Valentine Fairies
Is it just me, or is a giant flying baby wearing Pampers and wielding a weapon a tad disturbing? I don’t think that it’s just me. Therefore, we will be taking a little artistic license and making a Valentine Fairy instead of the traditional cupid figure.

Materials:
2 pipe cleaners (1 full size, 1 cut in half)
Wooden bead
Papers of your choice (wrapping paper, doilies, foil, construction paper, card scraps, tissue paper, etc.)
Small amount of ribbon or yarn
Fine-point permanent markers
Embellishments of your choice
Hole punch or awl
Scissors
Tacky glue

Instructions:
>Use markers to draw a face on the bead.
>Fold the long pipe cleaner in half.
>Thread the folded end of the pipe cleaner through the wooden bead, so that a small portion of it sticks out of the top of the bead.
>Twist the shorter pipe cleaner around the longer one, forming cross shape. (The shorter pipe cleaner becomes the arms of the fairy.) See example above.
>Choose the paper or fabric of your choice for the skirt, and cut it into a circle. Poke a hole in the center of the circle, and thread the legs of the fairy through the hole to make the skirt. Repeat with several layers of paper/fabric for a fuller skirt.
>Twist the legs together near the top of the skirt, so that the skirt does not slip off.
>Place a small amount of glue on the chest area of the fairy, and wrap ribbon or yarn around to form a bodice. Secure with glue.
>Cut a heart shape out of the paper of your choice, and glue it to the back of the fairy to form her wings.
>To add hair, thread ribbon or yarn through the pipe cleaner loop on the top of the head. Arrange the ribbon/yarn until you are happy with the appearance. You may use glue to secure the placement of the hair if you choose.

Here are a few ideas to further fancify your fairy:
Make a pipe cleaner heart crown
Add beads for shoes/hands
Attach a small fabric rose wand
Make a design with glitter glue on the wings

Heart-to-Heart-to-Heart-to-Heart

This is a great project for siblings or a group of children. Each child can add his or her creation to this pretty mobile,and it makes a great gift or decoration.

Materials:
Pipe cleaners of various colors and lengths
Beads
Ribbon

Instructions:
>String beads onto pipe cleaners in any desired pattern.
>Connect the pipe cleaners together as you would a paper chain.
>Form the pipe cleaners into heart shapes.
>Tie a ribbon on the topmost heart, or on each of the end hearts.
>Hang vertically or horizontally.

A Heart of Gold (or Red, Pink or Purple)

Requiring a just a few inexpensive supplies, this project has wonderful results. The majority of the project can be done by very young children with minimal assistance.

Materials:
Plain white paper (not glossy)
Tissue paper in various colors (must say “bleeding” on the label. “Non-bleeding” tissue will not work for this project)
Scissors
Paintbrush
Cup of water

Instructions:
>Cut tissue paper into several hearts of various sizes.
>Paint water onto the plain white paper, until the entire surface is slightly wet.
>Place tissue hearts onto paper. Overlapped, ripped, or crinkled tissue pieces are fine, as they will add interest to the design.
>Once the layout is complete, use the paintbrush to lightly coat the entire project with water.
>Let the project sit until the tissue paper is dry, or begins to lift off of the paper.
>Peel the tissue hearts off of the paper, and discard.
>Use this project to make cards or wrapping paper.

*Variation: Cut other designs out of tissue paper, such as X’s and O’s, flowers, etc. Instead of using white paper, apply the tissue to a white frame or gift box (try a small area first to make sure that the item “accepts” the tissue stain).