Valentines Crafts: Love Rocks and Felt Hearts
These 2 crafts are inspired by Valentine’s Day, cold Toronto winters, and the game Rock Paper Scissors (sort of). Each has a variation and all can be done with young children or done secretly to be given to children and the other loves in your life.
Love Rocks: a.k.a. Valentines-Inspired Paperweights
What you need:
rocks—rounded and low so that they won’t tip on piles of paper
coloured beeswax for modelling (available at the Waldorf Academy school store)
white glue
woolen felt—red (available at the Waldorf Academy school store)
Gather some of your favourite collected rocks.
Wash and dry them.
When they are thoroughly dry, decorate them with wax hearts or flowers or loving words. To shape wax, you can work the wax with scissors, fingernails, and warm fingers or use mini cookie cutters. For each rock, press the decoration firmly on to the rock.
Cut a piece of felt to neatly cover the bottom of each rock and glue it.
Variation: Decorate a candle in the same way. To help the wax decoration adhere, lightly warm the candle with a hair dryer.
Felt Hearts: Zipper Pulls for Backpacks and Bags
What you need:
woolen felt—red
embroidery floss—red or variegated red and one contrasting colour
cloth ribbon—red or contrasting
zipper pull findings —1 key ring O and 1 hook (available from many craft stores)
Cut 2 small, duplicate heart shapes in felt. (1 inch by 1 inch makes a good size.)
Using the contrasting colour of floss (3 strands), embroider a small decoration at the centre of 1 heart.
Loop a piece of ribbon (2 inches long) through the O ring, fold the ribbon over, and place the raw ribbon ends between the matching felt hearts.
With the red or variegated floss, blanket stitch the ribbon firmly into the heart and sew the heart edges shut.
Attach the zipper pull.
Variation: An alternative is to make heart pins using the felt, floss, and safety pins or jewelry pins (no ribbon and findings). However, zipper pulls are a great option for wearing on winter coats or attaching to backpacks.
