Crafty Concepts: Cute Valentine's Gifts

Working full time and having a family takes a lot of time. Heck, being a stay at home mom takes a lot of time. But, I have lots of ideas! I wanted a way that I could share with you all my ideas   good ideas, even when I don't necessarily have the time or the money   resources to actually do the craft. So, whenever I come up with an idea that I think you'll like, I'm going to share it with you as a "Crafty Concept." Erin may do this from time to time too. Here's the "concept" that inspired this whole idea. (Keep in mind that sometimes I'll do the project down the road, and I PROMISE to show you if I do. But, if you do the project, can you show us? We'd love to see a project come to fruition, even if we didn't do it ourselves!)

I saw this idea at A Very Country Christmas via Craft Gossip and thought it was Adorable!


I set out to figure out where I could get plastic shovels for a good price when Michigan is FREEZING and Wintery. A friend mentioned Party City, so I looked at their online store. I can only get them with a pail - $2.99 for the set. Not interested. So, I thought of Oriental Trading.

These patriotic beach sets are on clearance - $6.99 for 12. Perfect Price! (You do have to pay shipping for orders under $25 - at $6.99 a pop. I'm holding off until I can find something else I need or find a coupon for free shipping...but I couldn't wait to share!) They come with a bucket, a shovel, a rake and a scoop.

I will want to use all the parts of the set as to not have too much left over. I figured I'd give the boys the blue sets and the girls could have the red ones. Here's what I came up with for each piece.

• The shovel would follow the inspiration exactly. It would have a bag of candy attached with the words "I DIG You!" painted on...I'm thinking puffy paint!
• The scoop would have something fun like a roll of stickers for the boys or a ring for the girls and it would have a tag that said "I just want to SCOOP you up!"
• I was thinking about lacing red vines in between the tines of the rake and covering the bottom part with a cello bag. The tag for it would read "Don't bRAKE my heart!" I normally hate it when things are spelled wrong, but due to the cuteness factor, I'm making an exception (Break vs. Brake).
• Then, I'd put all of the pieces into the pail. I'd cover the outside star part with some decorative Valentine's day paper and attach a tag that said "Please be my Valentine PAiL!"

So, that's my idea!  I really like it, so as long as I can come up with a reason that $6.99 shipping is justified on a $6.99 purchase (not likely, even with my amazing justification skills), a coupon for Free Shipping or someone else who needs something from Oriental Trading Company so I can split shipping, I'm totally going to do it!  If you use this idea, I'd love to see how it turns out!

Would you like to hear more crafty concepts?  Just ask my husband, it is SCARY how many ideas I come up with!  I've got plenty more to tell you if you want to hear about them!  So, let me know...If I get one comment (who's not my mom - sorry mom!) who says they want more crafty concepts, I'll keep doing them...If I don't, I'll probably still do them - I'll just be a little bit sad :(  LOL!

Hope you had fun and were inspired to try one of your own Crafty Concepts!

-Heather