Craft alert! Long-distance hug for Valentine's Day.

Have I mentioned that we moved from beautiful, sunny Southern California to cold, foggy, middle-of-nowere Northern California? (This is just temporary - and I apologize in advance to anyone reading this that is a proud North State citizen, I don't mean to offend.) See, in Orange County I pretty much had my pick of any store I wanted within a 10-15 minute drive. Here? Not the case. The nearest town is a 30 minute drive EACH WAY, and there are no "big box" stores. (Seriously, I didn't even know what that meant until I moved here!) When we need to stock up on household items, we travel an hour and a half each way to Redding. Though it does have a much larger selection of stores, it doesn't quite have EVERYTHING...the point of this paragraph? When I get an urge to craft, I can't grab the baby and hop in the car to check out the nearest craft store. I gotta make do with what I've got! Thus this crafty project was born, with a little help from something called the internet, as well.

Here is what you'll need:

Construction paper
Paint (in a contrasting color)
Scissors
Glue stick
Ribbon
Stickers (optional...I just happened to find these while digging around in my craft supplies)

1. Basically, you will need to stamp the person's hand that is going to be "giving" the hug. For each hug, you will need 1 left hand stamp and 1 right hand stamp. I needed 3 hugs, so I stamped each hand 3 times.

2. Cut out each hand (doesn't have to be perfect!)

3. Cut ribbon for each hug (length of about 24" - can be longer or shorter depending on how big you want the hug to be).

4. Take one cutout hand, glue on top of another piece of construction paper while sandwiching the ribbon in between the two papers. (See below)

5. Repeat with the other hand, this time using the end of the ribbon from the first hand. Carefully cut out the hands (making sure not to cut the ribbon!) and there you have it - a long-distance hug from a very special someone to their Valentine. <3

Ready to be mailed to the Grandparents & Great-Grandma - hope this puts a smile on their faces!

I like to call these crafts "Nap Hour Crafts" because I can get them done while the little one is napping! (Well, except for the handstamped part - he was awake for that, and he DID NOT like the paint! But hopefully ya'll have better luck!) :)

What quick and easy crafts do you like to do? I'd love to hear/see some of them! Please share :)

Now, it's time to watch The Bachelor (I just can't help myself - I LOVE it) while I make some beaded bracelets that are SUPER easy and SUPER cute and SUPER stackable...another potential Nap Hour Craft? I think so! I'll post that one soon...until next time, will you accept this rose? :P I'm a dork, tell me something I don't know.