Valentine Lacing Hearts

Disclosure: I am a terrible photographer.  I am also generally running late and in too big of a hurry, so I don't take the time to rephotograph and try again.  Fact is, I really don't know why I ever bother to try to do these crafts and projects with Jaclyn for her friends and parties and such.  They always take twice as long as I think they will and I am usually putting it off 'til the last minute and end up barking at Jackie to stay out of the way, which defeats the whole purpose doesn't it?

That being said, here is our homemade Valentine project:

Here is a detailed and I hope funny description of how these were made.  Stop reading now if you don't give a hoot.

It is a combination of ideas and inspirations borrowed (stolen) from other bloggers and crafters.  And it is honestly made from stuff I had already bought and had lying around.  A package of foam hearts I bought at Michaels a few weeks ago that I though we might use for her Vday photo shoot with Asher.  We didn't and I was going to return them.  Glad I hadn't yet.  Cardstock we had from some other business or crafting purpose. Some yarn I had leftover from something else (almost any string or ribbon would work).  A hole punch.  Scotch tape.  No glue or glitter necessary, though optional.

I used one of the photographs from her Vday photo shoot with Asher.  The reason I wanted to use a photo was because I thought her friends would like knowing who the valentine was from right away, since reading each other's names isn't a skill that many have mastered yet.

I printed it on cardstock with my home printer, in fastest economy mode because I didn't want to 1) wait, 2) waste the ink on 3yr olds, 3) leave the house.

Then I drew half a heart on one, folded it, cut it out, and used it as a template for the others.  I also traced hearts on blank cardstock for the flip side of the valentine.  Then I asked Jaclyn to write X's and O's inside the blank hearts.  I got one X inside one heart, a couple outside the hearts, and one real O from her.  Then she did a bunch quick swirls and said, Swirls are better.  Alrighty then.  

A bunch of cutting later, I needed to figure out a way to attach the photo hearts and the blank hearts to the foam hearts.  Glue is not my favorite.  So, I hole punched through the three and was going to attach with string/yarn and make it like an ornament.  Then I remembered some lacing cards I had seen and there was plenty of room on the foam hearts to hole punch..... so I did that.  Did I have time for that?  No.  But I did it.  Which meant then I had to figure out what length string would go all the way around the card, cut a bunch of those, and wrap scotch tape around one end so they wouldn't fray and would be easier for little hands to use.

Threading, tying, throw them in a bag, let's go we are late!

And when I got home that night from this party we went to.... I had to vacuum up a lot of foam hole punch circles.  Ugh.  I'm still finding them around the house.  Why do I do this?!