Unique School Valentines

by Jennifer Vardy Little (J-M) (Feb 6, 2013)

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I decided it was time for a little project for my son's kindergarten class. I volunteer for all of the class parties and I like to bring the kids a little something special. For Valentine's Day - and with a vast scrapbook room - it seemed silly not to make a special valentine for them.

I decided to make little bookmarks in fun animal shapes to go over the corner of their pages. The challenge was to make them all using hearts.

I have some scalloped heart nesting dies and used the three smallest hearts for this project. Start out by folding a piece of cardstock in half. Position the largest of the three dies over it on your die-cutting machine so that the die does not cut through the folded edge - the folded edge should be a few millimeters from the pointy edge of the heart die. This will make a corner for your bookmark.

Unfold your heart. Use your ATG to put a line of glue down each of the straight sides on the inside of your heart, leaving the arched part free of glue. Close the heart and press down to create the pocket for the bookmark. The creased, pointy edge of the heart will become the top of the head.

Use the smallest heart to cut a "nose" for your animal and glue it upside down on the face of the bookmark, towards the bottom of the face.

Punch two small circles to form eyes and glue them to the face just above the nose.

Now it's time to make ears for your animal. If you're making a puppy or a bunny, use the medium-sized die to punch a heart and cut it in half. Attach the bunny ears facing upwards and use the smallest die to cut another small heart and cut it in half again to create a little contrast. Finally, use a marker to draw whiskers on the bunny.

For a puppy, attach the two halves of the heart on either side of the head to create floppy ears. Finally, cut a tiny "tongue" out of a piece of scrap cardstock and attach to the inside of the bottom of the heart.

For a pig, use the marker to add two dots to the nose. Then, using the smallest die, cut two small hearts. Attach them, pointy end up, to either side of the face to make the ears. Create a little definition by making an upside-down ‘v' shape on either ear with a marker.

These bookmarks are really fast to make and work really well. My son just adores them!