Valentine's Day in the Middle

Middle school students are too cool for Valentine's Day cards. Just because they are too cool to hand them out, doesn't mean they don't want to receive them! I love being able to surprise my students with something that makes them feel noticed and cared for. Being acknowledged is a major part of the psyche of a middle schooler, at least in my experience. So while looking for Valentine's ideas for the sprout I came across an idea perfect for an English classroom.

Here's what I pinned:

I followed the link in the pin to Etsy to purchase and download the PDF template for the tops of the baggies.

Here's all of the supplies I used in order to create the valentines:

Martha Stewart Crafts Bone Folder, Wilton 100 Count Party Bags 4"x6", Swingline 747 Classic Stapler, Cheez-it Scrabble Junior, , Fiskars 12 Inch Portable Scrapbooking Trimmer, White cardstock (purchased from RAFT San Jose)

I started out by cutting out all of the little cards and trimming them to the correct size. It's really important to have sharp scissors or a scrapbooking trimmer so that this part goes smoothly. I ended up cutting out a LOT of them as you will see, so the sharper your blade, the easier this part will be.

Next, I had to fold all of the little cards. For this step I used the bone folder. Yeah, you could just use your hand to fold it, but the bone folder makes the crease so sharp and makes really fast work of your project. It also helps keep your project clean and free from hand oils. Here's a video I made (with my knees!) that shows how to use a bone folder.

The next step is to fill the bags with the Cheez-its, then fold over an inch and a half or so at the top of the bag. I chose to fill the bags with 10 Cheez-its each. I needed to make sure that I had enough for my whole project and I didn't want to to over fill the bags either.

Finally, I took one of the cards that I pre-folded and placed it over the fold I made at the top of the bag. I then used my stapler to put one staple on each side of the card, to secure it to the top of the bag.

I think they came out pretty cool! I ended up making 160 of them! I would definitely do this project again. It was an easy way to do something a little extra, wasn't too expensive (I think I spent about $30 because I already had the bone folder,stapler, trimmer, cardstock, and a few of the bags, left over from another project. So they came out to a bit less than 19 cents each). Make stuff for big kids, too! everyone likes getting a Valentine!

Valentine's Day for the Sprout

So just like any self-respecting Pinteresting mommy, I made Valentines for my son, AKA Sprout, to take to daycare. Being that Sprout's only one and a half, I kind of saw this as a low-risk trial run for later Valentine's undertakings. And it's fun. Who am I kidding?

So this is what I pinned:

So I got started by printing out the little circles on regular printer paper. The blogger who created these has a super nifty machine called a Silhouette that cuts stuff out perfectly, and well... I don't. So, scissors!

Cut, cut, cut!

After I was all done cutting them out, I needed to make them stronger somehow. The printer paper alone wasn't going to hold up, and besides, they needed a bit of jazzing up!

I wanted to do something a little more masculine than the pink scalloped border on my pin, so I searched around the craft stash and found some turquoise card stock. I used a glue stick and glued all of the circles down, then just cut around them again, this time leaving a quarter inch border all the way around. Meanwhile, I also print and cut out my tag for the hand soap gift for his daycare provider and glued and trimmed that as well.

The tags came out pretty cute. Some might say they look a little sloppy, but I'd say they have that "handmade" touch with the uneven borders.

        

Next, it was time to trace my little one's hand. Anyone who's ever asked a toddler to hold still for anything knows how big of an accomplishment the tracing job I did is. I amazed myself! He moved at one point and I had to replace his hand over the part we already traced to finish the job. Because I just barely accomplished this is, I cut it out and traced three more, just in case I want to use them for anything.  He ended up ripping one of them, but I still have two more left!

When I got to work, I had one of my teacher's assistants help me string the tags onto the soap and applesauce pouches. Mission accomplished! Happy Valentine's Day!