DIY Tutorials - Fun Ways to Celebrate Love on Valentine's Day and Beyond

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I wanted to share some fun ways we like to celebrate love around Valentine's, but really - these are great for any time of year.

DIY Simple Valentine's Decor

How to do this yourself:

• Mini mailboxes, found at Target or Amazon
• For the initials on the mailboxes I used scrapbook stickers
• The banner was made using cardstock craft paper. Divide an 8.5×11 piece of paper into 4 equal parts and print 1 letter/heart in each quadrant. Hole punch and weave twine through to make garland.
• Finish it off with some fresh flowers and your done!

DIY Heart Shaped Pizzas

We used this simple recipe to make our own pizza dough, shaped it to form a heart and let everyone choose their own toppings. It was festive, fun and delicious way to celebrate Valentine's Day!

Throw a Party with DIY Photo Booth & Props

Here we are, decked out in our traditional heart shirts cheesing for the photo booth at our Valentine’s party. Tutorial for our heart shirts are below.

Candy heart photo prop handles are made using free paint sticks from the hardware store and foam paper from the craft store. I also made a bird with the word “love” that goes with the yellow bird Zander is holding for “love birds”.

DIY Heart Shaped Crayons

For valentine’s this year we decided to make these heart shaped crayons I thought were super cute to give away their friends at school. I followed this easy tutorial.

I used this heart cookie sheet to bake the crayons.

Here’s a tip for peeling crayons: Use an exacto knife to slice the paper first. Should come right off afterwards. We tried just peeling them at first and it took waaaay too long and I’m not that patient so this method worked wonders.

Banana Love Notes

Go ahead, go bananas this Valentine's day! These are perfect for a breakfast in bed or lunch box surprise. To make these, simply poke holes into the banana using a toothpick. I love how simple and sweet these are.

DIY Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Bouquet

We went to the Home Depot workshop where Zander built and painted this sweetheart box. He decided to use it to make something special for his teachers for Valentine’s.

We added a Valentine’s message to his teachers and he signed the back.

To make your own bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries simply:

• Wash and dry your strawberries well (water on the berries will make it hard for the candy to stick to it)
• Insert a long lolly pop stick into each strawberry. I didn’t have any so I used disposable chopsticks and they worked perfectly.
• Pick your favorite colors and flavors of candy melts.
• Dip each strawberry into the melted chocolate.
• Tip: The chocolate will harden fairly quickly so you'll want to work fast to coat the strawberry and add sprinkles.
• Cut and insert a floral foam block to fit inside your pot.
• Insert your chocolate dipped strawberries into the foam block.
• Add some pink shredded paper to hide the foam block.

DIY Paper Heart Garland

In the photo, you'll notice a paper heart garland on our mantle. I loved this craft because it's simple and all the materials were free. Here's how to make one of your own:

• I used an assortment of free paint chips from the hardware store and cut them into hearts.
• Using an exacto knife, I cut 2 small slits in the center of each heart and threaded a piece of ribbon through. Easy peasy, right?!

DIY Heart Shirts for the Whole Family

• Cut some felt hearts and stitch them onto some existing shirts you have.
• It’s hard to tell from the photo but I used a contrasting color for the stitches. IE: Red heart = white stitch, White heart = red stitch.
• The felt will not fray in the wash so these will last forever – or at least until they outgrow them.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pie

It would not be Valentine’s without sweets. Here’s my Zanderoo savoring every bite of his red velvet whoopie pie.

To make these:

• Bake red velvet cake using this whoopie pie/muffin top baking pan
• Use cheesecake frosting for the filling. Turn it pink by using red food coloring.

There you have it, a few fun ways we celebrate love around here, especially around Valentine's Day. Hope this gave you some fun ideas this season of love.

What are some ways you celebrate Valentine's Day? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below.