Over at Knit & Pearl you will find these beautiful decoupage buckets, ready and waiting to be filled with Valentine’s treats. Joy says:

“Want to make one? it’s easy
- cut out illustrations from a damaged or favorite book
- glue stick them on to the pail
- once pail is covered with illustrations, brush on a few layers of modge podge
- once dry, add your favorite pom-pom trim or ribbon
- fill with candy, valentines, cookies, or love letters”

Further instructions for decoupage can be found at About: Family Crafts.

Simple yet inspired (surely my favourite of combinations!).

Far quicker than carving a design into a potato, Angela from Colorfool and her little girl Keely used heart shaped cookie cutters to make speedy potato stamps. Create your own Valentine’s cards, wrapping and decorations in minutes!

Andrea of Love Monkey sent us this great tutorial for “The easiest no-sew tutu ever!”

You will need:
Crinoline - in a few colours
Scissors
Elastic band - i used a large hair band in pink but you could always sew one from elastic just a little smaller than the child’s waist.

Cut the pieces of fabric into strips. They can vary on width and on length as this will work well for the tutu when completed. My strips were approximately 3 inches wide by 20 inches long.

Loosely knot a strip of fabric onto the elastic band - make sure that the knot is in the middle of the strip so you have approximately the same amount of fabric on either side of the knot. Do this many times, alternating colours, until the elastic is covered. It is better to overcrowd as the tutu elastic will grow once it is worn.

Do a little trimming if pieces are too long or too uneven.

That is it!! The easiest, no-sew tutu ever!! Enjoy!

Sarah sent us this quick collage idea she did yesterday with her kids.

You will need:
A stack of magazines
Scissors
Glue

“They are so simple to do: Just hack up some old unwanted magazines (not the latest issue of Selvedge, or the most recent Boden catalogue, some things are just off-limits!), and re-construct!” - Sarah

For something similar you could pin the bits on a to a potato and create “5 minute potato people“.

Angie from Northreads sent us this easy-peasy idea for packaging up a Valentine’s cookie. Using paper CD sleeves (available at office supply stores), slip the cookie inside so that it can be seen through the round plastic window. Decorate the sleeve with Valentine’s stamps, attach a cute label with rick-rack and you’re done! (link)

Are your kids itching to use your sewing machine and start creating masterpieces? Maria from One Hour Craft has posted a tutorial on how to teach your kids to sew the easiest and safest way. Perhaps after they have mastered the machine, you could set them to sewing a Valentine’s garland.

If your child is lucky enough to have an iPod, you might want to consider making a special fuzzy Domokun-inspired cover for it. Craftster has an excellent tutorial for how to put one together. (via Whipup)

You could use these directions but mix and match different fuzzy fabrics of different colours to make your own unique monster… enlist your child to help pick them out and they will be very pleased. Visit Jenny Harada’s site for fabulous fuzzy monster inspiration.

I have very good memories of creating scratch art when I was a kid. After checking out Cindy’s tutorial I will be lining up this activitiy for AJ this weekend.

Amy at Angry Chicken gives simple, straight forward instructions for making these Aunt Sarah Dolls –

“The girls love these dollys a whole lot and I thought about making some with photos of the whole family. I think it’s especially cool for long distance family and friends that they don’t see very often. Plus it’s just freaky and funny to see faces of real people on dolls.”

It may be the 11th hour, but there is still plenty of time to dive into some last-minute crafting to create that perfect homemade gift. Here are some suggestions for presents which you and / or the kids can whip together today ready for a lucky relative tomorrow.

Kid’s art stationery

You will need:
A5 paper
Envelopes
Child’s drawing
Scanner
Word processor
Printer

Scan in the art work and insert it on a page in your word processor. If you are word processor savvy, create some lines in a grey shade down the page for writing guides. Print out multiples on to A5 paper. Bundle in lots of 10 with matching envelopes. You could even print the motif on the back of the envelope for a matching set, and if you are feeling super keen why not make some of your own envelopes? Package the lot together with raffia twine, or a strip of thin paper taped at the back or in a cellophane bag.

If you don’t have access to a computer on Christmas Eve, you could get your kids involved in a production line of paper and envelope decorating at the kitchen table and then bundle up sets of one-of-a-kind stationery for extra lucky relatives.

And from our archives:

Don’t forget the marvellous Crayon cookies

Peel the papers off broken crayon pieces and place three different colours in each cup of a mini muffin tray. Place in a preheated oven at 150°c for a few minutes and the allow to cool on a bench before placing in the freezer for half an hour. They should then just pop out of the tray and be ready to wrapped up and placed under the tree.

If you have a few spare hours this afternoon, try making a Sock Monkey

While the sock monkey instructions look a little confronting at first glance, putting one of these gorgeous and quirky guys together is actually incredibly easy - even for a real sewing machine novice.

You will need:
A pair of medium length socks in any colour or pattern
Thread
Black or brown felt
Red or pink felt
A sewing machine
Print out of sock monkey instructions

Follow the instructions for deconstructing the pair of socks into the bits for the monkey and then sew together and stuff according to the directions.

Have a look at this sock monkey gallery for oodles of inspiration.

And of course, from our wonderful guest posts this month you could always whip up some Festive bird finger puppets, Pecan-pretzel candies or a book of Dress-up dolls.

Here are some quick ideas from around the web:

Peppermint Creams from Delicious Magazine

These are quick and easy treats which can be dipped in chocolate or left as they are and then bundled up in cellophane. Most of the ingredients are probably already in your cupboard.

Stephanie’s fabric trees

Print out the pattern and put these fabric trees together in no time at all and embellish them with buttons, trim or sequins.

Heather’s headbands & booties

More downloadable patterns, this time for booties and headbands. Beautiful stuff.

And then there are free homemade toys for toddlers (via Parent Hacks) and Cat Morley’s enormous archives of projects many of which would make great gifts. Happy last minute crafting!