Ella's Valentine Hearts

As I was assembling Ella's Valentines for her class, Brett asked me, "Why don't you just buy Valentines like normal people?" I guess that I just like to create something homemade. Plus, it gives me a chance to use some of those scrapbook tools of mine that have been languishing in the cupboard for far too long. Last year we used my Creative Memories cutting system to cut the hearts for Valentine's Day Blooms. This year, we used it again to make these little babies.

These Valentine Hearts were fun and easy to make. I got Ella to help me make some Crayon Hearts. (This time she wasn't too busy watching TV to help like she was when I made them for our Valentine's mantel.) All we did was take a long sheet of wax paper, fold it in half, and "sandwich" some crayon shavings in different colors between the layers. Then, I placed the wax paper between two sheets of brown paper bag (my thrifty substitute for craft paper) and ironed on low until the crayon melted. Once the sheets were cool, we cut hearts out of them. Then, I printed some simple wording on white cardstock and cut out slightly larger hearts. We finished them off by using a glue stick to put the crayon hearts onto the white heart backing.  Of course, Ella addressed them herself. We think that they turned out cool.

Not only did we create some unique Valentine cards, but they were practically free! Since we already had the supplies at home (wax paper, crayon stubs, and cardstock), it didn't cost us a penny. Okay, so that isn't quite true. The card didn't cost money, but we did spend about $1 on foil-wrapped chocolate hearts. We plan on taping them to the front of the crayon heart so that Ella's friends get a sweet treat on Valentine's Day. All in all, these homemade cards were a fun and frugal way to celebrate Valentine's Day with Ella.

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For other frugal-minded ideas, be sure to check out Frugal Friday at LifeasMOM.