Everyone enjoys playing games, and Valentine Bingo gets the whole family involved.  Have everyone playing seated at a table and give them a pencil.  You will need as many sheets of paper as you have players, plus one extra sheet.  Draw a large square on each sheet of paper, and then divide the large square into five smaller squares, five across, and five down.  Mark the middle square as “FREE.”  Start with one person and go around the table naming something to do with Valentine’s Day such as arrow, heart, love, etc.   As each thing is mentioned have everyone draw that thing mentioned in one of their empty squares.   Have one person draw the pictures on two bingo sheets, then take one of the sheets,  and cut the squares apart.  Place those cut-up pieces in a basket or envelope.  Now that all of the squares on everyone’s sheet is full of pictures, you can begin the bingo game.  Have someone not playing the game be the caller, and pull a pictured square out of the basket or envelope.  Show it to everyone and tell what the picture is.  This will allow even the smallest players to have an equal chance of winning.

You can purchase small boxes of little candied hearts with words on them such as love you, be mine, etc., at most any store during this holiday period.  Use these candies as game pieces to cover the squares.  When you have one or more people yell, “BINGO,” you can give them a small gift, and then each person can eat their candied hearts if they like.  If they don’t want to eat the hearts, have some small picture frames on hand, and glue the candied hearts all around the edge.  Have them put in one of their favorite Valentine photos, and set it on a table for everyone to enjoy looking at.

Use any type of flowers for this wreath.  Live or artificial will do.  You will need to use a wire coat hanger, which has been shaped into a circle, and then untwisted.  You will also need to get a bunch of live leaves, or you can use medium or large size artificial flowers that have had the petals taken apart.  String the leaves or flowers onto the wire with a hole punched near the middle, if needed.   Push them fairly close together.

Twist the wire back together again.  Form the hanger top into a circle and bend downward to make a hanger for the wreath.   You may want to add a colorful matching bow with nuts or small flowers glued among the ringlets of the bow itself.  If the wreath is made of live material, it will keep for about a week.  Place artificial wreaths in a covered box for storage when it is taken down for the season.  This will keep it from fading, and the wreath can be used again next year.

Every once in a while people still ‘wrap’ gifts.  Don’t throw the ribbon away that was wrapped around a gift.  With a warm iron, smooth it out again, cut it in strips and make book marks from it.  You can even attach charms to one end, or line it with stickers from top to bottom.

Save a few for yourself too.  When you give a book as a gift, slide one in as an extra little something made by you.  They make cute items to give as party favors, or as a small gift to members of a club to might belong to.

Don’t throw out an old shirt or blouse without saving the buttons on them.  Beautiful button brooches can be made from the buttons, and a few scraps of odds and end jewelry pieces.  Watches that quit working can be used for the brooches, as well as small pieces of lace.  Start with a small piece of cardboard,  cut in a circle about the size you would like your brooch to be.  Cover it with a piece of fabric that is a little larger than the cardboard.  Adhere it to the cardboard, wrapping it to the back of the cardboard and gluing all the edges down.  Glue a brooch pin to the back.

Glue the buttons, jewelry pieces and lace scraps to the front of the brooch, in any way you feel is attractive.  If you like, you may want to overlap the pieces.  These brooches sell for up to twenty dollars or more at specialty shops.   They make excellent, inexpensive gifts for friends and family throughout the year.

You now have a reason for saving all of those birthday cards from over the years.  Make birthday place mats from them.  For this project you will need birthday cards, a roll of clear contact paper, scissors and a little imagination.  If you want to use only portions of the cards, cut them accordingly.  You may want to use the whole card opened up.  This will allow you to use one side with only the decorative sides of the cards, and the other side to remind you of the many greetings people gave to you on your birthdays.  Cut two pieces of rectangular sized contact paper.  Lay the cards as you wish, on top of a piece of the contact paper, after removing the adhesive backing.  Now lay the second piece of contact paper directly on top of the first.  You may need to even the edges of the place mat with the scissors.

Make a set of the place mats for yourself, and give sets to others as gifts.  You may want to make a place mat for each person attending a party to take home.  The place mats can be made from Christmas cards for family gatherings too.

Ribbon is one item that we all use throughout the year.  Ribbon roll holders will keep your spools and rolls of ribbon handy and tangle free.  You will need wooden dowel sticks about half the circumference of your index finger.  They need to be at least that thick so as not to bend with the weight of the rolls of ribbon that will be on them.  Cut a piece of yarn about six inches longer than the dowel stick is long.  Tie one end of the yarn around one end of the dowel stick.  Repeat the process for the other end of the dowel stick.  Hang by the yarn on a nail.

You can put as many rolls of ribbon on the stick as it will hold side by side.  When you need to use some ribbon, just unroll as much as you need and cut it off.  If you need to remove rolls of ribbon, just slip the yarn off of one end, and take the roll you need off.  Put the yarn back on, and rehang.  I hang my ribbon holder at the back of a coat closet.  It comes in handy all year long to have it there.

You will need a supply of card stock paper for this project, and a box of 5 3/4  sized envelopes found at office supply stores.  Cut the 11 1/2 inch side in half.  The piece you have now should be 8 x 5 3/4.  Fold one of these pieces in half again to form a card.  This will help you to see where all of the additional pieces added to the front of the card should be glued to, if you want them centered.

The fronts of the cards can be decorated with pictures you have cut out of other cards, as a recycling project.  The children may wish to draw a picture of their own on the fronts of the cards.  Carefully cut the portions out of cards you have received in the past, and glue them to the fronts of your new card made from the card stock paper.  Write whatever message you would like inside, or leave them blank if you would like to sell the cards for fund raisers in organizations you may belong to.

This is a project that children can easily do.  If you need a rainy day project for your child, or a project for a group of children, this one will keep them busy for a while.  These make handy card gifts to give to grandparents or teachers.  Everyone likes handmade gifts from children, and it will instill a sense of pride in the child to make this project by themselves.

To make several tissue holders for your purse, you will need about one third of a yard of fabric. Lay a package of tissues on the material and cut around it leaving 1/2 inch on all sides. Lay that cut out piece of fabric onto another, and cut the second piece one inch wider than the first. Cut the wider piece down the middle long ways, and turn two of the long edges under to hem. Turn the first piece of material back side facing down, and lay the last two cut pieces back side facing up. Make sure the hemmed sides meet together in the middle of the top pieces.

Pin all sides of the fabric pieces together, and sew around with a 1/4 inch seam. Turn the fabric right side out. Slide a small package of opened tissues into the tissue holder, aligning with the split section. These quick-to-make tissue mini holders make inexpensive bazaar gifts, and will sell very quickly when made in sports team, or holiday fabrics.

When you want an inexpensive way to give a gift, try your hand at covering boxes. You can cover them with fabric, paper, or you could try your hand at painting them. Use a tacky glue when using the paper or fabric to make the boxes. And when painting them, always use a solid coat of white or colored paint to cover the printing on the box before painting the last coat of paint or designs you wish to have as the top coat. You may have to paint one or two layers of the bottom coats of paint, but always allow the separate layers to dry thoroughly before adding another one.

Lining the inside of the boxes with velvet or paper gives the project a nice finished look. Anyone receiving the gift in your homemade box will get two gifts in one. They can use the gift box for anything they would like after opening it up.

     We all like to make things more attractive that will be sitting on our desks.  Making a CD holder cover is easy, and it makes the container fit in with your room decor if you use a fabric that matches other things on your desk.  Pick a fabric that works well with all your items.  If you have a lot of solid colors, you may want to try a dark matching plaid for men, or a pastel plaid for the ladies.

Lay the holder down on the wrong side of a piece of fabric you chose to make the project out of.  Draw a line around the bottom shape of the container, coming out about one inch from the container itself.  Now, measure the container from the top to the bottom on the side.  Then add two inches to the width of that piece of fabric from top to bottom.  Lastly, measure how long a piece of cloth you will need by measuring around the sides of the container, and add two inches to that figure.  Using the top to bottom measurement, and the side to side figure, you can cut out a piece of fabric.  Sew the long piece of fabric together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Pin the circle to the long piece of cloth, forming the bottom of your CD holder cover (you may need to make a few tucks in the long piece to get it to go around the circle, or you may gather the long piece, and then sew it to the circle).  After you have the bottom sewn in place, go to the top of the side fabric and make a hem (make sure you leave an opening to thread a drawstring through).  After threading the drawstring through the top hemmed part of the fabric, tie the string together.  You can draw the string to close the top of the CD holder a bit to keep dust off the CDs.

The holder will look much more attractive sitting on your desk, and you will find it quicker with the new bright material it will be covered with.