A few years back, we made really fun giant Valentine puzzles. These were great. Perfect for little hands to help with, cutting and forming the puzzle. I thought this would be fun to do for my children’s friends or classmates, so we made a mini version. This little heart puzzle is simple and fun to make, and fits perfectly in an envelope. Just add a little candy or pencil to make it complete.

Supplies for Mini Paper Valentines:

• colored cardstock paper
• scissors (child-friendly if you’ve got them)
• black marker or crayons
• envelope

1. Cut out a small heart, about 3-4 inches across.

2. Write something on the front. It could say “Be Mine” and then have your child’s name on there, so then the other children would have to finish the puzzle to see who it was from.

3. Cut up your heart into puzzle shape pieces and add them to your envelope.

Place in a treat or toy and seal up the envelope. Hopefully your Valentine won’t be too puzzled!

I’ve made pop up cards before – these fun Valentine Heart Pop Up Cards. I’ve just given them a fresh new look with some much improved photos (they were sad little snapshots from the early days!) This is a great card for you or your little one to help make for Valentines.

Well I’ve got another version of the pop up card. A card that pops out! It’s perfect for creating something different and festive on Valentines.

Supplies for Pop Up Pop Out Cards:

• 1 sheet of paper, any size or color
• pencil
• scissors
• 1 sheet of cardstock paper, larger than the first paper
• markers, crayons or stickers to decorate

1. Fold your smaller paper in half. With your pencil draw a line on the fold. The line should be as long as you want, but make sure not to go too far to the edge. You can also place it on the top or bottom half of the fold, it doesn’t have to be in the middle.

2. Cut along your pencil line.

3. Fold back each of the cut pieces, forming it into 2 triangle shapes, and making a good crease.

4. Bend the folds back in and open the card. Bend the folds through the front and pop them out to look like a mouth.

I love this one and you can do lots of things with this mouth. I made “Hot Lips”, but you could draw a face around the mouth or make it an animal beak. I’ve also seen these pop up cards with a frog mouth. Way to much fun with these pop up cards.

Glue your second piece of paper to the back of the card, so you don’t see the hole in the middle. Add marker or stickers to make it stand out.

Have fun making your fun Valentine cards POP!

Recently I found some inexpensive fake pumpkins for my fall centerpiece, but some of them looked as cheap as the price. I decided to try dressing one up with guilding liquid–this is cool stuff! It’s easy to use, too. Here’s how to do it. . .

Supplies for Guilding Pumpkins:

• Guilding liquid (I used Martha Stewart’s Liquid Guilding in Copper)
• Plastic, wood, papier-mâché, tin, glass, ceramic, paper, terra cotta, canvas, or plaster object to be guilded (porous surfaces such as terra cotta and plaster should be sealed first)
• Soft bristled paint brush
• Gloss enamel finish spray (Martha Stewart Crafts also makes this)
• Nail polish remover or paint thinner (for clean up)

1. Working in a well-ventilated area (this is stinky stuff!), lightly brush a layer of guilding liquid over object. Try brushing in one direction for best effect. Allow to dry 1 hour between coats (I only did one coat on my pumpkin!).

2. Once object is dry, spray with a light coat of gloss enamel spray to protect the finish and prevent tarnishing.Follow up with another coat for best results. Allow to dry thoroughly.

3. Clean up brush and skin with nail polish remover or paint thinner. CAUTION: guilding liquid is flammable, so do not use near an open flame! That means no guilding candles!

I placed my pumpkin on top of a candlestick. I love how rich and shiny it looks as a part of my fall table setting!

Thanks to the folks at Martha Stewart and Plaid, who’ve teamed up to create a power pack of decorative paint and supplies, I received a fun box full of supplies. Right away I headed for these circle sponge stamps, endless possiblitites with these sponges, I’m sure you’ll be seeing more crafts from these. Today I stamped up these fun apple-shaped stamped cards. They are perfect for a back to school gift for teacher, especially with one of these free back to school printables.

Supplies for Apple Sponge Stamped Cards:

• circle sponge brush, straight paint brush
• red, brown and green craft paint
• card stock paper
• plate
• optional: cellophane bag, ribbon, tag

1. Cut your paper in half for 2 folded cards. You can cut it horizontally or vertically, right in half. Then fold them over and press to crease.

2. Add red paint to a plate and press your circle sponge into the paint. Press the painted sponge onto your card. I placed my red circle in the bottom corner to give it a decorative look. And the sponge creates bubbles on the paper, which I think gives it a fun texture.

3. With a small paint brush, add a brown stem and a green leaf of paint. Then you’ll need to let these cards dry completely.

4. Create 5-6 cards per teacher, adding in envelopes as well.

5. Download and print out the free back to school printable tag to attach to the gift.

6. Place your cards into a cellophane bag, wrap with ribbon and attach the gift tag.

Now it’s ready for the first day of school, or really any time of the year!

Here are a few more fun crafts created with Martha Stewart and Plaid paints:

• Brassy Apple
• Mad in Crafts
• Just Something I Made
• Tatertots and Jello
• Whipper Berry
• Eighteen 25
• Chica and Jo
• Crafting Chicks
• A Little Tipsy
• Infarrantly Creative
• Sew Woodsy
• Less Cake More Frosting

And make sure you head on over to your local Michael’s Crafts to find these paints, tools, and other cool stencils!

*Full disclosure here

I couldn’t resist stitching up this cute little snowman made of buttons, complete with scarf and orange carrot nose. It’s giving my stitched cards a fun 3D element.

Supplies for Snowman Button Card:

• paper
• cork board for punching holes
• punching awl or thumb tack to punch holes
• embroidery thread
• cross-stitch needle
• buttons
• cardstock paper for folded card
• glue

Here’s the pattern to look at as you punch holes for your snowman, for the scarf, hat, and nose.

1. Line up your buttons onto a piece of paper, any color paper. It’s best to use paper that is heavier, but if you use thin paper, just stitch carefully to not tear a hole.

2. Using your punching awl or a thumb tack, punch holes through the buttons onto the piece of paper. It might be a little tricky holding the buttons in place, but do your best to keep them in line.

3. Thread your cross-stitch needle with embroidery thread. I like to use all the strands of the thread for a thicker look, but you can pull a few of them off if you’d like. Tie a knot at the opposite end and start to stitch your button through the holes of the paper and the button. Criss-cross the thread on the 4 holed button. Then move on to the next hole, and the 3rd hole. Then tie off the end on the back side with a knot.

4. With orange thread, stitch a triangle for the nose using the far right hole and two of the top button holes.

5. Stitch the hat with black thread, using the 6 holes at the top. Stitch the three sides of the hat, then a long one for the bottom to finish it off.

6. There should be two holes in between the first and second button for a scarf. For the scarf, tie a knot on the end of the thread about an inch up from the bottom, to act as the hanging scarf. Stitch it from the top with your needle, so the knot is on the top side. Go back and forth with the two holes a couple of times, then go back out the same hole you started with, tying a knot on the top side again for the scarf to have some thread hanging out, about an inch again.

7. For his 2 black eyes, I did a french knot stitch for two holes at the top of the button.

8. Glue your now finished snowman paper onto a larger card. You can spray glue this for best results, or use pop up glue dots as well.

Write something fun on the card and it’s ready to gift someone who needs a lift during these long winter months!

I’m thrilled to have been featured in the Woman’s Day special Christmas issue: Best Ideas for Christmas. Here is my set of 3 Christmas hand-stitched greeting cards. Don’t my babies look soooooo pretty?!

I even got a fun shout-out and blog mention, squeeee! And they included the instruction for these 3 cards in the back of the magazine. There is my Tree, Gift Box, and Santa Hat. It’s fun that these card were the ones featured, as they really are my babies. I’ve been crafting these cards for almost 8 years now.

So if you see this on the newsstands, make sure to pick up a copy and tell everyone you know that I’m in there ;)! Plus, they have many many more amazing crafts. Have fun creating this Holiday season!

Here’s a few fun projects we’ve crafted in the past for the 4th of July. Have fun celebrating with red, white, and blue!

Firework Pom Poms

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American Flag Fruit Jello

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Hand-Stitched American Flag Greeting Card

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4th of July Fruit Kabobs

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Bubble Wrap Fire Crackers

You’ve might have seen seed paper recently.  It is homemade paper with flower seeds in it.  When it is planted in the ground and given lots of TLC it will bloom into beautiful flowers you can enjoy.  Here is a tutorial for a project using seed paper.

First, you need to make the paper.

Use paper you have around your house.  This is a great way to recycle old scraps.  Tear them up into small pieces and place in a blender.  Add enough water in the blender so the paper is covered and blend.

When your paper is nice and evenly blended  you can add your seeds.  Unplug your blender and use a wooden spoon to gently stir the seeds into the paper mush. Do not blend them!

Now it is ready to be shaped.  Place a colander in the sink and pour the paper mush into it. If you have large holes in your colander like I do, go ahead and place a towel in it to catch the pulp, but not the water.

Place a towel on the counter and if you have a piece of felt, place the felt on top of the towel.  Then gently pour your seeds and paper pulp on the felt and spread evenly out.

Take another towel and press it down on the paper pulp to help dry the excess water.  You can now blow dry the paper or let it sit out overnight to dry.

When your paper is dry, cut it out into a flower shape. Make a simple card with cardstock and glue the flower to your card.  Feel free to get creative here and draw, stamp, or cut out a stem.  If you don’t like flowers, make a cute butterfly or tree.  The options are endless and no matter what shape you choose–it will be a hit with the recipient of the card.

Make sure you add a message somewhere on your card to let the recipient know they can plant it!

Little Birdie Secrets are regular contributors to Make and Takes and was born from the crafting obsession of three friends living in the Pacific Northwest. Our mission is to share the wealth of fun projects and helpful tips we find in books, on the Internet, and sometimes in our own imaginations.  Come visit us at www.littlebirdiesecrets.com.

This Halloween Bat card comes alive with tissue paper wings. He’s making his way to your house to give all a good SCARE!

Supplies for 3D Bat Card:

• cardstock
• paper cutter
• black tissue paper – a 3×12 inch piece
• black art paper
• white crayon
• letter stickers

1. Fold your cardstock piece in half to form a card. Decide if you want to put your bat on the outside of the card or the inside for a little surprise.

2. With the black paper, cut out an oval for the body of the bat and glue it onto the card. I used a black marker to draw on the bat’s ears and a white crayon to draw on eyes, mouth, and fangs (he is dracula of course!)

3. Using the paper cutter, slice a 1-2 inch slit on either side of the bat’s body. Don’t got through to the end, just cut a little opening for the tissue paper to go through.

4. Thread the tissue paper through each slit to form the bat’s wings. This can be a tight squeeze and your tissue paper may get scrunched, but you can straighten it out after. I also cut each end of the tissue paper with zig-zags for more effect.

5. To finish it off, use the letter stickers to make the words “Happy Hallow’EEK” or some other fun Halloweeny saying.

Now this card is ready to give to a friend along with some spooky treats, maybe these Pumpkin Bites from Bakerella.

Guest Post by Lyndsey of The Stationary Place

I’ve always loved paper. Stationery, patterned paper, note cards, letterpress – I think paper is gorgeous and I love all of its different uses.

More recently, I’ve been on something of a crafting binge – and for my last birthday I asked for a sewing machine. Much to my seamstress mother’s dismay, so far I’ve only used it to sew paper. Why? Because I decided my new sewing skills would look best when used in conjunction with my favorite supplies. Who wants to stitch together a shirt when you can stitch a piece of handmade stationery? Not me. [Twisted, I know. But someday I’ll try the shirt too :) ]

So, I thought I’d share one of my latest projects – to help you see just how easy it is to combine the world of sewing with the world of paper. Using a sewing machine adds a great handmade touch and really personalizes things.

Okay, here we go: The Yo-Yo Card

You’ll need some colorful fabric, scissors, a blank card, a needle and thread and of COURSE a sewing machine.

I’m always looking for fun ways to incorporate fabric into cards [see a brilliant – and easy! – way to make a quilted fabric note card here, from the MADE blog]. I’ve seen these cute fabric yo-yos popping up all over etsy and the blogosphere, and thought “those would look great on a card!”

To make a yo-yo, cut a circle out of any fabric. By hand, make a running stitch around the edge of the circle and then pull the string till the circle bunches together; sew a few stitches in the middle to keep it together.

It should look like this when you’re done:

Next, get your paper supplies out. I took a pre-cut, blank cardstock card and sliced out a smaller piece of sturdy green paper to use as my canvas.

Now’s the fun part: get your sewing machine ready! I wanted to stitch stems and grass for my little yo-yo flowers, so I picked a bright green thread. I lined up where I wanted my yo-yos to be on the canvas paper, and then used my sewing machine to make a straight stitch for each flower.

I looove all the various stitches to choose from on sewing machines. Out of my 25 different stitches, one really reminded me of grass – and inspired the card. I changed the stitch setting and used the “grass” stitch to go straight across the bottom of the canvas paper. You don’t have to have this same stitch on your machine; I think even a zigzag stitch would look cute for grass.

My green canvas paper looked like this once I finished stitching:

Next, attach the yo-yos – I hand-stitched each one in place a few times and then used brads for the centers. I added a little paper border at the top, with a handwritten “hello” tag. I used double-sided sticky tape to attach my green paper to the front of the card – and voila! A sewing machine note card!

Sewing machines work great on cards or scrapbook pages as borders, accents or even part of the design like my yo-yo card. With so many fun fabrics and thread colors out there, any paper project can be spiced up with a little stitching! Try it the next time you work on a note card – you’ll be surprised how seamlessly [ha!] the two craft worlds combine.

Lyndsey Wells is the paper fiend behind the stationery place, showcasing a daily dose of beautiful stationery, DIY paper crafts and inspirational designers — but in real life, her day job is doing marketing for a scrapbook company. Lyndsey just moved from sunny Los Angeles to gorgeous Utah, and is still trying to adjust to the new lifestyle while her husband attends business school. She loves dessert, all things social media [follow her on twitter here] and curling up with a good book or movie.