Cotton swabs vs paint brushes for watercolor paints

Both cotton swabs and paint brushes are fun to use with watercolor paints. The cotton swabs control were the paints go while the paint brushes make the colors blend easier. Both  make beautiful paintings with watercolors.

Using cotton swabs for watercolor paints

Using cotton swabs instead of paint brushes for watercolor paints makes the paint less runny. The cotton swab helps keep the paint where you want it. Making outlines of hearts with crayons, and filling in the hearts with watercolors is easy when using cotton swabs.

Flash cards for craft paper

We have paper everywhere. Despite using the back of drawings and recycling old crafts, we still have paper overload. So I got some blank white flash cards. They were really for making a game of Fish using numbers 1 through 100. Since I bought extra blank cards and some new markers, my daughter started drawing pictures on the extra cards and making little books. I made a Valentine's craft with one.

Wow, I thought. That saves a lot of paper space to use flash cards. We get just as much on a little card as an 8 x 11 piece of paper it seems, and the little cards are so much easier to store. They are also a little thicker, so using the back is possible after coloring the front with markers.

We'll see how long this lasts =).
Would love to hear your paper overload solutions!

Watercolor and crayon Valentine messages

Here's a simple Valentine drawing and message in crayon painted over with watercolor paints. I used a cotton swab dipped in water for each color and a white blank flash card to draw on.

Heart butterfly

Heart butterfly

Here's a butterfly made from a heart. Just fold a piece of paper in half and cut half a heart shape. Unfold and there is the heart, or butterfly wings. Decorate the wings with markers. Then cut a piece of paper about twice as long as the heart and about 1/2 inch wide. Twist most of it gently for the butterfly body. When nearing the top, cut two antenna and twist. Glue body and antenna on to the wings and you've got a heart butterfly.

Finger hearts Valentine's messages

This craft was inspired by SarahRobinson's article How to Make Hand Puppets Easily.
Love the idea, so I made finger puppets at Children's Cheap Crafts.

Then I thought we could make heart finger puppets with Valentine's messages on them by cutting out two hearts and taping them together so they fit on a finger. Then add a message of love on the heart.

Paper finger heart Valentine's message

Paper finger puppets

I got this idea from SarahRobinson's article How to Make Hand Puppets Easily. She gives simple instructions for making hand puppets from felt. Puppets get kid's imaginations going, and I thought kids could make finger puppets quickly out of paper too.

Paper finger puppet

I made one with paper, markers, and clear tape. I put two pieces of paper together and outlined the shape of the character I wanted that would cover my finger. Then I cut out the two pieces of paper together, so they have the identical shape, taped them together and drew a face.

Love ribbon

Any message could be written on this ribbon for Valentine's Day so that this love ribbon becomes a Valentine's card.

Draw a heart on a peice of paper and make wavy lines coming out of the sides. Two lines on each side about an inch apart with ribbon or wing like ends. Color in the heart and write "love" or whatever Valentine message you'd like on the ribbon.

Cut out and there is your Love Ribbon for your loved one.