Craft tips and tutorial - 5 Valentine's Day Craft Ideas

By Jason S. Parker

We could all spend a little extra on a really nice meal or buying your partner some perfume that they really like. But if you really want to show your partner your romantic side then why not also present her or him with a gift that you have made yourself. Not to mention it can be loads of fun. Below we provide 5 different Valentine's Day craft ideas which you may want to consider trying for this coming February 14th.

1. Candy Filled Heart - Take some white or pink paper (not too thick and not too thin) and cut out two identically shaped hearts. Then take one heart and decorate this using glitter etc, and when dried attach to the other but leave the top of the heart open so that you can place a number of beautifully made heart shaped chocolates inside. Then seal and present to your loved one.

2. Heart In Your Hands - For this you will need to scan your hand into a computer and then using a program such as ClipArt or PhotoShop place a heart in the center of the palm. Then very steadily insert a picture of your loved one into the center of the heart and on it place the saying "You Have My Heart in Your Hands". Once prepared, print off the picture onto some heat transfer material and then transfer the image on to a piece of clothing of your choice.

3. Mouse pad - If your partner spends hours at their computer each day why not present them with a mouse pad on which you can place a message of love that they will be able to read and treasure throughout the year. To make it even more special why not go for a heart shaped one rather than the more traditional square or oblong ones.

4. Love Scrapbook - If you have the time why not make up a book of the time that you have been together and which you can then present to your loved one on Valentine's Day. It is a good idea to keep hold of little mementos from days that you have spent together such as ticket stubs of places that you visited (cinemas, theatres etc). Also, include within some pictures and words that mean things to you.

5. Valentine's Wreath - Again if you have time get hold of some various sized wooden hearts and then paint them. Ideally use colors such as pink, red and white for them and then write words that are important and special to you both. Once dried stick them onto a grapevine wreath and add a ribbon to it so that it can be hung up for all to see.

Along with the Valentine's Day craft ideas we have provided above for you, a quick search of the internet and you will find plenty more. Making something yourself will really show the person to whom you are giving the gift just how much they really mean to you. It's often the effort that shows the love.

Jason Parker is a rep at St Valentine's Day Gift Baskets where the sweetest and tastiest gift baskets are available.

Craft tips and tutorial - What to do with your roses

Many of you might get some roses this valentine, and don't know what to do with it after a few days. It might already lost their freshness, but don't throw it away.

There are a few things you can do with your roses.
1. Dry the petals
Some of the petals might started to fall/loose. Collect them, dry them. The dry petal can be kept for years. Some people might suggest to put silica gel and and microwave. But i can't find silica gel, and just try to dry them without silica gel, and it works. Line the petals in kitchen paper, and microwave in Low/ defrost for 3 minutes. After 1 1/2 minutes you might want to check and flip the petals.

THe petals might change colour, mine turn to purplish, but still is beautiful. I've used some of the petals for scrapbooking, and keep the rest for future craft projects.


2. Dry the roses in whole
Most of my roses are still good and the petals are still strongly intact with the stems. So i decide to dry them in whole. To dry them, i just hang them upside down in an empty room in my house. The room has to be dry and dark. Hopefully it will dry in 2 weeks. I'll update after 2 weeks then.

craft tips and craft tutorials - snow globes

Material :
- old jam jar
- glitter and/or confetti
- pva glue
- polymer clay
- silicon


Instruction

- clean old jam bottle, remove any label
- Make small animal using clay, or buy some miniature
- glue the animal miniature or any other you want in the jar lid, make sure it's been properly glued to the base.
- put glitter and confetti inside the jar
- fill jar with water
- close the jar with the lid.
- test if the water leaks from the jar,
to make sure, glue the jar to the lid, or better use silicon to seal the lid.

A great idea for valentine :)

Craft tips - A crafter must have

I have done all kind of craft, and i found that different craft share some common tools.

Here are a list of my must have
1. Small scissor
2. Scalpel
3. Gold and Silver pen
4. Thick gloss photo paper
5. A good collection of gift wrap
6. different colour of yarn & needle
7. glitter
8. PVA glue
9. double sided tape

Craft tutorial - Home Made Air Dried Clay

Paperclay and polymer clay are very expensive and hard to find here in Indonesia. Then one day i found a book that teach me how to make cheap air dried clay, with texture similar to polymer clay.

Here are the recipes (equal to polymer clay 42gr block)

1. 10 grams of Corn Flour

2. 10 grams of Plain Flour

3. 10 grams of Tapioka Flour

4. 15 grams of PVA Glue

5. Benzoat for preservatives (can be found in cake supply)

6. Any kind of colouring

How to make

1. Combine all the flours and benzoat

2. Mix in PVA glue, then mix until pliable,

The amount of PVA glue can be varied, depend on the texture of the dough. You can always put on more PVA glue for softer clay texture

3. Take the amount of clay you want, and colour them, Keep the rest in airtight container, or i will just put them in zipped plastic.

Tips :

1. Don't make too many as they get dried quite easily

2. Finished product might shrink a little, and darker in colour, please bear in mind when you mix in the colour

3. A cheap and easy way to furnish is using a transparent nail enamel.

I don't have a picture of my creation yet, but i will surely post some later :)

Have fun

Make your own cros stitch pattern

Sometimes cross-stitch pattern can be very expensive. And sometime we just can't find the pattern we want. Worry no more, because now you can transform any picture you have into cross stitch.

Here are few website that offer image- cross-stitch pattern converting
http://www.darklilac.com/upload.jsp
http://www.x-stitch.info/
http://www.picturecraftwork.com/en/

Craft

Craft has been my passion for years. I've tried many different craft, from flower making, doll making, clay, jewelry making, ribbon embroidery, card making, scrapbooking and many more.

Now i live in Indonesia, and i found it very hard for me to find materials. Well making a craft store and craft library has been my dream, well maybe one day i'll make one, but until then. I will just sit here infront of my computer, finding craft tips and tutorial, and i will share them with you.