Crafty Mormon Hijinks, Part 2

So! Yesterday I blogged about the Valentine's Day cards we made for our grandparents. Although I told them to scoot off the blog so it wouldn't be spoiled, I bet that 4 out of 6 Brockway+Metcalf grandparents checked that entry, and the 2 that didn't aren't really sure what that Internets thing is all about. 

Today I want to talk about the Valentine's we made for the kids' classmates. In the past, we've done crayon hearts. I saw some silicon heart shaped molds in the dollar section of Target when Oscar was in kindergarten, snapped them up, and spent the next two years soaking the wrappers off crayons and cajoling Oscar for once to break those crayons up! We always packaged them in a little plastic gift bag with a tag from Oscar, but I've seen folks attach them to little circles of paper and I think they look really sweet like that. I can't, for the life of me, remember what we did in 2nd grade. Maybe we did the crayons again? I dunno. 

But as much as I loathe crafting with my children (almost as much as I hate "crafting" as a verb), Valentine's Day is the time to do it. You can give them some pre-printed Valentines and make them sign each one, you can give them some paper and have them scribble. I kind of dig the fact that a Valentine might include a little gift -- a pencil, a tattoo, some candy -- but we always go through the loot and pay special attention to those that have a human's touch to them. One of my favorite Valentines last year was a folded square of construction paper with a sticker on it and a handwritten: "Dear Oscar, Happy Valentine's Day. From Kian." I knew how much effort went into 20+ of those and Oscar and I marveled at Kian (and his mom) lavishing so much attention on each of his classmates. (If you think I am being snarky, you have never tried to convince a 7-year-old to write just his name 20 times at one sitting.) 

But me? I turn to The Mormons. 

This year's craft came from Design Mom, the grandmomma of all Mormon crafty sites.

First, we take a picture. 

 

Is he a zombie? What's up with that grimace? Are their delicious brains on that side of the backyard?

  WAIT. Does Mama have delicious brains? (No, my love. You have already sapped them all out.)

 How about a nice smile?

Or a scowl?

He represents the Lolly Pop Guild,  

the Lolly Pop Guild,

 the Lolly Pop Guild,

 He represents the Lolly Pop Guild,  

and he wants to welcome you to our back-yard!

OH FOR THE LOVE OF GIGAN CAN I STOP NOW MAMA! LET'S JUST GO WITH THE LOLLY POP GUILD ONE!

 HELLLLOOO! I am a drunk sorority girl! Bartender! My hands are EMMMM-PTY! Where's my RUUUUM and COOOOKE?

 And now she's a sweetums.

And that's my sweetie. Can you believe those eyes? Those cheeks? That sideways smile?

 Mister Hambone doesn't quite get how to hold his hand.

 MAAAAma. I know what I'm doing. (But I don't know enough to tie my shoes.)

 Ow! My arm is killing me!

 Alright, I am done with this.

And this was the one he chose. Why? "I like it because it looks like I'm doing an armpit fart." Happy Valentine's Day!

Next step: I added in captions in Photoshop and printed out the pictures at Costco. 

And then! Finding the proper lolly pop! Arlo and I visited three different stores until we ended up with the Sweet Tart Lolly Pops. The Creme de la Creme of Cheap Seasonally Decked Out Lolly Pops.

Grab your x-acto knife (or if you're like me, your "craft utility knife" that you just bought at Target with the lolly pops since you don't know where the 4,387 x-acto knives that you've purchased in the past twenty years are).

 Slice the top of the fist.

And the bottom of the fist.

Tuck the lolly into the top of the fist...

And let it come out in the bottom.

Flip it over and secure it with a piece of tape (or a heart sticker that your son INSISTED on buying).

 

Repeat 20 times for preschool, 29 times for kindergarten, and 31 times for third grade. 

Honestly, I worked the x-acto knife and the kids all did their own assembling. They counted their stash over and over and Arlo directed them to put their class' Valentines in their own Target bags and write their names in Sharpie. (Arlo likes to organize things.)

Tomorrow the kids will have their first Valentine's Day celebration in California. Will everyone else bring in carefully crafted personalized Valentines? Will they bring in licensed cards? Novelty pencils?

Honestly, I don't care. I had fun with my kids yesterday and today. I hope their classmates did as well.

(And I can't explain why, at the end of the night, all my kids had their shirts off. Let's just blame California, okay?)