Valentine’s Day Luminaries

This post originally appeared on Create.Craft.Love. on January 13, 2015.
As a homeschooler holiday themed projects offer a break that both the children and I need…as long as I remember them! This is what normally happens the months, weeks and days leading up to a holiday. I mark the calendar, scour Pinterest, make plans, gather supplies, and wait until the right time to get crafty with the kids! Then the night before I'm rushing to the only open store in town, grabbing a box of pre-made cookies and the last box of Hello Kitty valentines. Well not this year!

This year instead of putting off our holiday projects until the last minute, or skipping them entirely, we’re resolving to make them as important a part of our schedule as core subjects. And to start things off we’re using everyday items from around the house to create these quick and easy Valentine Luminaries. These adorable little lights add a warm, cozy glow to the dinner table and help get everyone in a lovey spirit!

Supplies Needed

• pink or red tissue paper
• wax paper
• flameless tea light candles
• scissors
• iron and ironing board
• towel
• transparent tape

First, I cut my wax paper into strips 10” long and 6” wide; then I folded and creased them so that they measured 10”x3”. Next the kids and I cut out tissue paper hearts, being sure that none were more than 2 1/2” tall so that they’d fit within our wax paper.

Secondly, we laid out our hearts in various patterns inside the wax paper and once we were satisfied we folded it over.

For this next step I took over, placing the paper under a plain cotton towel and ironing it for one minute.

*The iron will need to be on the highest setting and the steam function turned off. In fact, I removed all the water from my iron because it doesn’t take much steam for the paper to curl and ruin your project. *

Once they cooled, the kids taped the ends of the strips together and we placed them around the tea light candles. Super easy and super cute!

Note: Originally we were going to trim the top of the luminaries with love-themed washi tape but after trying it out we preferred the softer look you get without it.