Marker Monday - Homemade Valentines

I admit, I'm a bit of a Valentine snob. I really hate the idea of buying a box of paper, having my kids sign them, pass them out to their classmates, only to be thrown away. If I'm going to spend money on something I'd rather it not be pitched in the garbage. Or, even better, I'd rather not spend any money at all on Valentines. So this year we made homemade Valentines from our craft box stash...and our Christmas tree. I've see both of these ideas somewhere on the Internet but I forget where; probably off Family Fun and Crafty Crow.

For Yap's Valentines we made felt pencil toppers that I embroidered around the edges. Okay, I did buy pencils but hey, I know they won't get thrown away. Then we printed off labels that say "Be Mine, From Yap" (not his real name obviously)

Yip's Valentines we actually made over Christmas vacation. When we took down our Christmas tree we stripped the trunk and then sliced it into circles. Thank goodness for power tools! Then I put them in the oven for a day at 200 degrees to get them nice and dry. We drilled holes, painted, added ribbons and a tag that says "WOOD you be my Valentine?" Cute! Okay, this Valentine might get thrown in the trash but at least I didn't spend any money on it!

Do you and your kids make homemade Valentines? What kind?