It’s February, folks.  Thought that I’d better tell you in case you didn’t know . . .

And February means grandmothers are scrambling to find fun crafts, treats, and Valentines to make with — and for — grandchildren.

I must admit, I’m not a Martha Stewart fan.  Nothing against her personally.  Maybe I ought to try harder.  (Should I send her a Valentine to see if she would be my friend. No?  I didn’t think so.)

Even though I may not be gaga over Martha, I do occasionally think she (or her worker bees) come up with some great ideas.  I totally like her Heartstrings Valentine card.  Check out this picture of the cute, cute, card. Then you can go here to get the directions to make it.

Then there is her Glittered Heart.

And the Valentine’s Day Sign Card.

And Thumbtack Valentine Frame.

And Heart and Lollipop Flower.

And Accordion Hearts.

And Button Covers.

And Crayon Hearts.

With so many fun ideas here, maybe I need an attitude adjustment.  D’ya think?

I never go Martha Stewart’s website.  Never.  I am so not a Martha Stewart.

But for some reason (maybe it is my sinus stuffiness that made me do it. . . ) I went there.  And saw an absolutely adorable Crayon Hearts activity.  Basically, you melt crayons between two pieces of waxed paper.  When it’s cooled, you cut out heart shapes and make a mobile.  The picture that they had was very attractive and made me want to make one.

This would be an easy activity to do with grandchildren.  It wouldn’t be expensive.  It wouldn’t be time consuming to prepare for nor time consuming to do.  That’s my kind of activity!

Then there was the Hearts and Blocks activity.  You cut out a heart shape and block shapes from white art erasers.  Then, using pre-inked stamp pads you stamp heart shapes and block shapes on different colored paper.  Use the paper for Valentine’s cards.  Again, I was suckered in by the pretty pictures.

Older grandchildren could cut out the shapes while younger grandchildren would probably need you to do the cutting.  (But they could give input to the design of their stamp.)

You can also find directions on making heart shaped soap, bath fizzies, miniature Valentine’s Day gift bags (with download-able template to print and use), and romantic candles. Any of these activities would be fun for a Valentine’s Day party with the grandchildren.

Bonus!  Bonus!  Bonus!

I thought I’d share the conversation candy heart box idea with you, too. This site has a pattern for a candy box like the ones you buy in the store.  The pattern has conversation candies on it.  You can right-click on the picture to save and print  to make your own candy box.  Then, fill with the conversation heart candy.  (Why make  your own box when you can buy them in the store?  It’s all about doing something fun with your grandchildren!)

Hope you have fun celebrating Valentine’s Day with the little Valentines in your family!

Are you familiar with Grandparents.com?  If not, I recommend that you take some time to check out the site.

They have a couple of fun Valentine’s Day crafts that you could do with your grandchildren.  One is to make a Valentine Posy out of lollipops.  The one (that I really like) isto make a Valentine Place Mat.

Basically, to make the place mat, you need clear contact paper and various flat Valentine decorations.  You’ll cut pieces of contact paper to the size you want.  Place one piece sticky side up.  Place your decorations  — doilies, hearts cut otr of construction paper, pictures cut out of a magazine, letters cut out to spell words like love — on the sticky side.

Place the sticky side of the second piece of clear contact paper on the sticky side of the first piece and voila! You have a place mat.  (You’ll probably want to read their directions. . .)

It would be a fun tradition making these with your grandchildren.  Then, keep their place mat from year to year.  You could see the artistic development over the years.

You could make one and send it off to a grandchild that lives far away.  But you’d better hurry.  Valentine’s Day will be here soon!

You’ve just got to check out an activity that Chrissie has done with her daughters.  Cute!  And I do believe it is a do-able project.  Even for someone like me. And that is her Salt Dough and Mod Podge Hearts. A little homemade dough.  A little Mod Podge.  A little glitter.  A cute little Valentine.

The thing that I really like is that these Valentines are baked in the microwave.  That really shortens the baking time!  And, you won’t heat up the kitchen either.  (Unless it’s wintertime, like it is now, and you WANT to have a cozy home from your baking . . . but then it would be nice if you could EAT what you baked . . .)

This activity is so easy to do that grandmothers could easily extend it to other holidays:  St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  You’re only limited by the shape of your cookie cutters. (You could extend this even more by letting your grandchildren create whatever they want out of the salt dough and then painting/decorating it after it is baked.)

Maybe you could make decorations for all holidays in one fell swoop.  (Read that to mean in one sitting.)  Then, your grandchildren would have fun decorations for their room for the whole year!

Happy decorating!