another valentine tutorial

last year's valentine was one of the few crafty things i made last year in my newborn haze that was planned, prepped for and completed ahead of time. (ahem, take note, please. that still doesn't happen very often.) i came up with the idea after seeing a crayon tutorial at christmas. while perusing everyone else's valentine ideas, i saw this blog and her many, many valentine ideas. i thought it was so cute, i decided to do it this year, so i made sure to purchase mini candy canes during the christmas clearance. (look at me. two februarys in a row.)

so, i had all the materials purchased, but finding a time to accomplish the project was becoming difficult. then, completely unexpectedly, and i do mean completely. unexpectedly. we woke up monday morning to this . . .

once again, i was so thankful for my ray of sunshine in the dark cloud of winter. (btw, winter-i am so over it. so over it. again.) 6 inches of snow without warning. nice. so after playing outside until we couldn't feel our hands, we came in, watched a movie and made candy cane heart suckers.

first, find little hands to help you unwrap all those tiny candy canes. don't worry, all those little fingers were washed first as well. remember, i teach preschool . . . that makes me a handwashing nazi.

it was an all hands on deck kinda craft.

after my extremely particular child had them lined up just so, we placed them in the oven on 300 for approximately 5 minutes or until melty looking (but not too melty).

then, strategically place a child to watch and let you know when that just right melty time occurs.

once they are out of the oven, immediately place 4" lollipop sticks in the middle and smoosh together. i have no picture of the actual smooshing (yes, that is a word) because it might have contained expletive word bubbles. so, you are forewarned, hot candy canes are similar to hot molten lava and may cause your skin to melt.

once they have cooled, wrap and tie to create adorable heart suckers and attach them to your valentines.

happy valentine's weekend!