I got sent this beautiful Valentine’s Day craft box from Design Bundles and I am just delighted to be sharing this with you all.
If there’s one thing I have learnt during this pandemic, it’s that being stuck at home is a lonely experience.
If you’re anything like me, I’m currently stuck at home with my two children, one is a moody teenager who only appears from his room when he wants to be fed (I’m joking). My other is a 2 and a half-year-old, very active toddler.
The pandemic has been both isolating and exhausting so when I heard about this craft box I jumped at the chance.
Spoiler alert, I’m not great at crafts, but I wanted an activity, something to do with my children. I worry about the pandemic and what it is doing to their mental health, my teenager especially…
These boxes were part of the share the love campaign and were inspired by the crafts available at design bundles.
First Impressions
So when I first opened the box, I’ll be honest I didn’t really know what to expect.
My daughter was absolutely thrilled when she caught sight of all the things we could make.
My box contained:
• One gnome, which my toddler instantly grabbed and began hugging #cute
•Two large pieces of tissue paper
• Some pom- pom’s on a string
• 1 royal iced biscuit with design bundles written on it
• 2 Packs of love hearts
• 2 blank cards
• Cute self-stick card decals
• Two sets of window stickers
• Heart cookie cutters
• Stickers
• Pieces of card
• Two pens, one calligraphy style pen
• 1 heart decoration
What I made with our craft box…
- Heart shaped shortbread, dipped in chocolate and covered the with sprinkles! (can you tell I’m half Dutch? I love sprinkles) Yummy. This was my daughters favourite part.
The shortbread is really easy to make, you just have to keep checking it in the oven to make sure it doesn’t catch colour or burn.
I used Good Food’s Recipe.
2. A cat toy
Our cat Mr. Tiggs is allowed to celebrate Valentine’s Day too. He is, after all, part of the family.
I added a little feather on the end, he loves those. It was super simple to make and he loves it. We have one happy kitty.
It’s actually pretty resilient and still in one piece after a week.
3. My daughter loved making the heart-shaped card for her grandma. It came with some cute heart-shaped cutouts so we stuffed the card with them and added the biscuit to the envelope.
It’ll be a nice little surprise when she opens it.
There’s quite a selection of cute decals. At first, I was thinking they could have included some glue, but then I realised all the decals were stickers so I actually didn’t need any. I thought that was a nice touch.
Design bundles also have some paper cutting designs and all sorts of cute designs you can add to cards.
It’s a really cute Idea for Valentine’s Day, I thought. Show people, you’re thinking of them by making them some cards. ❤️
4. Valentines day cards. They even sent me a bike decal which was pretty awesome because my partner is a downhill mountain biker, what are the chances of that? The bike decal was just perfect.
The calligraphy pen was also really easy to use. I’m not the best at lettering but I was happy how this turned out.
Of course, you don’t just have to make things for your loved ones. What’s really lovely about these boxes is that you can get creating and spread the love.
After this pandemic, I think it’s something we could all do with. You could get baking with the cookie cutters and bake some cookies for your neighbours or you could postcards to loved ones.
5. I particularly loved the stickers. I thought they made a really nice touch on the back of people’s cards.
6. I got my teenager to decorate a boring glass jar I had lying around with heart stickers (designed for glass and windows) and got him to fill it up with lots of sweets.
7. We made some origami flower boxes to put the sweets in, the kids loved making these.
8. A cute window display. So I thought I’d show some love to our neighbours and make a cute little window display.
We have an elderly lady next door so we’ve made her some cookies for Valentine’s Day tomorrow and a little card.
Share the Love…
Throughout the pandemic, loneliness is an increasing concern for so many of us. More than ever, we’re looking for different ways to spread the love – whether that’s to loved ones or smiles to strangers.
If you’re dressing up your doorway, writing cards or celebrating Valentine’s day with a loved one, Design Bundles has tons of tools and inspirations to help action this. They have pledged to be a part of this cause and to help spread positivity through creativity and crafting.
The meaning behind Design Bundles’ share the love campaign is to try and help shine a light in dark times.
Spreading positivity and joy is food for the soul, and can be so much fun to dive into. As well as being craft and creation addicts and advocates, they are helping to share resources and helplines to help battle loneliness for anyone in need.
If you are feeling lonely some websites that will help are:
ageuk.org.uk – helping older people combat loneliness, including weekly friendship calls. Call: 0800 678 1602 (UK)
samaritans.org – offers both text and phone resources if you’re feeling low and need someone to speak to whatever the season. Call: 116 123 (UK)
letstalkloneliness.co.uk – An advice and support hub to feel less alone
campaigntoendloneliness.org – Offers connections for the elderly
An after thought
Finally, I’m not the best at crafts by any means but I really enjoyed this box of crafts. It helped take my mind off the pandemic and focus on spending time with my kids.
It really brought us all together for a couple of days and gave us something fun to do together.
If you know someone that’s lonely I think this would be a lovely surprise for them.
I was working in a care home at the beginning of the pandemic and I saw first-hand the isolating effects the pandemic has had on the elderly.
I’m all about sharing the love on this blog and this is something I can’t stress enough. Loneliness is an awful experience…
It’s currently snowing heavily where we are so older people especially are stuck at home and unable to go out.
We should all get crafting for valentines day and share the love.
Also, If you are lonely, just remember that you are not alone.
I was a single parent for ten years and I know how tough life can feel sometimes. If you feel low, or know someone that’s alone get in touch with them or with someone. Drop a comment on my blog. There is always someone out there.
I am absolutely loving that I am part of the share the love campaign. I can’t wait for Valentine’s day to share some love…
Design Bundles offer a variety of services, I have a post on some of their online designs here.
Soph.
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