Cheap Easter Basket Fillers - Think Outside the Box!

I just wanted to show you once again how you can save money and use past holiday stuff to work for upcoming holidays and gifts!!! I was shopping at Walgreens a few weeks ago and I came upon a tall shelf in the middle of an aisle. There was a sign on it that said "Valentine Clearance". I started looking through it all and I found some great stuff that I will be able to use for Easter baskets!

These "sets" were $1 each!!! I could not pass them up!

I just took the valentine stuff off this dog and now he will be perfect holding or sitting in an Easter basket (I have many little ones that are really into dogs right now!)

These were only 10 cents each. Cute Easter basket fillers!

 

I had the Easter baskets from last year Easter clearance. I added some $1 coloring books and then some Valentines clearance finds (play dough,  helicopters, crazy straws). I will not be spending loads of money on candy and I think the mommy's like that a little better because the kids get so much candy at Easter!

I just wanted to blog this to show you how you can think outside the box and really put cute things together on the cheap. I didn't take a picture of all my baskets, but you get the gist of what I did. I didn't spend over $10 and was able to put together seven baskets! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classroom Valentines Parties

While I was taking the kids to school this morning, we were talking about all the fun they were going to have today because it was Valentines Day! They both had classroom parties planned at the end of the day. I was telling them that Valentines Day was my favorite holiday at school! I loved handing out my valentines and making our "mailboxes" out of tissue boxes and cereal boxes. I loved looking through what I got when I got home too! Reminiscing about this was fun this morning and I know my kids will remember their Valentines Day parties as well.

To all of you................ Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentines Craft for the Kiddos

Good ol' fashioned painting with the cookie cutters. This is a simple craft that all kids enjoy! The younger kids love to spread the paint all around the paper and the older kids get more into making pictures and so forth with the cutters. We took out all the Valentine cookie cutters I had and I put some paint on Styrofoam plates and we dipped and painted!

 

They made perfect little Valentine pictures!

Happy Valentine's Crafting!

Valentines for Classmates

I thought this would make a cute and different Valentines card for my kid's to hand out to their classmates and the best part is that it didn't cost that much!!!

I think that owls are really cute and there is so much out there right now with the owl motif. When I saw these owl bookmark kits at Halloween time at Target, I thought they were the cutest things. I was not going to pay the $5.00 for them, but knew they would be the first thing I snatched up when all the Halloween merchandise went on clearance (if I was lucky enough to get some before they were gone). I was able to grab enough boxes at 90% off after Halloween for my kids to hand out to their classmates!!!!! I didn't know which holiday I would use them for, but in a previous post, you will see that I decided to do the box of crayons for Christmas. So, the bookmarks are perfect for Valentines Day. Previously, I had purchased "library cards" from one of my favorite crafty sites theplaidbarn.com. I thought these library cards would go perfect with the bookmarks!!!!! Brilliant! So, the kids and I sat down and we started putting the bookmarks together. I loved this because it was fun, family time spent together. After we got them done, we had to make them look more "Valentiney" so I cut out little hearts from red contact paper and we stuck them on the owls. Another thing we did was add little plastic flowers (that I also got on theplaidbarn.com) for the girls in each class. This made them look a little more "festive" for the Valentine holiday.
On the library cards, I wrote my child's name under the "author" part and then under "title", I wrote "Happy Valentines Day!" Then, under "date checked out", I wrote "2-14-13". On the main lines of the cards, I wrote this: "Hooty Hoot! You are so wise Valentine!"

We glued foam hearts onto the bottom of the card as well to make them that much more festive. My first grader was getting pretty tired, so I wrote most of hers out, but my third grade son should be able to write all of his (we can spread them out over time so he can do a few each night).

I love homemade gifts so much more then store bought and this little project is something the kids can use and it is not candy! ;0)

These are the kits from Target (Halloween)

These are the finished Valentines. We will put the bookmark on the card. You can't really see it, but one has the pink flower on the head and they both have a red heart by their left wing. I think they turned out cute!!!




Happy Valentine's Crafting!!!!
 

Homemade Valentine Card

This year for our Valentine's cards for grandparents and aunts and uncles, we made three, big poster board signs. One said, "I", another said, "LOVE" and the last one said, "YOU". I took a picture of my kids holding each sign and then went to the store and picked out a design and made the cards. These cost $2 each which was so much cheaper than the cards in the stores..... AND, this is so much more personal and memorable!!!

"Handmade" Valentine's Gifts

I used the simple homemade lotion recipe of 1 jar vitamin E cream, a large tub of Vaseline and a large bottle of baby lotion (I chose the pink lotion for this one because it was for Valentine's gifts). I mixed all of those together in a bowl with a mixer and then I started "bottling" them. I had my husband drill holes in the lids of the old Mason jars I had. I then inserted recycled pumps I have kept from other "pumped bottles". I added a tag and a ribbon that said, "Hands down, you are a great teacher!". This is what I gave the teachers and then I also made tags that said, "You deserve a hand for being a great 5th grade buddy!" for the 5th grader that helps my kindergartner at school. I also recycled the canister that the Vitamin E cream came in. I just cleaned it out and wrapped it with scrapbook paper and put some paper on the lid and then added a tag and ribbon. Cute and fun "handmade" Valentine's gifts!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Creative and Cute Valentine's Gift!

This would make a perfect Valentine's gift for anyone (grandparents, teachers, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, etc). I took pictures of siblings when they were giving each other a kiss and in the other picture, they were hugging each other. I put the pictures on the inside walls of a glass jar so you could see each picture. Then, I filled the jar with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. On the top of the jar, I made a tag that said, "Kisses and Hugs to You!" So Cute!!!

Cute Valentines Gumball Machines and Mailboxes

These little crafts turned out so cute and they were pretty simple to do. To make the first one, I just spray painted clay pots and their bases red. I then turned the pot upside down and glued (with strong glue from the craft section) a glass bowl to it (the bowl is upright on the pot). The base just "rests" on the top of the bowl. You take the base off the top which enables you to get the "goodies" inside. I added some ribbon on the outside. I made these for the teachers this year for Valentine's Day, but you could do this for any holiday. Spray paint them black and use orange ribbon for Halloween or red and green for Christmas. The possibilities are endless! You can make tiny ones for birthday parties and the guests can take them home! How cute!

This is a picture of them all done and put together. Pretty cute!

With this craft, I took the mailboxes they have in the $1 bins at Target and glued them to a candlestick that I spray painted red. I made a pink one for my daughter and a red one for my son. I will fill these mailboxes for them on Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine Crafting!

My Daughter Has the Crafting Bug!! YAY!!!!

Gabrielle can spend hours on our art table. She loves to CREATE anything and everything! Her latest CREATION was a Valentine mailbox (made out of paper and recyclables). Let's just say we can go through tape and staples around here like crazy). Inside the mailbox, she had Valentines for me! How sweet and CREATIVE! She comes up with the best stuff! I will start blogging more of what she comes up with! It will inspire CREATIVITY in everyone!

Cute DIY Sweet Tart Heart Valentine Decoration For Your Home

I loved this little craft! I bought four wooden hearts at Michaels and painted them Sweet Tart Heart colors. Then, I took red fabric paint (the paint that comes in the squeezable bottles) and on each heart, I wrote the name of our family members. I hot glued a little bow on the top of each heart. Finally, I glued each heart onto a long piece of ribbon and hung it on the wall!

It is hard to find cute Valentine decorations and this one turned out really cute and it was really easy!

Happy Valentines Crafting!!

Cute Valentine Craft That Teaches Colors!!!

I made this book to help teach colors! It was very easy to do and the kids loved to "hunt" for the colors they needed. I stapled papers together to make a booklet. Then, on each page, I drew a colored heart. I cut little squares from construction paper. I put the squares in a pile so the kids had to "hunt" for the color they needed for each page. They glued the squares inside the hearts to fill them up. This way, they are able to keep the booklet and go back through it and learn the colors! Fun project!