Recycled Valentine Fun!

Valentine's day is less than a month away and there are many, many ideas out there on the web for making your own fun Valentine gifts and cards out of recycled materials! Here are just a few that I found...

The Long Thread has a nice tutorial to make this cute stuffed heart, which is a great way to use up some scrap material or recycle some unwanted fabric items and buttons! You can even make it extra special by using a piece of fabric from an item or article of clothing that has sentimental value but is no longer useable or wearable.



Cut Out And Keep, one of the many fun craft links shared on my site, is full of fun ideas and how-to's for Valentine's day. Check out a bunch here, like this cool conversation hearts charm bracelet!


National Geographic shows you how to make neat 3D recycled cards here...


Squidoo has a nice collection of Valentine crafts, which include many paper crafts that you can incorporate recycled items (like junk mail) into. Scroll down to their video tutorial on making tissue paper flowers...this makes a fun activity for kids and adults, and a great way to repurpose some of the used red and white tissue paper you hopefully saved from all of those Christmas gifts you just opened!

Scroll further down Squidoo's page for another video on making a woven paper heart basket. I used to make these when I was little...they make a fun envelope for a valentine, or bag for a small gift!

There's also a recipe to make your own Valentine's bath salts, which can be given in a nice package by decorating a recycled glass jar.

Crafting a Green World has a nice video showing you how to make a simple pop-up Valentine card using recycled materials as well.

Everyone knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...I remember when I was dating my husband 15 years ago, I had fun decorating a coffee can and filling it up with home made Valentine M&M cookies. I sprayed the can pink and decorated it with candy hearts, stickers, and glitter paints. I'm sure he was more excited about the contents than the container, but we still have that can today!

Expecting to get some traditional store bought items from your not-so-crafty Valentine? See if you can come up with ways to recycle the packaging you get! "jlcfyi" blog posted this great way to repurpose a candy heart box into a picture frame!


Got some of your own recycled Valentine craft ideas? Feel free to post comments and share the love!