Kid’s Crafts: St. Valentine’s Day Banner: Quilted Heart

Kid’s Crafts: St. Valentine’s Day Banner: Quilted Heart

KID’S CRAFTS: ST. VALENTINE’S DAY

Lupercalia was a Roman holiday held in honor of Lupercus, the god of the pasture and fertility. The event was held on February 5th in a cave on Palatine Hill in Rome. The priests who were known as the Luperci, conducted the rituals associated with the Lupercalia festival. These rituals included sacrificing animals like goats and dogs; feasting followed. The celebrations continued when the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the sacrificed animals. The priests divided into two groups and ran around the city swatting people with the thongs. The festival participants believed that a blow from one of the thongs encouraged fertility.

The early Christian Church tried to convert unbelievers such as the followers of the Luperci, by combining pagan customs with their own beliefs. The feast day of two Roman martyrs (both named Valentine) had its origins in the Lupercalia festival. The one saint had been a priest and the other had been the Bishop of Terni, and both died in the same day in the third century A. D.

VALENTINE’S DAY CRAFT

QUILTED HEART BANNER PROJECT0002

QUILTED HEART

Ages: 5 – 12 years

Time: one hour

MATERIALS:

Yellow felt square 16” x 14”

Dowel rod 18”

Red, pink, yellow, and white craft foam cut into 2″ x 2″ squares

¼” ribbon in red, yellow, pink and white.

String – double the length of the dowel rod

poster board or single sheet of craft foam of any color

Using a template or a stencil or drawing by hand, trace the heart on to poster board or a single sheet of craft foam of any color and cut. The heart should measure about 13 3/4″ x 10.”

Cut 8 yellow, 11 red, 10 white and 10 pink squares from the craft foam sheets. The squares should measure 2″ x 2.” Divide the heart in half vertically and in half again horizontally. (Refer to the photo of the banner.)

Lay the squares down along the horizontal fold in the following pattern: white, yellow, pink and red. Place the next row of squares below the first row. Stagger the colored squares so that the second row is not directly beneath the first row. Repeat the pattern until the squares cover the heart. Glue. Allow the pieces to dry.

Fill in the odd-shaped areas with the appropriately colored squares and glue. When those pieces are dry, turn the heart around and trim along the outline of the heart. Measure and cut the felt to 16” x 14”. Place it horizontally. Make a loop by measuring and folding a 1” seam. Iron. Measure and fold a second 1” seam. Iron and glue the second fold. You will be inserting the dowel rod through this loop. (The length of the banner will be about 16” x 12.” This does not include the ribbons.)

Measure and cut two 18” lengths of each color of ribbon. Poke a hole every two inches along the bottom of the felt with a sharp tool. Alternate the colors, pull the ribbon through and tie a knot in the back so that the ribbon is held in place. (Small children should let adults do this for them.) Glue the heart on the felt. Cut the dowel rod to 18” and insert through the loop at the top. Cut the string to a length suitable for hanging. Tie the string to each end of the dowel rod.

VARIATION: Use other shapes to decorate your heart banner: circles/dots, flowers, squiggle lines, triangles, etc. Today, Valentine’s Day honors lovers. We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th by sending gifts like candy and cards.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

COPYRIGHT 2013 Marion Constantinides

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About marion

I first wrote and sketched as a child growing up in Pittsburgh, PA and Brooklyn, New York. I received her first recognition for my creativity when I won the New York City Schools Art Award and participated in my first art exhibit in downtown Manhattan. I was fourteen and a half when I moved to Cyprus with my family. I experienced culture shock but I continued to write about and sketch the sights and sounds of another country and many other things. I am a creative person. I write children's and Young Adult fiction and nonfiction. I write historical and Coming of Age Young Adult novels. I also write picture books and art books for elementary school children. I am in the process of writing a fictionalized biography of a member of the Belgian Resistance who also fought for the US Army during World War II. I worked as a freelance editor for two local companies: College Prowler and SterlingHouse Publisher. I also worked as an assistant literary agent for Lee Shore Agency. I was attending Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Program at the time and the experience was invaluable. My course work toward my Master of Arts degree in turn helped me at work. As an assistant literary agent, I reviewed all incoming manuscripts, cultivated a relationship with the writers we contracted and marketed our books to book publishers for sale. I “freelanced” my editing skills which included working with the manuscript acquisitions editor, selecting book covers with the art department, writing the book jacket blurb, reading film scripts and executing general office duties as assigned. Oh, by the way, I edited books, too. I even utilized Adobe InDesign for the editing that I did for College Prowler. I’ve also reviewed published books and conducted research. I have published nonfiction articles and books online and in print. As an artist, I have exhibited my mixed media drawings and collages nationally and regionally and have worked as a freelance designer and calligrapher. I have a BA in Studio Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and a MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.

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