create (with kids): Valentine's Week

I've been thinking about prolonging Valentine's day around here. Of course we kinda are already- like creating a week's worth of Valentine's goodness the last week of January (ahem)- but I was thinking more along the lines of love notes and occasional treats. And I wanted us to create a special place for them together. Of course they could always be left under her pillow or placed in her cereal bowl, but I had Inspiration, here, which is the quickest way for us to find ourselves in the middle of a project!

Isia's been asking for glitter lately, and I've been dodging the question. I really want to be supportive of her choice of materials- I just have a difficult time getting out our little volatile bottle of glitter. I have found having a plan helps a lot, as do deep breaths (smile). For this activity, our plan was to capture the glitter on contact paper taped down to a cookie sheet. Using an art knife, I scored the inside of the contact paper leaving margains on the top and bottom. 

And then the glitter sprinkling pouring began! To help move the glitter around the contact paper we borrowed one of our basting brushes from the kitchen. It's silicone and the glitter washed right out when we were done.

We shook the extra glitter off, removed the rest of the paper, and wrapped our glittery sheet around an empty salt container. Isia then picked out washi tape, which we used to decorate the top and bottom edges.

I cut out a mouth area on the top, which I lined with paper "teeth". I wanted to use googly eyes, but we didn't have any. So I created some eyes and a nose with glitter glue, which we never run out of these days.

Isia was tickled with it! Her favorite part, once it was dry, was pretending that it was eating her hand. She's yet to actually discover something in it, but I plan on changing that soon. Who can turn down love notes and treats? Certainly not this little girl. (smile)

Sneak Peek: Stay tuned for my next post, an interview with one of my favorite designers. Her store is  RachelInk on Etsy, which is an array of sweet, whimsical loveliness. Come meet the artistic mama behind the pen, and get the chance to win a set of Valentine's day cards!