{Valentine's Day Countdown Party} Homemade Valentine Cards with Bear Rabbit Bear

Today we have Melanie from Bear Rabbit Bear. I am so excited for you to meet her. She is so cute and has the funnest ideas. Today Melanie is sharing a great homemade Valentine card idea.
So let's get crafting with her.

Blog Meet Melanie
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Hello, Blissful and Domestic readers! I am soooooo excited to be sharing with you today. I'm Melanie, and I blog over at bear rabbit bear blog. I hope that you will "pop" on over and visit sometime. I write about a variety of crafts, sewing, DIY topics, inspirational topics, and I have a weekly link party on Thursday. I've also had a lot of giveaways going on lately- who doesn't love free stuff! Thanks to Danielle for letting me post during her Valentine's week!

Ok- I hate to start out a guest post with a confession, but here it goes- I don't think that I've ever officially celebrated Valentine's Day since I was in elementary school. There- I said it. Crazy, huh?? The hubby and I have just never really gotten into the whole day. However, something about having a kiddo changes EVERYTHING, doesn't it?? My Princess is now old enough to enjoy all the holidays, plus she's in preschool (where every holiday is decorated for and celebrated with immense jubilation). So, if for no other reason that for her, we are celebrating Valentine's Day this year.

I decided to start with handmade Valentine's cards. I found the inspiration in the latest issue of Disney Family Fun magazine. Their Ginormous Lollipop card is so cute! The idea is also on their website. For their card, it looks like the little girl had a professional photo shoot or editing or something. My plans for Valentine's Day pics fell through, so (as usual) I'm making do with what I have available (for free!!) and sharing with all Blissful and Domestic readers how to do it, too!

Supplies:

A White PVC pipe cut to the height of the child (or a little taller)- You may need to put a light coat of white spray paint on the pipe to hide the grey lettering that is usually on PVC pipe
A super cute outfit for your little one
White cardstock
Printer
Suckers
Tape

Begin by preparing the PVC pipe. Cut it (a great job for the hubby!!) and make sure that it is completely white.

Take your child to the desired location and snap a super cute pic. Make sure that they are holding the PVC pipe a little away from their body. This allows room for the top of the sucker once it is inserted.

Edit your pic. Until April, Picnik is still available. I edited mine using a newly discovered free editing software called Pixlr. It's a bit more confusing but has Photoshop-like edits. With it I was able to white out the background of my picture to make Princess stand out more.

Print out your picture on white card stock. I used a 3 1/2" by 5" size. This allowed me to print 4 pictures on each page.

Cut out each photo.

Punch a hole at the top of the white PVC pipe. Insert sucker. Tape the sucker stick to the back of the card with a small piece of tape.

Done! The Family Fun website suggests gluing another piece of cardstock to the back of the photo, but I opted out of this. I can only imagine a group of two year olds crying in unison because they aren't able to get their sucker out of the card.

I'd love to see your cards if you get to try this idea!! Share them on my Facebook page, and there's a great chance you just might see a feature post of all the great cards :).

A great big "Thanks!!" to Danielle for letting me guest post at her blog today. I hope you'll take time to stop over by my blog and check out a few of my other tutorials, like my Ribbon Pillow, Kool-Aid Icing Cupcakes, and Minnie Mouse Party How-To's!