Simple Fish Valentines

I've been having an inner struggle with Valentines this year.

As per usual, I wanna hang up the towel and just go to the store and buy valentines like a normal person.

And as per usual, I also really want to just make them.

I even stood there in the aisle yesterday and gave them all the once over and came home empty handed.

The problem?  

They're valentines.  They're going to be looked at, trashed, rummaged through while searching for candy-- their only redeemable quality (<-- in the eyes of a school-aged kid).

But then again...I kinda gotta make them, too.

So the DIY-er in me wins again.  At least for the preschooler, who only needs 7 cards.

I was looking around this morning, looking for just something simple that I could just print out for free and be done.

Then I came across this Tutorial by Keeping it Simple-- and before I was knew what I was doing, I was turning off the printer and getting out my craft supplies.

This simple valentine was perfect.  My daughter and I worked together side by side while listening to Disney songs.  It probably took an hour to do start to finish.

Here's how we did it!

MATERIALS

1. Sturdy construction paper

2. Bowls for tracing (large and small)

3. Pencil + Sharpie

4. Swedish fish

5. Ziploc Bags

6. Hot Glue Gun

STEP ONE:  Trace out two large circles on sturdy construction paper.  

Trace a small circle in the middle of one of the large circles.

STEP TWO:  Outline that with a Sharpie.  Write out your sayings around the small rim. We used, "You are O "Fish" ally my Favorite" and "Valentine, you're a great catch!"  I wrote it in pencil, and had my daughter trace it with the sharpie.

STEP THREE:  Hot glue the large circle onto the front of the Ziploc bag.

STEP FOUR:  Open the bag and add the Swedish fish.  Hot glue the top circle piece on and cut the Ziploc bag off.  Hot Glue in between layers so all the fishies stay inside.

After I was all done it occurred to me that it would have been really fun (and probably cuter) to sew around everything, instead of using hot glue.  Ah, well, there's always next year, right?

All Done!

This cute preschooler told me she was excited to pass these out tomorrow and ask each kid which color they would like.

Happy Valentines Day!!