Get Crafty With Love: Fun DIY Valentine's Ideas

Valentine's Day is one week from today, so if you're thinking about making some Valentine crafts for family, friends or the love of your life, here are some fun and easy (well, for the most part) DIY projects to show your love in a creative way! This round-up includes some cute ideas for kids and grown-ups :) Which one do you love? I'm totally doing #5!

1. DIY Heart Mason Jar - This super easy DIY craft is such a great idea! Change things up and customize the design with pink or red paint and different sized hearts or letters.

2. Felt Candy Hearts - If you can sew, this is a simple and inexpensive little craft to share your love with co-workers, your kids, or your child's classmates instead of the traditional paper Valentines.

3. Chocolate Love Notes - Fill a hand-stitched muslin bag with chocolates and hand written notes on all of the little things you love about the person you're giving it to!

4. Tiny Valentine Matchboxes - I love this idea! Purchase a bunch of matchboxes, empty the matches and wrap with fun paper, string, stickers, etc., and fill with candy! A great Valentine idea for your child's classmates.

5. Thumbprint Heart Magnets - These make the perfect gift for grandparents! I'm totally doing this with Luke for my parents and in-laws. Tiny fingerprints to make the shape of a heart = priceless!

6. Tiny Felt Envelopes with Mini Valentines - This is a really sweet idea that would be fun to give your best girlfriends / mom / sister...it could also hold a gift card to Starbucks, which is a great gift idea for V-Day!

7. 100 Hearts Garland - The idea behind this heart garland, created by EJ from Toddler Approved, was to cut out 100 felt hearts and every night after dinner have each person in the family share what type or service or kindness they did that day, then add a heart to the string. Isn't that a fabulous idea?!

Quote of the Week

"We need handmade to balance the mind-numbingly similar machine-made things around us, things that can only express the efficiency and speed with which they were produced. Craft makes our home more human. We sense the time, care and skill that went into the making."

-Ilse Crawford, Home is Where the Heart is

IMAGE CREDITS: MARTHA STEWART; LIVING ETC.

DIY Cork Crafts for Winos

Hi. My name is Julie and I'm a wino...and if you're one too, you probably have tons of wine corks gathering in your kitchen junk drawer or collecting in a box somewhere, right? And you're saving them for a special wine cork craft project, except you don't have any ideas of what that project will actually be...you just know that you don't want all of those corks going in the trash. Well, my cork stash is beginning to overflow and it's time to get crafty and turn them into something creative! I the searched the Internet high and low for unique DIY ideas from fellow winos and found some really fun (and easy) projects. I might try out one of these over the weekend...but we'll see if I'm still feeling motivated by then. Do you have any of your own wine cork craft ideas? Please share!

Cork Memory Board - details on how to make this fun work of art found here

Wine Cork Rubber Stamps - Love this idea! Details on this project here.

Wine Cork Clock - Make your own or purchase this one on Etsy (and tell your friends you made it :)

Wine Cork Journaling - make memories out of your corks by jotting down the date and who you shared the bottle of wine with! Display them in a decorative bowl and take a walk down memory lane every now and then by reading through the corks, triggering happy memories of good times and good wine. (Note to self: do not "journal"each time I've enjoyed a bottle with myself...that could be depressing. Ha Ha !). This fabulous idea came from the blog Mintage Home.

Recycled Wine Cork Keychain Favors - learn more about this project here

Wine Cork Wreath - Craft a wreath with painted corks! Details on this project found here

Wine Cork Trivet - learn more about this project here

Recycled Wine Bottle Torch - I couldn't resist sharing this DIY project with you! What and awesome way to re-use those empty wine bottles! Discovered via Design Sponge; details found here.

Get Crafty! Reuse What You Already Have

Hello everyone! Did you enjoy your New Year's and celebrate by doing something fun? Well, to kick off the new year I thought it would be fun to round up several simple DIY projects that focus on items you might already have around the house. Recycle your junk into something fresh and new! The following ideas are right from Better Homes & Gardens and include using leftover fabric scraps, tin cans, old rulers, metal bottle caps, kitchen utensils...and much more. Do you have any favorite DIY projects? Please share!

Beaded Luminaries: Turn old glass telephone line insulators into beautiful luminarias. Wrap beaded wire around the lip, place a tea-light candle in each, and hang in a grouping. If you're wondering where the heck to find these things, I found a whole bunch here on e-bay.

Fabric Scrap Balls: These fabric-wrapped balls use up scraps from your stash and can be displayed in a pretty bowl. Cut strips from coordinating fabrics and use glue to adhere them to foam balls. Select a variety of fabric patterns and use both small and large balls for extra interest.

Paintbrush Holder from Recycled Yardsticks: Embellish a can or box with sawed-off rulers and yardsticks. Cut the wood measurers to size with a saw, sand the ends, and hot-glue them in place.

Kitchen Tool Recipe Holder: Keep recipes handy with a holder made from a potato masher or meat tenderizer. Simply attach a clothespin or metal clip to the handle with epoxy.

Bottle Cap Magnets: Bring the recycled-chic look to your kitchen with bottle-cap magnets. Find vintage caps at flea markets or thrift shops and hot-glue a small magnet, available at crafts stores.

Business Card Holder: Using an empty mint container (mom, if you're reading this, save your Altoids tins! (she's kind of addicted). Cover the outside and inside of the lid with decorative paper and fill it with your business cards. Embellish a second container to store the cards you receive. This would also be perfect for a traveling sewing kit or to store band-aids!

Desk Accessories Holder: Using an old tin can, remove labels and clean. Cut textured decorative paper to the height and width of the can. Wrap the paper piece around the can and adhere it with decoupage medium. Cut a length of coordinating ribbon. Wrap it around the can and tie.

Globe Centerpiece: Perfect for an old globe found at a garage sale or flea market! Using a handsaw, carefully cut a globe in half, then set each half on a footed cup and fill as desired. The two globe halves can be displayed in different rooms or together.

Fork Wall Clips: For a unique and organized display, attach decorative vintage forks to the wall to hold tickets, receipts, and business cards.

Paint Cans Turned Organizer: Cover quart paint cans with scrapbooking, wallpaper or wrapping paper crafts. Use double-stick tape or spray adhesive to secure paper to can. To stack, lay them on their sides and glue together.

License Plate Mirror: Trim a mirror in old license plates for unusual wall decor. The ones used here are well-rusted for an understated look; newer ones would give a brighter, more graphic appearance.
Get Instructions for License Plate Mirror