children's valentines greeting ideas

It's about that time when we begin to play with ideas for our Valentine's Day cards.  Naiya and I like to come up with some creative way to use a new skill or apply an old crafting method for simple greetings for all of our friends.  Luckily we get a lot of inspiration from the many beautiful hand made notes we've received over the years, so while we ponder our upcoming afternoon of hearts and flowers, glue, ribbons, felt, crayons and glitter, we thought we'd share some of the lovely felicitations we've been given in the past.

These are made of fabric and felt by both adults and children.  As with most that follow, the methods of fabrication seem pretty obvious, so I'll not insult anyone with unnecessary instructions.  If you're not overly familiar with felting though, I can point out that the one on the right was wet felted inside of a cookie cutter to help keep its form.  (I believe the children helped make these a few years ago in Naiya's Parent-Child class.)

This larger one was also done with a cookie cutter and utilizes two colored beeswax sheets.  (The flip-side is purple.)  We hang a lot of these on our Seasonal Tree in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day.

Naiya made the little one on beeswax day in school last week.

I loved the idea of using a hand print for this paper note.  And, of course, you can't go wrong with glitter and paint.

Our friends Ilana and Rowan gave us the card on the left either last year or the year before and I love the little poem:

Upon this day at winter's end

We send a note to all our friends

Reminding them our love is true

And so we send this one to you!

Last year we both made and received greetings that used wax paper and melted crayons to create a beautiful kind of "stained glass".

To do this, simply arrange crayon shavings between two sheets of wax paper, lay them between fabric or towels then iron.  Cut to any shape and frame between sheets of craft or watercolor paper.  (click for step-by-step)

Paper seems the easiest medium for children and there are so many cute and simple ideas that make adorable cards.

And kids love to glue and paste.  I remember doing something like the one on the right when I was young.  We used the eraser end of a pencil to attach the bits of glue dabbed tissue onto the paper.

And then, of course, we need something in which to gather and carry all those love wishes!

This was made by our amazing parent-child/pre-school teacher using watercolor paintings the children had done themselves. 

Another year, she also gifted each child with a warm and beautiful felt bag.  (This design would work for a simple paper valentine too.)

So many lovely ideas.  We hope they offer up some inspiration for you as well!