Salt Dough Heart Ornaments...

I saw this idea in our Sunday Paper and cut it out to do with the kids this week.

I love sharing, so here you go!

Super-Simple Air Dry Clay:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

Mix the ingredients.  Add water, slowly.  If you want to color dough, add food coloring to the water.  Form into balls and roll out to about 1/8 inch thick.  Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes (in this case, heart and you can get heart-shaped cookie cutters in varying sizes).  Once you have cut out the shapes, leave them to dry for a day or two (or bake at 225 until they are hard) making sure you flip them every few hours so both sides have a chance to air dry.  Then decorate them however you'd like!

I am thinking these will be fun for Daddy, Grandparents and Teachers.  Maybe even add a magnet to the back.

{simple} Homemade Valentine Cards...

Halle (and Ian) and I were busy this morning making Halle's Valentine Cards that she will hand out to her friends at preschool.

Rather than going out and buying more paper,

I thought, "certainly we have tons of paper around the house we could reuse."

I am always looking for ways to use what we already have.

So, we used the same paper grocery bags that I used for Christmas label making - and other random cardstock I had.

We cut out 16 "paper cards", and I set out an assortment of my stamps and stickers for her to use - hearts, flowers, etc. - and crazy scissors to decorate the edges.

When she was done decorating the "cards", we wrote, "To: My friend.  From:  Halle"

We did not include candy with our cards (go ahead and call me a grinch, but they'll get enough from their classroom parties and Grandparents!), and my heart just can't contribute to pulling these kids' immune systems down during this horrible sick season.

In lieu of candy, we made a fun "non-candy" item for her friends - a heart "flower" using pipe cleaners and construction paper - and we attached a flower to each card.

Now, we just need to do Sophie's!

I love Valentine's Day - because LOVE - is the heart of God's 2 Greatest Commandments to us:

1.  LOVE the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole strength {love God}.

2.  LOVE your neighbor as yourself {love others}.

What are some of your fun Valentine ideas?