Easy Crafts and Gifts for Valentine's Day

Has Valentine's Day been commercialized? Of course it has! Sometimes that is not a bad thing, but the basics of Valentine's Day are romance and showing those you love how much you love them. This can be done in several ways, including romancing up the home and giving special from the heart gifts.

Valentine's Day can be quite romantic and you want to be prepared. A flavored dusting powder for the body is lucious. Mix ten Pixi Stix with two tablespoons of powdered sugar. Sift together a couple of times so that it is well mixed. Dust it over yourself, your partner, the bed, wherever. It can be messy, so you may be doing a little cleaning later on, but it is really romantic.

A loving keepsake box is also a nice gift. Get a hatbox, cigar box, or some other sort of paper/cardboard box. Try to find things to decoupage onto it. This can be red fabric pieces, old love letters, romantic looking scrapbook papers or wallpaper pieces, old buttons, anything of that sort. You will also need scissors, Modge Podge, a small craft sponge, glue or a hot glue gun and glue sticks, and any other appropriate embellishments. Set the box on waxed paper for best results. Cut the things you want to decoupage onto the box into squares or strips. They do not have to be in any certain order or design. Coat the part of the box you are working on with Modge Podge and start applying the strips and squares. Be sure you use thin layers. After the whole box is completed and dried, coat it with another thin layer of the Modge Podge. Let dry completely. Now you can add any other embellishments like buttons, pearls, or whatever you like. Write your own love letter and put inside, then give. It is a beautiful, useful gift.

What is more romantic than a hot bath- for two perhaps? Make homemade bath salts by mixing together epsom salts, food coloring and the desired scented oil fragrance. Mix well. You can put them into a pretty glass container to give. You can also make bath beads by mixing 1/4 cup powdered milk, 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons 20 Mule Team borax, 1/4 cup rose water or orange water, 2 tablespoons vitamin E and 10 drops of essential oil, in whatever scent pleases you. Combine the dry ingredients first, then add the liquids and mix until it is a thick dough. You may want to add the water a little at a time until the dough is right. Roll into balls by the teaspoon and let sit on foil a couple of days until dried through, about 24 hours. Store in a glass container.

Candles just SCREAM romance. Making beeswax candles is easy, and they are beautiful. Get sheets of beeswax from the local craft store. The sheets should be about 8 1/2 inches by 16 1/2 inches. You will also need wicks, also available at craft stores, and you will need a hair dryer. Cut the beeswax in half. Lay the beeswax flat and place a wick along one edge. Roll just enough so that the wick is covered. Using a hair dryer, warm the wax enough to seal. Continue to roll, heating the wax every couple of inches to keep it in line and straight. Smooth the end of the wax sheet against the candle with a little heat. Once they are hard again, you an group them together with ribbon.

Candle jar lanterns would make a lovely addition to the romantic dinner table. You need jars, colored tissue paper, spray starch and a candle. Rip the tissue paper into small pieces. Spray starch them to the jars, making sure the jars are clean and dry before-hand. You will want to do two layers of paper. Spray lightly, add tissue, spray, add, etc. Let dry completely. Add a candle inside.

Hearts, hearts, everywhere hearts...make hearts to hang from the ceiling, light fixtures, wherever. These can be done in paper or in beads. For paper, get several sheets of construction or scrapbooking paper. You will also want to get a template. Find anything heart shaped that you can draw around. Trace hearts onto the papers and cut out. You can decorate if you wish or leave them as is. Use a hole punch to punch a hole into the heart. String up with fishing wire or thread. You can tie these to things or use tape or thumbtacks to hold them into place. For beads, you will need 20 gauge wire and lots of beads.You will also need pliers and scissors. Cut the wire into different lengths and curl one end a little with pliers. Add beads, then shape into a heart. Twist ends together with pliers. You can also hang these from things. They are much more beautiful than the paper ones, but also more time consuming.

Now, stay with me, this may sound a little corny. Take a piece of scrapbook paper, in a romantic pattern, and WRITE. Write from the heart. Write how much that person means to you and how much you love them. Buy a beautiful frame. Frame it. Really. This is especially good for wives who NEVER get these sorts of things from their husbands. She may check your temperature. Be warned.

A little scrapbook is a great gift. You don't have to be a "scrapbooker" to do it. Just buy an inexpensive, acid free scrapbook. Inside, put momentoes, such as movie tickets, concert tickets, etc. You can write in it with scrapbooking pens. Add photos. Find love poems and have them photo copied onto acid free paper. Glue them all in with glue sticks. Use your imagination. If you are married you can add the little fake wedding rings that you find in the craft department of the store. Add silk flowers to some pages. Remove them from the stems and glue them flat. That is a gift for a lifetime.

Divide M&M's into colors (use the Valentine's Day ones!) and layer them into a tall bottle or jar. Tie a ribbon around the top. It's great for anyone!

Get a clean jar. On strips of paper, write out things you love about that person. 365 of them would be great, but it doesn't have to be. Fold the strips, place in the jar and tie a ribbon around the jar. It is their "love jar" and will remind them any time how much you love them.

And the old stand by is love coupons. I recommend scrapbooking paper or cardstock. It looks better than contruction paper. Write on the coupons things you are willing to do if presented with a coupon form the book. Washing dishes, running a hot bath, cooking dinner, almost anything can be put on the coupons. Feel free to decorate them. Tie them together into a book or put them in a pretty decorated box. These are so sweet.

Using your imagination, it can be a fun Valentine's Day without costing an arm and a leg.