Owl and Fox Valentine Tutorial

Here are a few of the Valentine cards we're making in our house this year.

Owl Valentine

Materials:                            Tools:
Paper                                  Scissors
Glue                                    Pen

Step One
Cut out three hearts of different sizes.

Step Two
Glue the smallest heart in the upper corner of the largest heart.  The smallest heart will be the face of your owl.

Step Three
Glue the medium sized heart right in the middle of the largest heart.  This heart is the wing of the owl. It's okay if it slightly covers the face.

Step Four
Fold the heart in half and draw the owl face on the smallest heart.  You can also add details like a little love note.

Fox Valentine


Materials:                            Tools:
Paper                                   Scissors
Glue                                     Pen


Step One
Cut out three hearts of different sizes.  Cut the smallest heart out of white paper and the medium and large hearts out of orange paper.

Step Two
On the medium sized heart, cut two fox ears at the top of the heart and round out the rest of the heart just a bit.  You might have to practice this one a couple of times to get it right.

Step Three
Glue the smallest heart onto the medium heart (the one that has the fox ears) and draw on the face for the fox.

Step Four
Fold the largest heart in half and flip it upside down.  This will be the body of the fox.  Glue the head of the fox on to the tip of the largest heart.  You can add detail  like a tail or a cute little note for the one you love.

Heart Pancakes for Valentine's Day

We started off this Valentine's week with healthy, oatmeal pancakes.

The trick to get this heart in the middle of the pancake is to cook the heart first.  Put some of your pancake batter into a frosting bag and gently squeeze the batter right out onto your hot griddle in the shape of a heart.  Let it cook a little, then ladle pancake batter right over the top of the heart.  Cook as directed and enjoy.

Chinese New Year Tiny Lantern Tutorial

Happy Chinese New Year!  Today we celebrated by making tiny, paper Chinese lanterns and dragons.

To make your own Chinese lantern you will need

Paper
Scissors
Glue or tape
String
Stick (optional)

Step One:

Decide how big you want your lantern.  I wanted mine about 2 inches tall.  Cut your paper into a rectangle.  For my 2 inch tall lantern I cut a rectangle that was 2 inches by about 5 inches long.

Step Two:

Fold your paper in half length wise.  Along the fold, cut slits perpendicular to the fold every quarter inch.  Remember not to cut all the way through to the top of the paper or you'll cut your lantern into little pieces.  Leave about 1/4 inch at the top of the paper.

Step Three:

Open up your folded paper.  Bring the two shorter ends of the rectangle together.  Glue these ends together to form a tube with your paper.  Push down gently on the top and bottom of the tube. This will push out the sides of your tube and make it look more like a lantern.  And you're done.

You can attach string to your tiny lantern and hang it from a stick if you'd like.

I wish you good fortune and happiness in the upcoming year!