Valentine painting day

The kids and I have been really slacking in our Valentine crafting this year. Usually I can't wait to get started right after Christmas, getting ready for Valentine's day. But for some reason this year, we have all been dragging our feet. Today I told D that we were going to paint. I tried that a few days ago and was met with a tantrum. So I tried again. We used potato stamps, cookie cutters, and the base of celery. I have done the cookie cutters and potato stamps in past years, but we always have fun with them, so we pulled them out again.

The celery roses were something I saw on pinterest floating around this year. I may have seen it places last year and just didn't remember, but I knew we needed to try it this year! To find the original site, go to Maureen Cracknell Handmade!

Supplies needed:
paper plates (for the paint)
red, pink, and white paint
cookie cutters, and potato stamps
celery (cut a bunch of celery from the rest of the stalk, the closer to the bottom you cut, the more closed the rose will be)
construction paper

We made tons of fun stamps of hearts and roses with our stamps. D was having a blast mixing which paint color went with what paper color.

 We then tried this handprint heart that I also saw floating around pinterest. For the original post for this one, head over to The Happiest mommy on the block. For this one you just need to paint the palm of each hand and place on to a sheet of paper, making a heart shape. We do have one that D insisted doing on her own, and it looks like a sad broken heart. She let me help after that again.

 And lastly, we made other roses with the sides of our hands. I can't find a link to show you where I saw this one originally, but D loved it! I think this was her favorite. Make a fist, and dip your fist (thumb side down) into the paint. Print it on to a sheet of paper, and you have a closed upright rose. Fun! We ended up making tons of prints today. I don't have to worry about L getting mad that we did this while he was in school, because I know he did some of these at school already!

I put together a card making box for the kids a few weeks ago, and they have been having fun churning out the cards. After these all dry, they can cut these out and use them to make even more cards! We can't wait!

(I also have a fun surprise planned for them. I have friends from all over the States sending them Valentines, and we will plot them on a US map to see where they are all coming from!)