I
was inspired to make Valentine Pouches for my daughters’ second grade
classes. I looked at ideas online and found one using a cereal box that
looked promising, but upon closer inspection I realized that it wasn’t
going to be very fun for a bunch of 2nd grade kids! And why bother do
art if it’s not fun, right?
So here’s my own version of a cereal box Valentine Pouch. Enjoy!
Valentine Pouch Instructions
materials:
cardboard box
sharpie
hole punch
yarn
red and white paint
sponges
book paper or music paper
ruffled heart punch
1” circle punch
optional:
buttons (for center of flower)
brads (for center of flower
glue stick or elmer’s glue (I used Elmers)
Fold box down so it’s flat like this:
Trace a heart on the side without the flap.
I
cut out the heart with the box folded up. This left a bit of a mess on
the “flap side” but I just cut the rest off using the front heart as a
guide.
Once
the hearts were cut out, I used the leftover box for my paint tray and
put down some red and white. I used a sponge to apply the paint
the
following instructions are for the sewn version. If you prefer not to
sew, you can simply tape the sides part-way up using masking tape. Be
sure to paint AFTER you tape it.
Once
the paint was dry, I poked holes around the bottom edges of the hearts.
Be sure you do this while they’re together so that the holes line up. I
used a pin and then embroidery floss only because I didn’t have a hole
punch (one of the many things we sold at our craft sale that I regret
selling!). Since I’ll be doing this with 2nd graders, I will use a hole
punch and go down one side, up the other and tie on one side.
While the paint was drying, I spent some time making this flower:
I
punched hearts using a scalloped edge heart punch. I folded them in
half to give them dimension and then layered 6 of them to make a flower
shape. I used Elmer’s glue between each one and gave it a lot of time to
dry. (I think I will stick to glue sticks for the kids.) I put a piece
of paper underneath all of the hearts so that it would be easier to move
once it was dry.
For
the center, I punched a circle out of patterned paper using a 1” circle
punch. I had some leftover flowers that already had a brad in them so I
“bradded” it all together.
I glued the flower to the front of the pouch using a glue stick.
optional tag:
Since
I knew I was doing this with multiple children, I had them sponge paint
a tag to go with their hearts. Once they were dry, I have them a black
sharpie to write their names. Each pouch then had a lovely little label.
And this is what it looks like when it’s all glued together!
Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Valentine’s Pouch Making!
