Valentine Lovekins!

There is most certainly crafting fun to be had if you have elementary-school-aged kids. Valentine’s Day is a big one for crafting, when the kids give each other cards, little treats, or with some creativity, a little something extra-special. Like…..Lovekins!

What are Lovekins? They are soft, “furry” ball creatures with happy dispositions who love to sit on your desk, or your shelf, or your dresser – wherever you choose to have them sit, actually. They have special antlers that are shaped in the form of a heart, because they are filled with love. Now isn’t that sweet? And very appropriate for Valentine’s Day!

How do you create a Lovekin? If you know how to make pompoms with yarn, then you know how to make one. Don’t know how? Just visit youtube and you will find endless video tutorials on how to make them. Here’s the tutorial we used: How To: Make a Pompom with a Cardboard Disc

The video shows you how to make a cardboard disc to which the yarn is wound and cut. Following the video, I made the white ones in my photo below. The pink set shown are from a pompom-making kit we already have…..but we needed a second set so that my girls could do this project together, hence the handmade one!

The discs are sandwiched together with the open ends of the discs aligned. The yarn is added around the discs, back and forth from one open end to another. As you wind the yarn, it will get thicker on the discs and the more yarn you add, the plumper your pompom will be.

After much winding, the next step is to cut the yarn all around the discs, inserting the scissors between the two discs as you cut. A steady hand is helpful – while holding the yarn when you’ve cut all around the disc to avoid letting any strands from falling away.

Before cutting the yarn from the discs, we pre-cut separate yarn strings, about 8-10 inches long. We used these strings to tie the newly-cut pieces of yarn together to form the pompom. This is all explained very nicely in the video.

To turn your pompom into a Lovekin, get some googly-eyes and pipe cleaners from the craft store! These are attached with a hot glue gun. One pipe cleaner is split evenly in two to create the heart-shaped antlers on these guys. Have some fun bending and twisting the pipe cleaners in different shapes if you wish. Voila! Lovekins are born.