These corny valentines were so much fun to make, not to mention super easy! If you are making them with toddlers you will have to do the glueing but if you have children ages 5 and up they should be able to do the whole thing with just a little help and guidance. Whatever age your child is just make sure to encourage them to get creative. Let their imagination lead the way. Be silly, and most of all have fun!

You will need:

• Dried cobs of corn. You can do this yourself, buy it or if you happen to be at a farm….grab some while you are there (that’s how we got ours)
• Acrylic paints, as many colours as you like
• Paint brush
• Glue gun
• Feathers
• Googly eyes, any size
• Heart sequins for the lips, or you can cut a heart shape out of red or pink felt, construction paper, fun foam etc. You choose!
• Colourful tape, string, fabric or construction paper to wrap around head
• White craft glue
• Glitter for the tip of the feathers
• Paper tag for CORNy valentine message
• Marker to write the message. I used a white paint marker
• Colourful yarn to attach message to the corn

Some fun extras:

• Pom Poms
• Lots of colourful glitters and sequins
• Yarn for hair
• Pipe cleaners for arms

Happy Crafting!! xo

*Oh and don’t forget to head over to the petitscoquins blog for this weeks Poppy post where you can see her making some CORNy valentines!

outline hands.

Decorate the hand prints. 

cut out the hand prints.

paint the dowling

draw the outline of your leaf and cut it out.

Wrap the first hand print around the top of the dowling and fasten with glue. Wrap the second hand print around the first hand print and fasten with glue. Curl down the fingers. If you want you can also add a pom pom to the center of the flower. Now using the glue attach the feather and the leaf together. Glue the leaf to the stem. You can also wrap some green wire or pipecleaner around the base of the leaf ( where it attaches to the stem ). Ta da! you now have a beautiful flower. Happy Mothers Day!

Before I became a full time mom, I used to run an art center for kids. It was amazing. What could be better than making art with kids all day!!! ( ya ya maybe not EVERYONE would agree ) but for me I loved every second of it. I was constantly coming up with crafts that not only would the kids have fun making but also making sure that for the most part I was also coming up with crafts that the parents would WANT to have in their homes. I know it can be tough trying to save everything your kid comes home with but I swear these parents were saving most of what I was sending home! The kids loved it and so did the parents. I also worked hard at coming up with fun new art ideas each class. I didn’t want the kids to get bored and it was important for me that “The Messy Monkey” ( my art center ) kept its good name in the comunity….people talk and as a small business owner I wanted all the talk to be good.

Now for these flowers. I know I just said I was constantly coming up with new ideas but for Mothers Day, these handprint flowers were an exception. I loved them. Still do. The thought of having a beautiful flower made out of your kid’s hand was too cute…and the thought of over the years having a bouquet of flowers made up of many years of your little one’s growing hands was to me beyond cute! They are so easy and as your child grows so will the flowers and the creative thought they put into making them for you! This year Poppy is still quite small so my flower will be simply white with a few scribbles but next year it may be a beautiful messy rainbow of colours!

You will need:

1 pair of scissors

2 pieces of construction paper, one for the hand prints and one for the leaf

1 piece of wooden dowling

markers

1 pen, preferably a fine point black sharpie, to outline the hands and to write happy mothers day and the year on the wooden dowling

1 hot melt glue gun, to glue on the flower ( hand prints ) and leaves ( construction paper leaf and feather )

1 feather, or more if you like!

1 paint brush

1 bowl of water

green paint

extras: 

green wire or pipe cleaner to wrap around the dowling just at the base of the leaf

pom pom ,to glue in the center of the flower

sparkles

oil pastels are a great alternative to markers, they are bold and vibrant. If you choose to use both to decorate the flower, remember always use markers BEFORE the pastels as drawing over pastel with marker will ruin your markers.

*note: these are just a few suggestions, please let your child run wild with their imagination. You can use all sorts of things to create beautiful unique flowers.