Pokeball Valentine Box

I really want to tell you that this was super easy to make but we learned a few new things about paper mache that we had not known before. We had thought we would try using punch balloons because they are typically more around then a regular balloon but found that as we got additional layers on it would compress in make it all bumpy. To be honest after our third layer when it started to compress it looked horrible. We had spent so much time working on it I wasn't sure how to get it smoothed out and look like a ball again.

What's a combination of ideas from my husband and myself I ended up putting a regular balloon inside after I quickly soaps the entire thing in water to soften it. Then I blew up the balloon inside the paper mache until it was inflated enough to pop out the bumps and give it around shape again.

It had outstretched some of the weak spots so we ended up putting on a layer over the weak spots and then another final layer over the entire thing.

The red is actually red tissue paper and the white is white tissue paper except for the center of the Pokeball which is painted white. The black stripe around is all painted black.

As long as this Valentine Box makes transportation to and from school for Valentine's Day my son is hoping to save it and make some kind of lid for it to be able to store stuff in. If it makes it home we will add a sealer to the inside and outside which will also help make it stronger. He is hoping he can alter this to use as a Cloverbud fair project for 4-H.

On Thursday, I will share the one that my daughter made. They didn't get them finished until Friday night, so we couldn't share them earlier.

Monster Valentine Box

This is my son's valentine box he made for last year's 4-h Valentine Party Meeting. It is a Monster that he made out of a show box. He wrapped it in mint green tissue paper and cut out paper teeth to glue on and made heart ear out of pipe cleaners and glues on eyes and adorned with foam heart stickers. I thought it turned out super cute.

Toilet Valentine Box

Here is one of the kids valentine boxes from last year. There was A Valentine Box contest at our 4-H club meeting. This is the one my daughter made and she won one of the prizes.

She used a tupperware bowl as the actual toilet bowl. It took a lot of work for her to figure out how to attached a box to the back as a tank and also make it stand up. You can see she added on a holder for the toilet paper too. Plus she gave it away for the lid to stay open so people could put Valentine's inside.

Fun Valentine Food!!!

Who said you had to spend a lot of money on Valentine's Day or that it had to filled with chocolate. You can make your loved ones a special Valentine's breakfast that is healthy too.

To make the heart shaped eggs I made boiled eggs and peeled them while they still hot/warm and put them in their homemade "mold". The mold consists of a pieces of cardboard from a cracker box that I cut to the size that would be to the top of the eggs and then folded in it halg so it had a pointed crease at the bottom. Then I used a chopstick that that I rubber banded in place to help create the indent at the top of the heart.

To make the heart toast, I simply used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts from the bread before toasting it and topped it with my Homemade Freezer Strawberry Jam. I thought a couple of clementine pieces on a toothpick made a nice health arrow through the heart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Heart Tree Made with a Toilet Paper Tube

This was a fun way to reuse some toilet paper tubes before recycling them and create a fun Valentine project. You could go a paint arm and hand print, but we chose to have my son trace it out and cut it out.

I shaped the toilet paper tubes in to a heart shape and he used those to make prints of "leaves" all over his tree. This is certainly a last minute Valentine craft that only needs a few supplies to creat.

#ad GIVEAWAY and Review: Berenstain Bears Valentine DVD Set

Do your kids LOVE Berenstain Bears? I lost count of how many Berenstain Bears books we own, but it has to be close to 3 dozen, although we only owned 1 Berenstain Bears DVDs (a Christmas one) until now. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Kaboom! Entertainment has released 2 new Berenstain Bears DVDs. One of for each of the original cubs, Sister Bear and Brother Bear. I am excited to be able to offer my readers a chance to WIN the 2-DVD SET OF BERENSTAIN BEARS: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY. And for all you Berenstain Bear fans out there, be sure to come back in a couple more weeks when I will be giving away a 2-pack of the newest Berenstain Bears books. But start your Berenstain Bears collection now with these DVDs.

Each DVD has a run time of 90 minutes and includes 11 episodes. The DVDs each have completely different episodes, so why not own both so that you can view all 22 episodes. Some of the episodes include: Double Dare, Jump Rope Contest, Count Their Blessing, Slumber Party and 18 others!

If you are not that familiar with the Berenstain Bears, let me tell you a bit about them. They are children's stories that help teach children about social roles, expectations and skills that they will come across as they grow up. Many of the situations presented in the book are situations that most kids will find themselves in. Parents will like these books because they help teach children a lesson about things maybe the parents themselves struggle to teach their kids, but in an entertaining way by cute bears.

Find out more information about Kaboom! Entertainment online:

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ONE READER WILL WIN THEIR OWN 

2-DVD SET OF THE BERENSTAIN BEARS: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
from KABOOM! ENTERTAINMENT

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I was sent the above product for the purpose of review on this blog. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are my own. No monetary compensation was received.

Lowes Build & Grow: Sweetheart Picture Holder

Registration Opened on Monday for the next Lowe's Build & Grow Clinic. This time they can build a Sweetheart Picture Holder on Valentine's Day. So, if you were looking for a FREE and FUN activity to do with your kids on Valentine's Day, this just might be the perfect thing.

Spots go quickly, so sign up right away. I have noticed that Lowe's seems to only be doing one project a month now, so keep your eyes peeled for the next one.

SIGN UP HERE!!!

40 Ideas for Valentine Accelerated Reader Books for 3rd Grade

I developed this list because my daughter is in 3rd grade and I volunteer in her classroom for a couple hours every week. Sometimes I do projects I have planned with them, and other times I bring in an Accelerated Reader (AR) book that I will read to them and they can take a test to help them make their AR goals and much of the time I am there to listen to them read to me or help them with some homework. I thought if I started to develop a list this would be helpful to other parents and teachers looking for book ideas. I only have enough time to read them a .5 book, so that is why I developed my list as such. I am sure I will be happy I made this list when my son is at this reading level.

3.0
Cranberry Valentine by Wende Devlin
Monster Boy's Valentine by Carl Emerson
Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine by Marjorie Sharmat
Panda's Valentine Day by Tara Morrow
The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll
The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart by Julie Andrews
Will You Be My Valentine? by Steven Kroll

3.1
Happy Valentine's Day, Miss Hildy! by Lois Grambling
Love Splat by Rob Scotton
The Best Valentine in the World by Marjorie Sharmat
Valentine's Day from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

3.2
Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine by Herman Parish
Happy Valentine's Day Delores by Barbard Samuels
Ruby Save Valentine's Day by Laurie Friedman
Spongebob's Secret Valentine by David Lewman
The Ballad of Valentine by Alison Jackson
The Berenstain Bears' Funny Valentine by Stan Berenstain
The Valentine Express by Nancy Wallace
Triplet Trouble and the Red Heart Race by Debbie Dadey
Valentine's Day in Vicarstown by W. Awdry

3.3
Four Valentines in a Rainstorm by Felcia Bond
Love and Kisses Eloise by Marc Cheshire
Love Ruby Valentine by Laurie Friedman
Olivia and the Perfect Valentine by Natalie Shaw
Queen of Hearts by Mary Engelbreit
The Night Before Valentine's Day by Natasha Wing
The Valentine's Day Mix-Up by Amy Ackelsberg

3.4
A Charlie Brown Valentine by Charles Schultz
Pink of Hearts by Victoria Kann
Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat
Snowy Valentine by David Petersen
Today is Valentine's Day by P.K. Hallihan

3.5
A String of Hearts by Laura Elliot
My Funny Valentine by Jon Barry
Ruby Valentine and the Sweet Surprise by Laurie Friendman

3.6
I Love You Grumpy Bunny by Justine Korman

3.8
A Valentine for Norman Noggs by Valiska Gregory
The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine by Stan Berenstain

3.9
The Runaway Valentine by Tina Casey
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli

Coach Valentine Gift

Are you looking for a cute gift for a coach for Valentine's Day? Print off the above picture and attach to a bottle of your coach's favorite soda/pop.

Glow Stick Valentines with FREE Printable

Feel FREE to print off the valentine below for your own. It works best if you set it to print them at the 2.5x3.5 size with 8 on a page.

Then just put hole punches above and below the heart and slip your glow stick through the holes.

You can read a review on the Glow Sticks and see how we did a Dance Party with the glow sticks click on the post on Save Green Being Green.

GIVEAWAY and Review: JOLLY TIME Pop Corn Heart Pops for Valentine's Day

Time for me to share another fun JOLLY TIME Pop Corn Recipe with you. They sent me some supplies to make Choco-Cherry Heart Bouquets and you can check out the recipe in the link. I had to modify the recipe  to accomodate what amount of supplies were actually sent to me and I utilized the microwave in making these, so my recipe is different than their recipe and so I am calling my recipe a little something different too.

Popcorn Valentine Pops

2 Bag of JOLLY TIME Pop Corn Butter Light, Popped

5.3 oz bag of dried cherries (optional)

10 oz. bag of mini marshmallows

1 C white chocolate chips

1/2 C chocolate chips

Directions:

• Pop popcorn and put pop corn and cherries in a large bowl and set aside.
• Place marshmallows and white chocolate chips in a glass bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.
• Take out marshmallow mixture and stir.
• Return to the microwave for another 30-60 seconds, watch it and take out when marshmallows have doubled in size.
• Stir in red or pink food coloring to marshmallow mixture.
• Stir marshmallow mixture in to popcorn mixture with a wooden spoon.
• You might want to spray your hands with cooking spray and use your hands to really get it mixed up well.
• Press in to heart shaped cookie cutters and insert a pop stick while the mixture is still warm.
• Drizzle melted chocolate chips over the top.
• Makes 12 4" popcorn pops.
• Enjoy!

These were very well received by friends and family that were lucky to be recipients of them. They are kind of like having a chocolatey popcorn ball on a stick. My kids didn't care as much for the dried cherries in it and they didn't stick very well in the mixture, which is why I said it was optional. I will definitely make these again. I am thinking these would make a good party favor for a kids' birthday party.

ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN SOME FREE POPCORN

so you have a start on ingredients to make you own!

ENTER RAFFLECOPTER FORM AT THE BOTTOM

Be Sure to Check Out My Other Recipes Using JOLLY TIME Pop Corn:

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

Clean Eating Popcorn Balls

Christmas Popcorn

Microwave Caramel Corn

Find out more information about JOLLY TIME Pop Corn online:

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I was sent the supplies pictured above in order to make a valentine recipe. No monetary compensation was received. All thoughts, opinions and pictures are my own.

Try It Tuesday: 10 FUN and EASY Valentine Crafts for Kids

1) This is a classic Valentine craft for preschoolers where you take a toilet paper tube bend it so that it is pointed at the bottom and goes in the center at the top and then let them dip in paint and make prints on a piece of paper. We chose light pink paint on red paper.

2) This was so much fun. My daughter decided to paint her hands in glue and then sprinkle with glitter, whereas my son used paint to make his hand prints.

3) This is another easy one. All you need is a coffee filter, some children's markers and a spray bottle of water. Just cut out a heart from a round coffee filter. Then have the child color as much or as little as they want. They can scribble all they want. The more color you get on there, the better it will spread. When finished, just spray down with water (I did it on top of a plastic placemat, so the colors would not get on other things) and let it dry.

 4) The raspberries stuffed with white chocolate chips are a fun and easy snack for kids to make.

5) Try out these Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from What's Cooking with Ruthie.

 6) Use a paper doiley and paint over it on a piece of construction paper and remove to see the design it has left. Simple & fun!

7) Take care of 2 February Holidays in one craft and make a Heart Groundhog out of 1 large heart (head) and 2 small hearts (nose and mouth), a couple of ears, some googly eyes and some drawn on whiskers.

8) A Valentine Candle Holder can be a quick and easy present to have a child make a parent. Simply decoupage strips of tissue paper on to a baby food jar (great re-use idea!) and be sure to add a final layer of glue on top. Tie it with a ribbon or some yarn and insert a candle. We still have ours and get it out to reuse every year.

 9) Give your child a special and fun message by making them a Puzzle Valentine. I just glued some paper heart doilies on to construction paper and wrote a message on it. Then cut out your pieces and laminate it by putting it between sheets of clear contact paper.

10) My final idea is one of my more popular pinned posts is this Egg Carton Valentine made by reusing egg cartons as art supplies. Paint the bottom of an egg carton then trim after it has dried. Simply glue down trimmed egg carton pieces and glue on to construction paper in the shape of a heart. Paint over the top of all the egg carton pieces and the white spaces in between to have a filled in heart.

What kind of fun Valentine Art Projects will you do with your kids?

Thrifty Thursday: Lowe's Build & Grow Clinic - Love Note Holder

It's been a while since I have reminded you about the Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics. The next one coming up is on February 8th and you can build this cute little Love Note Holder with your child. These FREE clinics can fill up fast, so sign up right away. If your nearest location is full it won't appear in the list.

If you miss the clinic, they sell several different kids projects for under $10 at the Lowe's store and also online.

You can see some of the other Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics I have posted about too!

Even More Pinterest Inspiration

This is my hair in the picture, but I followed the instructions from Oh So Pretty The Diaries. This was a fun up-do idea! I will use this again!

My daughter wanted to see if leaving her tooth in a different location would result in a different present from the Tooth Fairy (read all about that in my Tooth Fairy Post & her recent social experiments). The idea for this one came from Filth Wizardy.

I thought this was a neat picture, so I had to try it for myself.

 My daughter asked for some special valentine hair, so I replicated this idea from PrincessHairstyles.com

And get a load of these delicious treats I made for Valentine's Day. The recipe for the Whoopie Pies came from What's Cooking with Ruthie, but I used Red Velvet cake mix instead. And the raspberry chocolates idea came from Lauren Conrad, but as you can see I used white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.

Love these Shamrock Hairclips that were inspired from Potlucks on the Porch (and the one without rhinestones is a pin - my son had to have one too!)

Guess Whoooooo Loves You?

OK, I wish I would have written down what I did to make these because I didn't follow a pattern and I had made the majority of these cute little owls loom knitting over a couple evenings with the exception of the feet, which I waited 2 weeks to do and then forgot how many rows I had done for each part and don't really want to figure it out, but wanted to share the idea with you anyways.

I used the Knifty Knitter 10" long pink loom to make all the parts and I needle felted the hearts.  I used all the pegs on the loom to make the body of the owl and then only 5 pegs to make the ears and wings (with decreasing to make the tips) and 6 pegs to make the feet (although I think if I made the feet again I wouldn't make them as long.)

And then I made a card for each of the kids using this image, and gave them a box of candy hearts.

Thrifty Thursday: Have a Candle-Lit Dinner

You can be romantic at the same time as saving some energy (and money) by eating by candlelight.

We occasionally will have a candle-lit meal because it is just fun to make a meal special once in a while. We don't do it very often, but maybe we should. The kids also love the opportunity to get to blow out the candles. We always have a candle-lit meal on the winter solstice and take that opportunity to teach our kids a little bit about it.

Think about having a candle-lit meal this coming Valentine's Day.

GIVEAWAY: Handmade Earring and Flower Headband

Need a Valentine's Present?

How about something unique and handmade?

I am giving away 2 handmade items (made by me!)  to one lucky reader. 

 

I want someone to have a wonderful Valentine's Day, so whether these handmade gifts are for you or to give to someone else is up to you.

Enter the rafflecopter form below.
Winner must follow me in one or more ways (Twitter, FB, Google+, GFC or Pinterest)

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These are my own items that I made and am giving away. No one sponsored me or gave me the supplies for these items.  

 

GIVEAWAY and Review: Shutterfly Valentine Cards and Desk Plaque

Are you looking for special gift for Valentine's Day? 

Or are you thinking about Valentine's Cards for your kids?

What about some Photo Gifts for Valentine's Day?

Or some Photo Valentine's Cards?

I have the opportunity to review Valentine Cards that my children will give to their classmates this Valentine's Day, as well as a Desktop Plaque that we will give to my husband as he embarks on his new job.And GUESS WHAT?!?!?!? One of my readers will win the same package of 50 4x5 Valentines and a 5.5"x5.5" Desktop Plaque.

I will give each of my kids the choice of the 12 4x5 card options, but if you are open to other sizes there are a total of 105 options to choose from. My son was very enthusiastic in his choice of the "Yoooou Arrrr Great" card and very quickly spotted it and made his decision. That kid knows what he wants! My daughter took a little longer to decide because she liked so many of the options. She chose Such Sweet Hearts that is pictured above.

Other personalized photo gifts you might be interested in purchasing are iPhone cases, Photo Mugs, Photo Water Bottles, and Photo Cubes.

There are also non-photo Valentine card options that can be used until you get them all gone and don't have a picture that "dates" your children, like the one below:

Join Shutterfly at their  #SFlyValentinesTwitter party on 1/17 at 2 PM EST. For more info and RSVP: http://resourcefulmommy.com/11427/shutterfly-valentines-day-twitter-party/

Here is what the plaque looks like:

ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN 50 4X5 VALENTINE CARDS AND

A 5X5 DESKTOP PLAQUE!!!!

Enter on the Rafflecopter form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was given the opportunity to receive valentine cards and a plaque in exchange for creating this post. No monetary compensation was received. All thought and opinions are my own. 

Easy to Make Candy Pops

Candy pops are simple to make. You just need a mold, sticks, and candy melts

Follow instructions on the candy melts to make them in the microwave. It took me about 1.5 minutes at 50% power to melt enough candy melts to make 4 pops.

These are simple enough that you can get the kids involved in  placing in the sticks, and even scooping in the melted candy (if you don't make the mixture too hot.)

Let the pops cool (you can pop them in the freezer or fridge to make them harden faster), but they really don't take all that long to harden if left on the counter. Don't worry about going over the edges. That stuff that goes over will be easily broken off when you pop them out.

And there you have your own semi-homemade candy pops.  What is great about making your own is that you can  buy molds in so many different things. You can buy them in the pop form, like I did for these or just in a regular candy form. You can buy flavors to add to the melts, you can buy candy melts in a variety of colors or in just plain chocolate or white chocolate. You can customize these to virtually any occasion.

These ones I made to includes the in fabric valentine envelopes I made for my kids with the valentine puzzle card.