It took a little longer than I planned, but it’s finally done!

My little sweetie, Knox, has a double ear infection, so there hasn’t been a lot of time for art the last few days.  He just got started on a new antibiotic today so I sure hope it kicks in quick. My little guy has hardly slept at all (and neither has his mama).

On to the tree! The framework for our tree is a few long sticks gathered from a nearby park in our neighborhood.  I filled a pot with rocks, set it inside the urn and then stuck the sticks down into the pot.  The rocks hold the sticks in place really well.

I told my daughter before we began that we were only going to use supplies we had on hand and stuff from the recycle bin.  This is easy on the bank account and really does allow for more creativity.  I bet you could come up with a zillion other ways to make some Valentine’s ornaments with things you have around your place.  Here are some photos of the things we used to inspire you!

We cut some small hearts from a few cotton rounds from the bathroom.  They have a pretty quilted look.

Next we used the favorite go-to item from the recycle bin: paper towel rolls.

We cut off pieces about 3/4 of an inch thick and formed them into hearts.

Using hot glue, we glued three of them together and painted them with white acrylic paint.

On another paper towel roll, we covered it with some pretty scrapbook paper, and cut off pieces the same as before.

This time, however, we glued them into flowers.

We cut some larger hearts from coffee filters. They have a pretty translucent quality.

My daughter found this thinga-ma-jig from  the inside of a jewelry box and decorated it with a red marker.

She also found a piece of plastic from the recycle bin, punched out a heart, and colored it with a red Sharpie marker.

Here’s a heart punched out of the scrapbook paper and put inside a bubble wrap envelope (also found in the recycle bin).  We put the bright colored heart inside and stapled it at the top.

Larger hearts were cut from cardboard.

Small slits were made with scissors around the hearts…

Then my daughter wound ribbon around the hearts, using the slits as guides.

Here’s another one she made with a red pom-pom in the middle.

We had three of the larger hearts, plus all of these ornaments! Time to decorate our tree!

I stuffed some red tissue around the base and cut some clear fishing line to hang the ornaments onto the tree.  Some of the ornaments were  hung onto the smaller branches.

As we added ornaments on, we tied ribbons around the tops.

This was a really fun project!  I hope this inspires you and your young artists.

Up next, I’ll show you a heart-shaped wreath made from newspaper.

Thanks so much for coming by to see our tree, hope you’re having a fun-filled week so far!