Today, I want you to meet Emily and Anne of Bloom. They are two amazing mothers who write a blog covering every aspect of motherhood – budgeting, simple living, healthy eating and numerous ideas for entertaining kids. Over the course of time, I had the privilege to become blogging friends with these two ladies. I hope to meet them one day. Both Emily and Anne simply said…

Pop-up Valentines with your toddler or pre-schooler (by Emily)

It’s almost time for heart day! My little Henry and I have had so much fun making pop-up Valentine’s Greetings for our lovies this year. We found the simple step-by-step tutorial on Robert Sabuda’s website. A pop-up V-day greeting fit for a Queen (or a grandma)!

Supplies

Template from Robert Sabuda

Let little hands help with the tracing.

Fold along the dotted lines, glue to a blank card and... ta-da!

Have fun making lots of variations. Then we glued a matching heart on the front of each card. And smiled as we imagined our dear ones opening up their greetings to find a cheerful Valentine’s surprise!

Watercolor Valentines with your school-age children (by Anne)

To help my niece, Katie, with her valentines for school, I revamped an idea from my 2nd-grade-teacher days. I gave Katie a sheet of watercolor paper (regular white paper will do nearly as well) and a set of watercolors. After a quick lesson on warm vs. cool colors, I gave Katie three guidelines for her painting…

This is abstract art, so just let your brush flow. We’re not painting an object.
You must cover the entire page and leave no white showing.
Stick to the warm colors.

Katie enjoyed playing with the different hues and saturation levels with her reds, pinks, yellows and oranges then came up with this. As a side note, every mother should invest in a vinyl ‘project’ tablecloth!

Once the painting dried, we began making the cards. There are two ways to use the watercolor designs. For the first version, we used a cookie cutter to trace a heart. Cut out the heart and glued on the first card. Cardstock or construction paper will also work fine, use what you have.

For the second version, we used a cookie cutter to trace a heart shape on a red paper then cut it out making a window. Next we glued a piece of the painting to the backside of the window covering the opening. I love the way this one looks, but it is considerably more time-consuming.

The results: 1) A child who understands the difference between warm and cool colors, and has experience with blending watercolors. 2) A set of valentines that look far more darling than anything you could find in a box!

Thank you so much, Tiffany! We loved being part of your amazing site for a day!
xo,
Em and Anne