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How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. How do you celebrate February 14th? Do you do it with a card, candy, flowers, stuffed animal, jewelry or a romantic meal? Putting a personal touch into your minis for this holiday can be as simple as adding a subtle touch with just candy or flowers, setting up a romantic dinner or decorating all the way with heart garland and cherubs. Here are a few Valentine ideas made with things that you probably already have around:

Heart Lollipops
- Paint several layers of red or pink nail polish on heart shaped cake confetti.
- Glue onto a lollipop stick made from a white nylon bristle of a cleaning brush.
   (Green nylon bristles make great flower stems.)

Candy Box Ideas.
- Cut a small area of a magazine page to construct boxes. The slick pages have a
   nice finish and are thin enough to fold and stiff enough to hold its shape.
- Color the shiny side of aluminum foil with a permanent marker for foiled papers.
- Use the flocked fabric off of jewelry boxes to add to a velvet touch.

Embellishments for Cards and Boxes.
- Cut out heart shaped jewelry pendants out of newspaper advertisements. Enhance them with fine sand,
   glitter, embossing powder, and glue to give them depth and dimension. Some sizes are
   perfect for doilies under food or vases. Cut out the middle to make picture frames.
- Fingernail stickers or decals.
- Make your own mini rubber stamps out of a pencil eraser. Draw a heart on the top of
   the eraser andcut away sections leaving the heart higher than the rest.
   (These could work for any season-think simple shapes like cookie cutters.)
   Leave the pencil as is or cut some of it off to make a shorter handle and write what
   shape is on the eraser tip. Stamp with paints or inks to embellish any plain item
   (paper, fabric, dishes etc.) to transform it into a Valentine accessory. They also
   come in handy to press shapes into other mediums like polymer clay.

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Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures / CDHM