As a kid my favorite time of year was Valentine’s Day. Since I know that a lot of these projects will need to be mass produced to distribute in the classroom. I try to keep the ideas simple, but fun. This alligator was easy to make and his heart scales add just the right amount of detail for this special holiday. I hope you enjoy him as a simple card, or to hang inside a book as a bookmark for kids or teachers.

Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us and for you parents out there that usually means mass producing valentines for your children’s classmates. We suppose you could go the easy route and get the little paper pre-printed ones and call it a day, but what’s the fun in that when you have an Inspiration?! Over the next eight days we will show you some quick, easy, and inexpensive Valentine’s that you can make that will be a very special treat for your kids to share with their friends.

As mentioned in last week’s classes, there will be NO CLASSES this week. I will be at the CHA Show in Anaheim, CA.

Have a wonderful week and take this opportunity to check out the Videos here on the Craft Room, or take some time going through past classes.

Spring isn’t here yet, but if you saw my closet you would all be telling me, “Tatum, it’s time to do some spring cleaning”! The problem is that as soon as I throw something away, it’s just a few short weeks or days later that I need it again. This happens with clothes, recipes, newspapers, you name it — I hate throwing things away but I struggle to keep it all organized! In my attempt to do some spring cleaning on my computer here at work, I was able to find a document on the pressure settings that I use for specific materials. I was also pleasantly surprised when Amanda pointed out to me that we have a similar document with many more materials and they are all neatly organized.

Often when I am talking to people on our designer chat or through email they are wanting to make a shaped card but don’t know how. So I’ve had in mind for a while now to make a video on creating shaped cards. They are just so easy and so fun that I think even beginners will be able to master the few simple steps.