Puppy Dog Valentine Bags

Since Nancy is already in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I figured I better catch up.  I've been checking out the latest Oriental Trading catalog for some craft ideas for some time, and thought today was as good as any to test one out.  I had my son go through the catalog and pick out some crafts he was interested in and I would attempt to duplicate it.  Here's our little valentine holder we made today:

Sorry, smiles not included :(

Age: 3+
Time: 15 - 45 minutes.  I pre-cut all of the pieces and just had my son assemble the puppy.  It only took about 10-15 minutes. However, my son told me that this craft was too quick.  If you have little ones that can easily cut out the pieces, you might want to reserve some of the cutting for them.
Mess/Cleanup: I chose to use a stapler and a glue stick, which greatly reduced the mess.  We just had some felt scraps to clean up.
What You Need:

• 1 paper plate
• 1 brown paper bag
• 1 piece of light brown felt/construction paper/craft foam
• 1 piece of dark brown felt/construction paper/craft foam
• 1 small piece of red felt/construction paper/craft foam
• 1 small piece of black felt/construction paper/craft foam
• 2 large googly eyes
• Black marker
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Glue

Step 1:  Cut out all of the pieces

• Here are the pieces you need to cut from the felt, construction paper, or craft foam:
  
• 1 red heart (eye patch)
• 1 black heart (nose) 
• 1 large oval (head)
• 2 bean shapes, light brown (front paws)
• 4 ovals, dark brown (eyes & back paws)
• Here are the pieces you can cut from the paper plates
  
  
• Cut the inner circle of the paper plate
• Cut a name tag and mouth

Step 2: Write Name on Tag
Have you little one write their name on the tag.  Using the black marker, I edged the tag to make it stand out a little more.

Step 3: Assemble the pieces
Here are the pieces laid out on the paper bag.  We used a stapler to attach most of the pieces, and a glue stick to adhere the eyes and tummy. I did add a little detail to the mouth using the black marker.


Attach ear to head and staple both pieces to the bag.

I added little "x's" to point out where the glue should go for the front and back paws.


Glue on the the eyes.



That's it.  We're all ready for our Valentines!

-Rose