Thompson Family-Life

Craft Ideas of Valentine's Days Past

I've been seeing lots of Valentine's Day Inspiration all over the interwebs.. I can't believe it's almost that time again! I wanted to share with you some DIY's and freebies I've featured here on the blog over the past few years in case you missed them.

Above is a Valentine's Card Printable Freebie you can download here. There are two envelope options - one for mailing and one for not. Read more about this printable here.

I came up with this idea when I was heavily into taking Instax photos. If you have one of these cameras, you know it's inevitable that you will have photos that don't come out well. Here's a way to upcycle them as cute little Valentines! Super fun. For the full how-to, click here.

Here's a little craft DIY I put together last year. You can find it on Apartment Therapy here. You can find the pattern for those little crochet hearts / garland here.

And the always awesome Heidi from MyPaperCrane guest posted on my blog last year and offered this SWEET cupid paper doll printable freebie! How doggone cute is he? eek. Be sure to check out her Kitschy Valentines Wreath DIY that she posted this year.

Have you seen any cute Valentines ideas this year? Please link me up! :D

*55 Days of Vintage Christmas* - Mid-Century Modern Village Printable

I created these for another site last year, but I've been wanting to post them here for you to use this year in case you missed it! They were featured last week on Apartment Therapy and that was my reminder to tell you about them here.

These are little Mid-Century Modern Inspired Houses that I designed that you can cut out and make into ornaments for your tree. Download the full color versions here and the outlined version (to color in yourself!) here.

You can either print them, cut them out, punch a little hole at the top and hang - or you can get even more creative and add things like tiny pompoms, glitter or anything else you'd like, like I did below. I found the poms at Michaels and I used glitter paint from a squeeze bottle that I also bought at Michaels, which made it very easy to control.

There's also a version that is just outlines so that your kiddos can color them in themselves.

Here they are on my pink tree from last year.

I was trying to think of other ways you could use them. They remind me of those amazing vintage Putz houses (see images of those here) so I was thinking that you could also make them into little stand-up cut-outs and create your own little miniature village with them.

I just added little cardboard strips (cut from yogurt box) and taped them to the back (of course your's would be sans the punched hole at the top - I just used my ornaments for the photos):

This would be a fun little imaginative activity for the kiddos. They could even add miniatures, or if you're like me and you like taking photos of tiny things, you could play around with forced perspective.

I used a piece of burlap and layered cardboard boxes underneath to prop up some of the houses so that they look like they're sitting on a hill.

I hope you enjoy these! If you take photos of your ornaments or little village, please add them to my Flickr Group! I'd love to see.

The Fine Print: These are only for Personal Use. No Commercial Use, please. Thank-you.