Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. What a great opportunity to either make a little handmade gift (or purchase a little handmade gift) to show someone you love that you care! In this post, I am going to show you how I made some wood slice valentine art, and you can do the same!
I first started with some wood slices I have been drying out in my garage, since the fall. If you saw my big 4-0 birthday celebration, you know what these slices are from!
I love buying samples of my paint colors before I paint a new wall in our house.
It allows me to test the paint, stare at it in all kinds of lighting, and then I reuse that paint on other projects. I used a dark, charcoal gray to be the base coat for these wood slices.
Once the base gray color was dry, I went back and painted a soft pink heart in the middle of each one.
The wood slices were still a little textured so I had to be careful to get my smooth lines. I used a small brush and some craft acrylic paint.
I Made a Lot of Valentine Art Signs
I was in assembly line mode making signs. The reason I created a lot was so I could list them in my shop. Although the signs are really fun Valentines’ gifts or art, they are also a powerful reminder to leave up year round!
If you have one scrap piece of wood, you could do this craft idea too. You can also purchase wood slices at most craft stores.
Painting the hearts was my favorite step, but waiting for them to dry was my least favorite step. I was so excited to stylize them up and get some product shots.
There are so many fun color options you could do with this same idea and simple steps. I think a neon version would be so fun too!
It doesn’t have to be a big expensive gift to say “i love you”. I recently sent my mom a little gift, but she said what meant the most were the words in her card. Think of how you could pair a simple gift like this with a card. That’s a gift with meaning that is sure to be the highlight of your receiver’s day!
If you want one of my hearts, you can pick it up in the shop today!
If you need some encouragement in your journey today, I am here to say…you have a strong heart.
No matter what we go through, there is always hope, ability for change, and endless possibilities. We just have to keep going. Small steps are still steps and movement forward. This heart is a reminder that the world needs what you got.
**If you need more encouragement, I’d love to invite you into my new course, Create More Connection.
It’s the week of hearts.
I started with a bunch of cardboard boxes. I cut off the box flaps and use those pieces to then cut into heart shapes.
After I painted my hearts and they were completely dry, I used Elmers glue to attach them to one another. I used blue Elmers Glue, only because it was the first glue I found. Any school glue or hot glue would work!
You can probably tell by the pictures I created a base with the bigger hearts and then the smaller ones on top. It helps create a thicker, 3d shape and gives it some depth.
After I made my wreath, I thought this could be such a fun quick class party craft.
Are you making Valentines with your kids for a class party this week?
My daughter is really creative. I gave her some paper, heart stickers, pipe cleaners and a hot glue gun and she ran with the supplies and made these all on her own. I stood back and watched her dream up fun valentines for each of her friends.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t buy fruit roll-ups a lot. There’s something about that red, waxy substance that just doesn’t seem like food. Now, this was a fun opportunity to buy something my girl views as a “treat” yet it’s not candy. She’s going to be eating a ton of candy at her class party anyway…why not let her have/give something she enjoys as a special treat, but that’s a little bit different for some extra fun!?
I love that she glued her valentines to her fruit roll-ups to look like the guy was holding the fruit roll up or standing on it. Seriously. She is so creative!
She worked really hard on these little characters and is so excited to give them to her friends this week! If you have some paper on hand, this could be an easy valentine to whip up with your kids this week.Part of the fun of creating with your kids is just the opportunity to sit and talk with one another. Enjoy!
Have you ever wanted to paint a heart?
I used some leftover spray paints and sprayed just the top of my wood pieces. I didn’t need the sides covered or for the whole top to be really even. I was just trying to cover the middle of the wood piece well. I will show you why.
After I painted the tops, I sanded my signs a little with a heavy grit sandpaper. I wanted the color to be mixed a little with a rustic appeal. By sanding the signs a little, some of the color was removed to show the natural wood below again.
This next step is how you get your symmetrical heart. Remember the old elementary school trick of folding a piece of paper in half? Cut one rounded half of your heart, unfold it, and ta-da… perfect heart! So, I cut a bunch of hearts out of thin cardboard. You could use construction paper or even paper bags from the grocery store. Just something that will withstand a little spray paint. The hearts were different sizes and styles. I wanted a mix of different looks, and the different hearts helped create that. 
Now, I laid a cardboard heart on each wood sign and spray painted over them with a different color. The heart cardboard acted as a sticker shadow and allowed the new spray paint color to stay off the previous spray paint layer in the shape of a heart. Since this layer of spray paint is the top layer, you do want to spray paint the sides of your heart sign now.
My hearts were pretty perfect. I did a light sand job to rough the edges up a bit more and then the signs were complete! If you have been following me for a while, you might remember I did this painting trick on 
Do you give out Valentines? Matt and I aren’t a big Valentines Day couple, but I have created a number of different Valentines for our kids through the years. This