14 Days of Valentine-Altered Mailbox Tutorial

I saw this idea on a few websites. It is like the Twelve Days Of Christmas. In December, I actually do the 25 Days of Christmas for my Children. I make sure that we do something Christmas-y every day, or eat something Christmas-y, or the kids get a Christmas themed trinket of some sort. I also have a Christmas story to read each night for their bedtime stories (yes, that's 24 different Christmas stories!) I like to give them pajamas and put their themed pillowcases on their pillows the night before December 1st. Then, the next morning they get a Christmas place mat and setting. I kind of do the place mat thing for every holiday. I do the PJs, pillowcases, and place mats on those days so they can be used all the way up through Christmas. I'll get more into this next December. My point is that when I saw people doing the 14 days of Valentines, I thought it was so like what I do in December, and I love it! So, I enlisted Anjeanette to help me finagle this. We are going to post our ideas and gifts for the first 14 days of February, on this blog! We will start off with giving the kids a fantastic altered mailbox, all done up. Here is what you can do with them for other holidays or events. Then, each day they are to look in the mailbox for the next day's gift. I am not all about just giving my kids stuff. So, we will be incorporating recipes, crafts, service ideas, etc for each of these. As long as it has to do with love (or red, pink, and white) we are in! We will post each day's ideas on this blog, first thing in the morning. So be sure to check back daily. We are telling you about it now, so that you can go out and make your own mailbox to be all ready. We have found these mailboxes both at the Dollar Store, and at the Dollar Spot at Target! Ready, set, GO! You could also make a version out of paper, here is an idea of what that could look like (or you can buy hers!). Another idea for this would be Valentines Tins, not in mailbox shape. Here is a cute popcorn one. A way to do this at home would be store bought tins, or how about recycling formula cans?! I will show you how I made my mailbox.

I gathered all the necessary supplies. I had so much fun perusing the supplies that I have. My supplies are more of a collection, as I buy them as inspiration hits, and not just to go with specific crafts I'm making. That way, when it's the middle of the night and you have a fantastic idea, you can get up and just start making it. I'll have to post a picture of my craft room one day. But right now I'm in the midst of an overhaul of it. It's really fun with lots of cabinets and counter tops for me to lay everything out (or make more of a mess on).

Here are the supplies I ended up picking out. If you look at the heart that is cut out of the polka dot paper you will see an overlay on it. I have been waiting for the right time to use this overlay. It says love all over it. I knew it was perfect for this project. I used the same heart template and cut it out of the polka dot paper and the Love overlay. I glued these together with a spray glue that I love to use for these kinds of projects. Usually I use my xyron for my paper crafting. However, I use this spray when it needs a stronger glue. I also chose papers that all coordinated and weren't overwhelmingly girl-y, as I have one boy and this project is for all of them. At this point I had already taken 2 of the coordinating papers and trimmed them down layering one on top of the other one. This will be used to go all the way around the mailbox. I just measured the length of the mailbox and used that as the width for the first paper. It was 4 inches. Then, the next paper I first cut to 2 inches, but didn't like how that looked. So, I cut a new one that was 3 inches. You can also see a layered flower. I just took 2 flowers that I had; one in blue, and one in a see through pink. I put the pink one on top and then took a blue pearl brad and stuck it through the center of the 2 flowers. I laid the mailbox on the polka dot paper and traced the flag of the mailbox. I had to guess on the bottom part of the flag pole, but that didn't take long. I decided the flag needed a lot of oomph so I layered the Love overlay on the flag part of it, and then attached the flower I just made. I also cut out a backside for the flag. I didn't like the mailboxes flag pole at all, so that's why I covered the whole thing, front and back!

This is the piece that will go all the way around the mailbox. Remember to cut a line and then punch a hole where you will slip this piece around your flag pole. This is for where the flag pole attaches to the mailbox. I think this gives it a nice finished look and most people wont notice the one small cut in it.

I had a sheet of rub-on words. I chose the "with loving thoughts" and was so happy they were in the right shade of blue! I cut them out. Then, I had decided they would be used on a heart so this phrase was too long. I just cut it down again between "loving" and "thoughts". I rubbed these onto a blue heart that I cut out (using the reverse side of the striped paper-I love 2 sided paper).

I ended up rubbing those words onto a heart that I cut out of the polka dot paper. Then, I layered that onto a pink heart. Next I cut a piece of the blue see through ribbon (making sure to notch the ends of the ribbon for a more finished look). I attached the ribbon by adding 3 more of those pearl brads. I attached this whole piece (layered heart with brads and ribbon) to a piece of striped paper that I cut to the dimensions of the front of the mailbox.

A tip here is clothes pins. I love these things! I use them to hold pieces for me that I need to apply spray adhesive to. This keeps my fingers from ending up sticky! I had to take this picture with my left hand while holding the clothes pin! Not an easy task. This picture also shows you the spray adhesive that I use. I have used it in many different kinds of applications. It gives you a few seconds to move things around and then it is stuck for good! Just what I need! For this project, the paper was pretty thick and would need to go around a curve (the top of the mailbox) and then the 2 corners of the bottom. I did not want it pulling up at all. So, that's why I chose this spray instead of my xyron machine! If you go back to the finished mailbox you will notice that I also added ribbons to the flag pole (again notching the ends of the ribbons).

The last thing I did was take the leftover pieces of paper and made a note card. This will be left on the table with the mailbox on February 1st! It is directions for my kids, to let them know to check the mailbox daily for fun surprises. I added a ribbon on the top of the card, too.
Rebecca

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