Easy Crafts to Cherish for Years to Come

Valentine’s Day is traditionally a lovers holiday but in recent years it has become a holiday to show love to those in our lives. Parents often get little candies for their kids and people often put candy out at their work. It definitely has become a holiday more people decorate for. I know some see it as a day made by the greeting card industry, but it does have its roots in love and good deeds, and any day that allows for a little celebration is a good thing in my book.

Over the years I have done different things… heart shaped pancakes, pink milk, homemade valentines… but when my kids were little, another thing I like to do was use their hand and foot prints to create a keepsake. It might seem strange, but as a mom whose oldest son is now taller than my husband, I can tell you I am so glad I took the time to do these little crafts.

Below are 2 Valentine’s Day keepsakes that you will appreciate as time goes by. They also make great gifts for grandparents and are very easy to make!

Little Footprints

This little blue Valentine was done when my youngest was just 1, he will be 14 this year! I remember he was so small when we did this… it is just hard to believe.

For this Valentine keepsake, we actually just used printer paper and acrylic paint. With my hubby’s help, I painted my son’s feet, one by one, and placed each foot on the paper.

I used the same color to draw a heart and once it was dried I cut it out and laminated it. I also did one for my other children using 1 hand print and 1 foot print. This project really couldn’t be any simpler and would be a great gift for the grandparents or ornaments at Christmas.

If you don’t have a laminator, I suggest getting one. They are relatively cheap (under $50) and last a long time. I bought mine in my 20s and it is at least 20 years old now. I have used it for so many things before becoming a mom and even more after. Anything from flashcards to recipes to bookmarks… there are so many things to use a laminator on. Check Amazon here for laminators but I recommend the Scotch brand.

Family Handprints

This project was done a few years after the one above and was done on canvas. I wanted something for the whole family, so I talked my husband into putting his hand print on the canvas first, allowed it to dry, then did mine and kept going in birth order. We did darkest colors to lighter colors and made a little effort to make sure that some of everyone’s hand was visible.

This was done with acrylic paint, choosing a color for each person. Above is a close up of the hand prints. After it was all done, I took a permanent marker and wrote, L v e, using our hands as the o in love.

Honestly, this could be done on printer paper or a smaller canvas, and though smaller, it would be just as amazing. You could write the entire word love over the hands instead of using the hands for the letter o. A smaller version might be a great gift for grandparents because it will also have their child’s handprint too!

While we intended to just hang this around Valentine’s Day, you can see it has become part our family décor, which makes it even more special!

Valentine’s Day, a Day of Love

I am so glad I made these Valentine’s Day keepsakes and all of the others I have done in the past too… you can see some of them here, but they are so special now to my husband and I. 

If you have littles and are looking for a fun project to make with them, maybe as Valentines to pass out, check out this post on Homemade Valentines or go here for more general Valentine’s Day ideas 

If you make these or something like them, please share them! You can comment below or head over to Instagram or Facebook and share your pics… tag me @bemandfam!

Have a sweet day!

BEM and fam 🙂

P.S. If you are curious about my picture display, you should know I’m a bit eclectic so my display is too. I didn’t do the trendy huge, black and white photos… spaced perfectly apart. I also didn’t only put up the best photos. I chose to create a sort of collage with pictures from our life. That is what makes me happy… seeing the memories. Anyway, my original thought was to have frames of all colors but I asked my husband’s opinion and he wanted them all to be wood, so I chose wood frames. Normally I might have pushed harder but as he likes white walls and EVERY room in the house is a different color… I let him have this one!

The frames are just inexpensive frames from Amazon, and though the picture shows the colors quite different, in person they look very close. You can see the 10 pack frame set here and the 16×20 frame here. The 16×20 frame has different widths and I have them all in different areas of my home. I get many compliments on them even though they aren’t solid wood construction. 

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