If you’re looking for a non-candy, non-tattoo, non-fill-in-the-blank card option for Valentine’s Day this year, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and make your own! Whether you have to avoid candy due to restrictions in your child’s classroom or your child kid to make a special card for a friend, this extra-fluffy love bug is for you. Using Clover’s Pom-Pom Maker, these love bugs can be made during movie night with the whole family. Variegated value yarn gives the love bug a fun look while keeping craft supply costs low.
Materials
- Yarn
- Clover Pom-Pom Maker, small (found in the yarn section of craft stores)
- Cardstock
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Glue gun and hot-glue sticks
- Decorating supplies of your choice (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, smaller pompoms, etc.)
Instructions
| The Clover Pom-Pom Maker is easy to use. |
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| To begin, simply open the curved arms on either side of the maker. |
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| Wind your yarn around two of the curved arms on one side of the pompom maker. Fill the form as much as you can; the more yarn you use, the fluffier your pompom will be. |
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| Once you’re done filling both sides, close the pompom maker. |
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| Notched around the pompom maker, you’ll find a small channel to cut the yarn. |
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| Using your sharp scissors, cut across the yarn to release the individual pieces. |
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| Next, cut a new piece of yarn and wrap it around the cutting channel. Tie a tight knot – this will keep your pompom together. |
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| Remove from the form by releasing the arms and pulling the center apart. Fluff and shape, with your scissors, as you see fit. |
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| On the cardstock, cut out one large heart and one small heart. Glue the small heart to the large one to create feet for your love bug. On your pompom, add googly eyes, a pipe cleaner antenna and other decorations as you like (your glue gun will work best for this part). Once the decorations are on your bug, apply a liberal amount of hot glue to the small heart and position your love bug into place.
If you want to speed up the assembly process, pick up a package of die-cut paper hearts to use. These poppy-colored hearts are from Paper Source in Birmingham. Paper punches in different sizes, like this option from Fiskars, are great to use too. |
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| Use the blank area on the large heart to write a message to your recipient. Have fun with different colors of yarn for your love bug, too. Want to play with your bug later? Easy: Instead of gluing the small heart to the bigger heart, keep your love bug separate from the card by attaching with a small piece of rolled washi tape. The washi tape is easy to remove from the card, resulting in an on-the-go bug! |
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