While hunting for quick Valentines ideas, I saw a sewn Valentine craft on the Housing a Forest blog. They looked super cute, and Nora is quite comfortable with the sewing machine after taking classes from Crafty Stitches.
I had some handmade paper with that nice soft texture, so we started by cutting that into 3 inch x 3 inch squares. We also had a box of medium-sized red, orange and yellow hearts from when I decorated Nora & Russell’s bedroom doors for Valentines Day a few years ago.
![Decorated bedroom doors from February 2010](https://trashmagination.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Valentines2010.jpg)
I found some shiny wrapping paper and we started to cut out smaller hearts. But then Nora remembered how I had made my new Trashmagination business cards from a recycled map. We decided to cut all the small hearts from the map. Thank goodness Nana volunteered to help!
![Nana & Nora making recycled map valentines](https://trashmagination.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_3141-1024x768.jpg)
At first Nora thought she would write “Show me the way to your heart” on the Valentines, but that seemed a little emotional for class Valentines. So we kept making the cards, and she came up with “Follow Your Heart.” Both are such perfect sentiments but I especially LOVED Follow Your Heart.
![Mommy & Nora making recycled map valentines](https://trashmagination.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_3145-1024x768.jpg)
With Nana and me helping with the cutting and sewing, we made more than 50 cards for all the sixth graders and teachers. Phew!
![Nora's "Follow Your Heart" Recycled Map Valentines](https://trashmagination.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_3146-1024x768.jpg)
Russell went the easy route this year and used Valentines that we printed from an old Ranger Rick PDF and pasted on cardstock.