The last two weeks have been especially hard on my teen daughter. She has been sick, she’s on a hybrid in person/online school program so she can’t interact with her friends, the weather is nasty so she can’t enjoy her normal outdoor activities AND she’s supposed to commit to a college. That’s a lot to take on! We were chatting one day after school recently that we missed the fun, carefree days of elementary school. This time of year, we’d be focusing our efforts on designing a cool Valentine’s box for the class party. Like a light being turned on, we thought, what is stopping us from doing this now? We gathered up supplies to make a quick Valentine’s box. It’s an easy way to share love and positivity through crafting with your teen.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
This post is
sponsored by DesignBundles. All comments and opinions and love of crafting are
my own.
Establishing your Valentine’s Box theme:
Like all good craft projects, you’ll need to
spend some time on establishing your Valentine’s box theme. My daughter and I
did this by looking at craft supplies we already had on hand and picking our
colors. We have several types of paper on hand for making cards, gift tags and
wrapping gifts. We also had hearts and stickers to use, so we had just a few things
to add to our shopping list!
Shop your Craft Supplies First:
We found these adorable pink Pom Pom flowers
first.
Then we found a wide assortment of wrapping
paper on sale, so we chose this gorgeous metallic pink paper to wrap our
Valentine’s box. Lastly, we grabbed two metallic craft pens and a set of shiny
pink bead stickers, a red plastic tablecloth and we were all set.
Valentine’s box Supplies:
Here’s what we used to create our vibrant
Valentine’s box, but please feel free to substitute items listed with things
you have on hand.
- 1 medium white gift box
- 1 roll wrapping paper
- 3 sheets of card stock paper to make homemade hearts
- 1 package foam hearts
- Stickers of your choice
- 2 metallic craft pens (we used silver and pink)
- 1 Plastic tablecloth
- Scissors
- Tape
- Box cutter (to make hole on top of box for cards)
Set up your crafting spot:
Let your creativity flow:
My Favorite Part: Handmade Hearts and Conversation:
This is where the sharing love part came in. While
our hands were busy cutting paper hearts of all sizes, our minds were free to
think about big and small parts of our lives. We talked and shared and sorted
and figured some things out. Having this time to create and bond of our shared
love of crafting made parts of our conversation lighter and easier and what
parent or teen doesn’t want that? Did we solve all our woes while making a throw
back to elementary school Valentine’s box? No, we didn’t, but we sure made
progress and had a happy love filled day in the process and that is a total
win!
Final Step: Printing Valentine’s Day Cards for our box:
 |
| Source: Design Bundles |
We love how our Valentine’s box turned out! The
only thing left is to make each family member a card to go in the box. For that
I’m turning to the awesome SVG files I found at Design Bundles. Aren’t these
the cutest cut our cards? This whole bundle is affordable and available for
instant download. They have free options as well!
If you’ve never checked out their site, you should soon! Design Bundles has tons of tools and inspirations to help you create cards for any occasion. In fact, their Share the Love Mission is going strong right now, just in time for Valentine’s Day crafting. Read on to hear about it in Design Bundles own words.
About Design Bundles Share the Love Campaign:
 |
| Source: Design Bundles “Throughout the pandemic, loneliness is an increasing concern for so many of us. More than ever, we're looking for different ways to spread the love – whether that’s to loved ones or smiles to strangers. If you’re dressing up your doorway, writing cards or celebrating Valentines with a loved one, Design Bundles has tons of tools and inspirations to help action this. They have pledged to be a part of this cause and to help spread positivity through creativity and crafting. Spreading positivity and joy is food for the soul and can be so much fun to dive into. As well as being craft and creation addicts and advocates, they are helping to share resources and helplines to help battle loneliness for anyone in need.” To learn more
about Design Bundles Share the Love Campaign, or to explore their vast SVG files, craft templates and more please visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. They love to see
our creations, so be sure to tag them @designbundles in posts and use the
hashtags #designbundles and #dbsharethelove. National Help Lines from NAMI:There are times in
all our lives where we wish we had somebody to talk to that could understand our
struggle. Now more than ever, we all could use a little help in one form or
another. Here is a list of top Help Lines Numbers from the NAMI (National
Alliance on Mental Illness).
To view their complete list or to find
assistance locally, please visit the NAMI website. Be Kind and Love Yourself:Sometimes to keep moving forward, you have to
look back at how far you’ve come. We all travel different roads, so please be
kind to yourself today and always love yourself first so you’ll be equipped to
give love. For me, sharing an afternoon
of love and positivity while crafting with my teen was showing love and kindness
to both of us. It’s amazing how much
better crafting can make you feel, so please try crafting something soon. |
This is such a great idea! Sometimes we just need step back and go to simpler times. Teens face so much, and even more right now!
ReplyDeleteHi Heidi,
DeleteI agree! Our kids need time to be creative and just enjoy making stuff, including messes. That's part of the creative process!
I love this idea! I have used shoe boxes for a few activities so far this year and am loving all of the inspiration. With all that is going on in the world right now why not have a little fun while we reduce and recycle!
ReplyDeleteHi Kayla,
DeleteExactly my thoughts! I love repurposing boxes. I used to open up emoty cereal boxes for my kids to finger paint, color and draw on.They loved them!
We love crafting together from paper crafts to wood ones it is so much fun and great bonding time
ReplyDeleteHi Monique,
DeleteLove hearing that! It really is a fun way to bond with yor kids.
I remember doing these types of things with my mom and aunt when I was a kid. That was a default activity when the weather was bad. In this digital age we worry about the social skills our kids lose by playing on gadgets, but we don't think about the family time we lose as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Pork Chop,
DeleteIt's sad but true. I'm a huge advocate for non-tech toys and interactive play.It's good for the whole family.