Maddox's Valentines - I "dig" you

I love Valentine's day.  And what's ironic is that Lou doesn't celebrate.  He says it is a made up holiday from the card and flower industry.  In the 13 (this year 14) Valentine's I had with Lou, he has not celebrated once.  Yet, I always do.  It doesn't really bother me that he doesn't celebrate because he spoils me all year...which makes it a little more special that he isn't doing anything out of the obligation on the date, February 14th.

Anyway, I mentioned I love V'Day, and I do!  Tonight I made Maddox's Valentine "cards" he is going to give to his class.  It is a sand shovel that says "I DIG YOU" with a bag of candy attached to it.

Here are the directions...
First, gather the supplies:

1. plastic shovels -- I used variety of colors (red, white, and pink) - Click here to see the ebay seller I used.
2. assortment of candy
3. small plastic bags for the candy & twist ties to close the bag.  In my baggies, I fit a candy bracelet, jumbo Tootsie Rolls, an AirHead, and 3 Hershey kisses
4. Paint pens
5. Cute tag
6. Cricut and scrapbook paper for cutting the backing of the tag
7. Hole puncher
8. Ribbon
9. Adhesive
10. 2" circle punch
11. scissors
*I'm not promising this is a completed list as I worked on these in my craft room and something obvious could have been out that I used.

Next, cut the tags out using a 2" circle punch.

Aren't these tags adorable?  I had them designed at Pink Elephants and Blue Rhinos.  You can click their name here in the blog and be taken to their Facebook page.  (Tell Heather I sent you; she's a friend of mine.) I punched the tags out.  I wanted to back the tags (which Pink Elephants can do for you if you'd like).  So I got out my Cricut and used the Lacy Labels cartridge.  I selected the "Miss You Scallop Circle" and set it for 2-1/4".  

Once the scalloped circles were done cutting, I adhered the circle tag on top of the scalloped circle and punched a hole in the side for the ribbon.

I took my paint pens (I had white, red, and pink) and added "I DIG YOU" or "I DIG U!" to the bottom of all the shovels.

Not only was the twist tie used to close the candy baggie, I used part of the twist tie to attach the candy to the shovel.  The twist ties were long and worked great for this.

 I added ribbon and threaded the label through and VIOLA!  Our Valentine "cards" are finished for the Valentine exchange in Maddox's class.

Feel free to borrow the idea...as long as you don't have a child in Maddox's class...LOL!

Finished and ready to hand out to the class on February 14th

Oh, and Brewer's Valentine's are in the works...I still have a few details to hash out.  But I'll post when we figure it all out!