As a mom, if there is one thing I know, it’s that I have a love/hate relationship with the trinket toys. They are so cute and make for a really easy Valentine’s gift to my daughter’s classmates, but I know their parents are thinking, “What do we do with this now???” (As they head towards the trash, lol.) So this V-Day, why not give the kids a really fun activity instead? Besides, the best Valentines are the handmade ones, right?
These Valentines hold a secret message that can be revealed by painting over it with watercolor paint. How fun is that! Not only will I show you how to write the message, but how to make and include their own paint set as well.
To start, you will need:
- Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock Papers
- Cardstock Warehouse Natural
- Cardstock Warehouse Electric Red
- Cardstock Warehouse Cotton Candy
- Cardstock Warehouse Silver Sparkle
- Watercolor paint (one palette can make enough for a whole class!)
- Paintbrush
- Cricut Pens
- Gluestick or Adhesive Craft Tape
- White Crayon
If you do not have a cutting machine, don’t worry! You can make your own proportional and identical heart cut-outs using the mini tutorial below. All you need is some cardstock, a pencil, a ruler and scissors!
Figure out about what size you want your heart to be. I made mine 5”W x 5”H. Fold your cardstock in half and measure from the spine → out half the width you want your bigger heart to be. Then measure from top → bottom along the spine the full height you want your bigger heart to be. This is giving you a guideline in sketching out half of your heart shape. Once you are happy with the shape you have made, cut it out! Now, all you have to do to make your proportionally smaller heart shape is to trace along the inside of your bigger heart. Cut the inner heart out.
You now have two proportional heart stencils! All made by hand!
If you are using a cutting machine, I designed my hearts and a paint palette shape with the instructions attached and drawn on with a Cricut pen. Use glue or crafting tape to affix the pieces together.
Take your hearts and using the white crayon, write your secret message. Being that it is white, it is a little challenging to write without being able to see it. I suggest keeping your message short and sweet and angling it towards the light every now and then to check your progress.
To start the paint palettes, figure out what colors you want to include. Load up your brush with paint and paint a circle on the palette. Make sure there is a good amount of paint on the brush so you don’t have to go over it twice. If you have a little helper, you can draw the outline of the circle and have them paint it in! You can see how beautifully the Colorplan Natural paper holds up with the watercolors! Continue with different colors until it is filled in. Let it dry.
Include them in a little package with a brush and your Watercolor Resist Valentines are all set to go and be enjoyed!
For fun (and to make sure it works, lol!), my daughter did one. How cool is this! She had a blast!
Make your own watercolor resist hearts? We’d love to see! Be sure to show us on Facebook or Instagram.
Happy Crafting!
-Melanie (A Peace of Creativity)
2 comments
This is absolutely adorable and we would like to make them to take to the Senior Center as gifts. Would you be willing to share your SVG?
What?!?! It was a white crayon that did the writing?!?! How clever! I’m still so impressed with activity and now after reading, the package presentation :)