Spread the Love: Valentine’s Fun and Decor All in One
I am not super-crafty but love to craft. It’s hard to find the time to create so I rely on Annie’s Creative Woman Kit-of-the-Month Club and other simple suggestions, like one I found in the February 2018 Real Simple (makes sense, no?). A fellow reader shared her love-note treasure hunt tradition she and her husband plan for their children each February, where they hide paper hearts around their home with notes of love written on them. Then their kids search for them daily through Valentine’s Day. As I didn’t come upon this fun little ritual until a couple days ago, we will make it into a game to play on the 14th. (Thank you, Lindsey Hummel of Florida for your wonderful, family-centered idea.)
As I was trimming paper hearts from a variety of paper, white printer to scraps of construction and cardstock, I found a piece of pink paper with a single heart cut from it, freehand, by my daughter from who-knows-how-long ago. It touched my (real, proverbial) heart to lay eyes on the earnest, loving evidence of her handiwork. Just as I set her sweet work aside, an idea struck me.
My frugal streak was piqued. Being someone who (to my husband’s frustration) adds water to every type of soap bottle in the house to eke out the last bit of product, I love to use things fully, in summa. In a rare burst of creativity I thought of a way to use that otherwise unusable paper with the single heart cut out of the middle and perpetuate the work my daughter so sweetly curated:
- Fold your paper and cut a heart from along the fold, being sure to start and end your cutting along the fold.
2. Then draw a line around your cutout, making it as thin or as thick as you’d like, taking care again that your line starts and ends along the fold.
3. Cut along your drawn line and unfold for a heart “frame.”
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you run out of fold to cut along.
5. And if you want to take it to the next step, make “chains” of heart cutouts. To do this, follow step 1 but cut out three or more separate hearts (of varying sizes if you like), leaving uncut space between them. Then follow steps 2 and 3, cutting along,. but not separating, the heart “frames.”
6. Not only will you have an abundance of “solid” hearts on which to pen notes of love to your nearest and dearest, but you will have lovely, lacey decor for your family’s Valentine’s Day enjoyment.
One loving thought at a time creates a miracle
~Gabrielle Bernstein
