Happy Valentine's Day! Celebrate with Personalized Kid's Valentines!

Let's make some personalized Valentines!

I suppose it would have been more helpful to you if I'd posted this little tutorial last week, buuuuuuut, then everyone who got one of these little cuties would have seen their treats before Valentine's Day!  So, if you'd like to do this, just put it in your February file for next year. :)

This is such a cool idea, and it's not original with me. However for the life of me, I cannot find the tute online where I saw it last February..... (so if you know where it is, PLEASE comment and tell me so I can link up appropriately!)

Besides being cute, this craft is fun and oh-so-easy.  First, grab some suckers or lollipops at the store - one for each Valentine. (We <3 the long stemmed ones at Michael's, and since we only did a very few this year, it didn't get too $$.  But a big value bag of Tootsie pops or plain candy suckers would work well, too.)
Next, pick a time when your child is in a photographable frame of mind, put them in a place with a decent background and take a photo of them "punching" the camera.  Make sure their thumb is outside and to the side of their fist, like this:

Then, upload the adorable picture to www.picnik.com (or another of  your favorite photo editing sites/programs) and crop/decorate it.  I let my little guy help, and he made this (I'm so proud of him - he is getting GOOD with the mouse!):

Next, print out as many decorated Valentines as you need, and carefully (no little ones helping on this part!) use a craft knife or pen knife to cut two 0.5-inch slits: one below and one under your child's photographed fist.


Then, carefully (especially if you printed on thin paper - I used Avery photo paper and it held up well, but I also did this project with some girls from church, and we printed their photos at Rite-Aid, and that photo paper was MUCH thinner and ripped easily) thread your lollipop through the slits, and - Voila! -


Instant Valentine cuteness!

Now, go have fun!  

(You knoooooow, this craft would work great for any holiday - I was just noticing some delightful shamrock groovy pops on Amazon.com..... and picnik.com always has free seasonal borders and stickers!  The possibilities are endless!)

I linked this little tutorial up at: