Creating Our Own DIY Handprint Valentines

I have always made my hubby's Valentines.  He may think I am crazy, he may hate them, he may adore them- I have no clue, but since we first started dating, I have always made his Valentines.  Sometimes it has been collages, other times it has just been simple cut out hearts, but almost always it reflects something going on in our lives.  I like to make them... I like creating something with my own two hands instead of buying some card invented by some random person I don't even know.

So a few years back when my oldest daughter came along, it was only natural that daddy get a Valentine from his little girl too.  Well, it's that time of year again and this year we have one more little lady to add in to the mix and our Valentine making has been extended to Grandparents as well (because they just love getting them too!).  Because both girls are still fairly young, I combined both of them into one Valentine and created a fun little design on the computer (that I could just print out multiples of instead of hand writing them all!) to do their hand-prints on.

We used washable Crayola paint and I like to actually paint onto their hands.  This year big sis was able to paint her own hand- HUGE fun, lol!

Big sis had to switch up the colors for each person (of course), but after doing little sis (9 months old) once, I decided she would just have to stay purple the whole time.  We did all of hers in one fell swoop, then let big sis take her sweet time.  They had a blast!.  To back the Valentines, I just used some old scrap-booking paper that I don't plan on using for anything else, glued on our little hearts, and cut with some scallopy scissors.  It really only took us about an hour from start to finish.

 

After they had time to dry, I went back and wrote each girl's name along with this year's date.

We will be delivering Thursday!  Fun times!  So, I am dying to know- anyone else crazy enough to make their own Valentines each year??

Oh- and if you like the little 'HAND/heart' background I used, you can download it by clicking HERE- it is saved in my google Drive :)