Category: Holidays

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted on by Katie Coughran

 

Ah, the sweet day of love has arrived! Whether you have a “Treat Yoself” day, or are prepared with heart-patched teddy-bears, I hope your day is fantastic!

If you’re less than prepared, may I suggest heading on over to my Pinterest Board, Valentine’s Day, to check out some of the fun ideas I’ve found from around the web. You can find some of my own pins there (Valentines for Book Lovers and Star Wars Treat Boxes), plus lots of awesome ideas from lots of other pinners.

Shameless plug: if you’re looking for a fun, clean romance to read for you or somebody else, you can grab Happy Scoops (Kindle Version) HERE. It’s a story about the girl you love to hate having to get dressed up as an ice cream cone to sign dance away her speeding tickets. And, of course, her love interest might end up being a sign-dancing sandwich. What doesn’t sound amazing about that story???

However you choose to celebrate, have a wonderful day!

Easy Star Wars Papercraft Cubes or Treat Boxes

Posted on by Katie Coughran

 

You know those moments as a parent when you totally and completely turn into a sucker? Yeah. Well, the above was the result of one of those moments.

My boy and I got to hang out today, just he and I, so we went to the library as part of our day. So nice! While there, he grabbed some Star Wars books, then asked if we could get a Star Wars Origami book. While I really didn’t think that our library would have anything like that, he got his hopes up, only to have them dashed. Needless to say, we went home with my poor boy upset that he didn’t get a Star Wars craft book.

 

 

On our walk home, my mind was ticking. If you check out my Pinterest boards, you’ll see some of the Pokemon paper craft cubes we’ve been making lately. Although my little 6-year-old wanted a Yoda origami, I thought that I’d be able to–relatively easily–make a little cube paper craft Yoda.

 

 

I was right! I designed my little Yoda, modeled a cube style that I like that included a lid, then made it the perfect size for a little candy treat or treasure. Or, to be used simply as a fun paper toy. My boy was thrilled! And you know what? I was thrilled that I had designed something that was simple enough for him to do himself.

Have you looked up Star Wars paper crafts??? We’ve done a few, and let me tell you what! They are not for the faint of heart. However, after we printed out the Yoda cube that I designed, my boy didn’t need any help, which made him happy that he could “do it himself.”

 

 

I’m pretty sure we’ll be stuffing several more of these for Valentine gifts this year, attaching some of our little Valentine cards that we designed (find them HERE) to finish them off. Super easy–now that they’re made–and sure to make some buddies happy.

 

 

See??? Aren’t these guys just begging to be filled with a treat and handed out to happy recipients?

Of course, Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, so it comes to mind, however, these would be great birthday party favors. They could even be created as an activity for the birthday party, then add the goodie to it once the kiddos are done so they can take it home when the party’s over.

 

 

Yes, I did happen to get talked into making an R2-D2 after Yoda was finished. My boy brought me all of his R2-D2 toys and kept telling me which of his parts I was missing. In the end, I was quite happy with my R2-D2 design, but more importantly, my little guy was really happy!

 

 

Now, don’t judge me, but when my daughter came home, she requested Chopper. And…well, she’s super cute, so I made it for her!

Chopper and R2-D2 were definitely the most difficult to create–see all of those little boxes and circles??? They weren’t easy to insert. In the end, I’m glad I created them–my design skills were exercised and I plan on making some paper craft cubes just for Cookie, Broden and probably Fergus from my Broden and Cookie chapter book series. And probably a chicken-poopy box as well because Broden and Cookie cubes wouldn’t be complete without one! Right???

By the way, did you know that I have several FREE Broden and Cookie coloring pages? You can find some HERE and the rest are HERE.

 

 

If you’re ready to snag your free Yoda, R2-D2 and Chopper printable cubes for paper toys or treat boxes, click on the pictures below and you’ll be taken to the PDFs that’ll let the fun begin!

Each one comes with instructions to help guide you, but leave a comment or send me an email if you get stuck and I’d be happy to help. My hope is that I made this simple enough that most kiddos will be able to pretty much make these by themselves–maybe with just a little bit of directing, not the full-on takeover because the parent is trying to figure out how it works!

All you need is cardstock (paper will do, it’s just not as sturdy), scissors, tape or glue. Cut out, fold, then glue or tape in place!

Happy Crafting and please feel free to pin on your Pinterest boards, or share on social media! And if you end up making the cubes, I’d love to see your creations!

Also, although I can’t make any promises, are there any Star Wars characters you’d love to see added to this trio?

 

Yoda Papercraft Cube:

Chopper Papercraft Cube:

R2-D2 Papercraft Cube:

 

 

 

Free Valentine Printables for Book Lovers

Posted on by Katie Coughran

 

Well, folks, I was at the store the other day and we’re definitely in the full swing of Valentine’s Day! The heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are calling to me, along with the teddy bears in mugs.

While we’ve purchased Valentine cards in the past, we usually make our own. I wasn’t sure what we’d do this year, but when I was making dinner the other night, the cheesiest little conversation-heart-like sayings kept coming to me, so I decided that it was a sign that I should jot them down and make some little cards for you all to print up.

So, here they are in all their goofiness! CLICK ON THE IMAGES to grab the PDF to print away.

Last year, we “Heart Attacked” my husbands car. My kids and I grabbed a favorite treat of his, cut out a bunch of hearts, then drove to his work and taped them all over the inside so that when he came out, he found his car decked out with hearts and a special snack on the seat.

You could totally use these 12 hearts–plus some of the blanks below–to deck out your somebody-special’s car!

OR, you could cut them out and tuck them into their lunch bag, work bag, coat pocket, taped onto the bathroom mirror, front door, onto the controller…you get the idea! That’s what I’ll be doing this year–I’ve got to change it up a bit, right?

Want to get really crazy? You could print out two copies in order to turn them into a little memory game–each time somebody gets a match, they get a choco-covered strawberry. The possibilities are endless!!

If you don’t like the Cheesiest of Cheesy little sayings that I came up with (my finest work, for sure), never fear! There are some blanks as well. Aaaanndd, since, you know, not everybody likes pink, my son decided that we needed to design some R2-D2 colored hearts.

If you’ll be showing yourself some love and appreciation on Valentine’s Day, feel free to check out any of my books by clicking HERE —Happy Scoops is the first book in the Clean and Quirky Romance Series–or celebrate by snagging a free novella, Twenty-Five Candles, by clicking the button below.

Feel free to pin and share! I hope you enjoy!