Hello fellow QuicKutz fans! My name is Shaunte Wadley, and I have been on the design team for QuicKutz since 2007.
My husband and I have five children, and I feel (along with everyone else) that my time and budget are pretty limited these days! I am excited to share with you a few cost-effective Valentine ideas. Assembling these projects forced me to get a jump-start on Valentine’s Day preparations. (Almost incomprehensible to be ready early for a holiday!)
Four of my five kids are in elementary school, so I wanted to come up with inexpensive valentines for them to hand out to their classmates. Bonus if they can help me crank them out assembly-line style. And double bonus that I can further justify the dies already in my stash!
I came up with several ideas.
The first one is very traditional:
A cute tag that can be tied to any treat of your choice.
Dies used:
tag REV-0015
nesting hearts CC-HEARTS-01
heart mini RS-0400
And then I thought “Wadley, you can do better than this…”
I challenged myself to make some non-traditional valentines using the dies I already have. You know, those dies that you have in your stash that don’t get enough love. (Please tell me I am not the only “collector.”)
Do you have the Revolution nameplate dies? There are two: the oval and the rectangle.
Well, guess what? They are a perfect fit for threading onto a sucker stick! I was pretty happy about that discovery, especially when I can pick up a gigantic bag of Tootsie Pops at Costco and be done with the treats for my kids’ classes!
Let me show you.
Here is a close-up of the oval nameplate with the sucker inserted:
See how the sucker stick pokes through the pre-made holes? So easy! I love easy.
Here are some ideas I came up with to incorporate the sucker stick idea for the kids:
Dies used:
nameplate REV-0004
nameplate REV-0005
dinosaur (triceratops) RS-0635
heart mini RS-0400
fish RS-0372
I tried to go fairly gender neutral.
Here is another one. My ten year old son loved this one:
Dies used:
nameplate REV-0004
heart mini RS-0400
pirate skull KS-0780
And one for my oldest son who is in junior high and thinks he’s too cool for school.
Dies used:
REV-0005
male/female icons KS-0539
heart mini RS-0400
Speaking of my oldest son, he has a girlfriend this year! Did I mention that he is in junior high? He is THIRTEEN! Shouldn’t girls still have cooties at thirteen? Sigh… I feel too young for this.
I made him a “special” valentine for her. Cause I am giving like that…
Here it is:
In case you can’t see the tag, it reads:
We make a great “pear”, even though we can’t “date.”
Just a friendly reminder to them, and yes, it is tied to a bag of DATES. Yummy, yummy dates. I am thinking that will go over well. Very romantic. (snicker)
The “pear” idea could also be used for Grand”pear”ents if you exchange valentines with extended family.
Dies used:
tag REV-0015
pears REV-0208-S
heart mini RS-0400
If you are looking for a valentine idea for your significant other, you can whip one of these up:
We’re a perfect “Match.”
Of course you can also add something along the lines of “you strike me as being hot” or something else about hearts burning…but since this is a family-friendly site, I’m not going there.
My favorite thing about the nesting label dies is when they’re folded in half—they fit perfectly as a treat bag topper! I have used this idea for almost every holiday.
Dies used:
nesting label CC-SHAPE-3-028
match RS-0693
I have some friends this year who are still hanging onto New Year’s Resolutions and are on fitness kicks. I am eating their chocolate myself, and giving them this:
This door hanger die fits perfectly on a bottled water. I love it!
Dies used:
scale REV-0302
door knob hanger CC-shape-082-2
rollerskate skinnimini complete alphabet 4X8-ROLLERSK-SC
Do you want to see the valentine my 11 year-old son loved? He is in 6th grade. The irony here is that I have to remind him every day to wear deodorant. His valentine is so very “him.”
Dies used:
air freshener CC-SHAPE-073-2
heart (curl) RS-0047
My girls fell in love with this one:
A simple flower, and leaf set.
The flower already has a hole in the center for the sucker to stick through.
I computer generated a simple “Happy Valentine’s Day” and adhered that to one of the leaves. The other leaf is where the girls will sign their names. So simple.
Here is a close-up of the leaves:
Dies used:
flower REV-0172
leaves REV-0170
The kids were excited about making their own valentines. I was excited about the savings, and excited to use up part of my scrapbooking stash. Win/win.
Thanks for taking a look. Hopefully this will inspire you to look at your dies a little differently, and start creating your own valentines!
I will list the supplies I used as I demonstrate how to make each card below, but here’s a picture of the stash of fun stuff I used.
My first card, entitled “Turning 2”, is great to use for a young child's birthday. It could also be adapted for any other age. For this card, I used the following supplies:
The rest of the card is assembly. I used the round glitter domes to add a little more dimension to the project. They perfectly accompany the polka dot candle and background.
For my Sweet 16 card, I used the following supplies:
My last card is for the Young at Heart. My Mom will just oogle over this one! And it was so easy. 
I set the Placement Guides where I wanted them using my card as measurement. I then adhered the printing plate to the lid of the Letterpress and then gently rolled the ink onto the printing plate. After running it through the Epic tool, I let it dry. Then, I trimmed and inked the edges and assembled my card. To give the pink flower a little more dimension, I crumpled the paper. I stamped my greeting, and it was finished!
I used pink in my cards because I had a lot of female birthdays coming up, but the first and last card can easily be adapted to male birthdays by using more masculine colors. I’m going to get crackin’ on more quick and easy cards for my stash!
Materials:
Step Five:
Like many of you, I tend to hoard dies. Surprisingly, I don't seem to use them for much more than my scrapbook layouts and cards. In my search for something new in which to use my dies, I came across this glass paperweight kit. I originally intended to find a great photo to place inside the paperweight, but then I decided to break out my dies and have some fun. My paperweight came from Hallmark, but you may be able to find them at other stores or websites (I found some at http://www.photoweights.com/). The kit I purchased from Hallmark came with the paperweight, a template, and a sticky back to keep it all together.
Now for the fun! I made a variety of inserts for my paperweight, which I will change with the seasons, holidays, or my mood. Here are a few examples:
The underside of the weight is recessed, so you can easily set your paper inside. Instead of using the sticky backing that came with the kit (I’ll want to change the scene from time to time), I used mini Glue Dots in the corners. (I just used them on three corners and everything seemed to stay in place just fine.)
I then used a sturdy piece of cardstock as my backing.
You should put one together yourself! It’s a lot of fun, and it’s also a great gift idea. Give the paperweight, along with a variety of inserts you’ve created, and you’re sure to please the receiver. Then again, you can also just keep it for yourself (like I did!)
Dies used:
A cute tag that can be tied to any treat of your choice.
See how the sucker stick pokes through the pre-made holes? So easy! I love easy.
Dies used:
Dies used:
Dies used:
In case you can’t see the tag, it reads:
We’re a perfect “Match.”
This door hanger die fits perfectly on a bottled water. I love it!
Dies used:
A simple flower, and leaf set.
Dies used:
Holt International Orphanage in happier times
