might try in the near future?

Flower Power!

So i had these left over from a project at my daughter's school, and i didnt want to see them go to waste.

 So I folded some, curled some, and attached them together to create these 3D flowers.

I'll most likely hang these in my daughters room, or give them to her to give her friends at school. It seems like whenever I make her something just because im bored and using scraps, she takes it to school and comes home with requests from her friends for me to make them some too. At least I know I always have somewhere for my little creations to go.