Homemade Valentine's Robots

For Family Home Evening tonight we had a little chat about how Jesus wants us to love everyone. We then made valentine's so we can show some people that we love them.

I found the cute robot valentine idea in Family Fun Magazine, it is the only magazine (besides the church ones) that I've ever subscribed to and I love them. So many cutesy ideas and only $5 for a year.

You just get some construction paper and fold it into a 3-D triangle. Cut a little hole at the bottom so he has legs. We used heart shaped candies for feet but you could use any fun size candy. They would be even cuter if you use a round candy for the eyes, rolos or life savers, we didn't have any so we just colored the eyes. You can use bar codes for noses or mouths. The arms are just pieces of tinfoil we cut out and taped on.

My five year old little boy just loved helping me make these for his friends!

All of our supplies.

Hair Bow Board

We are getting pretty excited in our house to have a girl joining the family. We have two little boys and a big daddy. So I've probably been going a little overboard with all the girly stuff for this baby, she is so spoiled already and not even born yet. I've seen a few of these bow boards for sale online and thought I'd give it a shot myself. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Here's how to do it:

I started with a picture frame I picked up at the local thrift store. (I am a thrift store junky, just love getting stuff for cheap) This is the frame I picked up for $5. You'll want to make sure and get one that is big enough to hold your bow collection.

Then I took out the glass and back and painted the frame. I used wall paint leftover from painting the nursery. You can use any kind of acrylic paint or wall paint. I gave it two coats so the black wouldn't show through.

Once the paint was completely dry I used sand paper to roughen up the edges and give it that crafty antique look. The next step is to take a little wood stain (you could go with a light shade, clear, or even a darker one) on a rag and rub in on. This seals the wood and makes the sanded edges stand out a little more.

Next, I took the back of the frame and hot glued a piece of quilt batting to it. Cut the batting out to the exact size of the quilt frame back. It's not a lot of batting so you can use some leftover from another project or buy a craft sized package from the fabric store or Wal-Mart.

This is what it will look like covered.

Then I covered the quilt batting with a piece of fabric. You can use flannel or cotton, pretty much just about anything. I just used this piece that was leftover in my sewing stuff. You'll want to cut this out to 3 or 4 inches bigger than the picture frame back so that it can be folded over and glued on. I used my trusty glue gun to attach it, make sure and pull it tight.

Next you'll want to cut several strips of ribbon just longer than your board and glue them at the top and bottom on the backside of the board. You can use whatever color and style you like. You'll attach the bows onto these ribbons so there should be a little wiggle room between the ribbon and the fabric. (I actually glued them on tight and there was still the wiggle room).

This is the front all finished up:

Then you just put the covered board back in the frame without the glass.

Here is the finished product hanging on the wall with the only bow I had at the time. I think it will be great as a decoration and for storing the bows. With them hanging up and not just shoved in a basket you can see which will match your girls' outfit for the day.