Today I am sharing how we made these adorable Love Bug Valentines for the kid's classmates.
To make one of our cards you will need*:
~ card stock cut into card 93mm x 37mm (3 5/8" x 1 1/2")
~ rubber stamp and ink
~ 6mm (1/4") hole punch
~ one 22mm (7/8") pom pom for the body
~ two 10mm (3/8") googly eyes
~ one 5mm (3/16") pom pom for the nose
~ 32mm (1 1/4") piece of thin 4mm (1/8") pipe cleaner
~ two 11mm (1/2") paper hearts for antenae (we used a punch)
~ one 27mm (1 1/16") cardstock heart for base (we cut these by hand)
~ scissors
~ hot glue
~ double sided tape
~ scotch tape
~ ribbon
*Note: Measurements are approximate and listed just to give a sense of size.
We used up scraps and supplies that we had on hand.
We had to make a total of 54 Valentines so here's what we did!
Cut out the "base" hearts
I found this not only provided a good fine motor skills task for my younger child, but a good "math" review for my older child. By organizing our cut hearts into groups we could quickly multiple (or add) how many hearts we had cut and how many more we had to do!
Organize your supplies
We organized our supplies on wood trays so we could coordinate colours, etc.
This required even more calculations!
~ If I have 23 kids in my class and two teachers how many Valentines do I need to make?
23+2-1= 24 (don't forget to subtract yourself! ;o)
~ 30 love bugs need 2 eyes each how many do I need in total?
30x2 = 60 (oh my!)
~ If I place 4 cards in a row and I have 30 cards total how many rows will that be?
30*4 = 7.5 (which meant 8 rows were needed to fit them all on the tray!)
OK back to the tutorial!
Decorate your cards
Have your child address the cards BEFORE attaching the love bug to the front side of the card!
Glue heart base onto bottom of pom pom
Glue on the eyes
Fold pipe cleaner into a V shape and glue on top of head
Glue on the nose
Glue the small paper hearts onto the ends of antennae
On the bottom of the bug put a small piece of double sided tape
The double sided tape offers a means for the recipient to stick their bug to anything they choose.
By adhering the bug to the Valentine card with scotch tape (folded into a loop) it can be easily removed from the card later on.
Thread a ribbon through the tag hole
(which I forgot to do before taking this photo!)
Happy Valentine Crafting!
