Love Bug Valentines.


While wandering through the craft store a couple weeks ago I happened upon a lot of Valentine's Day merchandise with the term "love bug." Although it was all pretty cheesy and very girly, it inspired this years non-candy version for Owen's 1st grade class. Owen is all boy so the idea of handing out plastic bugs to his classmates thrilled him.


With Lindsay's help I created the jar printable. You'll also need to gather some plastic bugs
and some kind of adhesive. We used This to That. A double sided super sticky tape from American Crafts which works incredibly well.


To assemble simply cut out the jar printable, attach a bug with the adhesive and have your child personalize with his/her name.


You can download the Love Bug Valentine printable here.


Download Tips: All of my free downloads are Adobe PDF's. If for some reason you have trouble downloading the file, it may be helpful to update your Adobe software. You can do that right here.


You can find more of my original Valentines ideas here:
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Posted by on Wednesday, February 01, 2012 Labels:

122 comments:

  2. These are awesome Danyelle! Thanks for sharing them.

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  3. Love it! my ezra would absolutely love this!
    perfect! like always danyelle!

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  4. Those are DARLING! I am in charge of the craft for my son's school party and we are going with a Love Bug theme too - making head pieces with pipe cleaners.

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  6. I love all your ideas and you. Thanks for sharing. xo

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  8. Someday when I have a house full of boys that I don't know what to do with, I will remember this awesome idea! I'm sure that Owen's friends are going to go "buggy" over these... couldn't resist the pun!

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  10. you've done it again!
    cute-cute-cute valentine!


    i should just wait every year & see what you do!

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  12. I really enjoy your website! Thank you for sharing.

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  13. EEKS! How cute are these? Oh so many ideas, I already have ours, but these are too cute to resist!

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  14. These are brilliant! Absolutely my favourite valentine I've seen so far! :) And so good for boys!!

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  15. I should make this for my mom. She still calls me love bug and I know she'd love it. Thanks!

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  16. love it all. so much better than the littlest pet shop ones my girls used last year!

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  17. Love these and totally want to make them! What did you print the jars out on?

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  18. darling! Danyelle you are so great. I don't know what little boy wouldn't love giving those out!

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  19. so super cute!!! I found the link to you on sugardoodle... what a great idea :)

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  20. Love these! Where did you buy the bugs. I know have seen them, but can't remember where. My boys would LOVE these for V-day.

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  21. Adorable! If we weren't already knee-deep in a Valentine's project for her class, my 6 year-old tomboy would loooooove these!

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  22. Darling!!! Will have to do this next year!

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  23. these are so cute, what a great idea :)

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  24. this is so stinkin cute, we may just have to do this, thanks for sharing!

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  25. Omg! Anything in a mason jar is super cute! Absolutely love this idea! Thanks for the printable!

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  26. These are sooo awesome! Thank you so much for sharing :)

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  27. You out do yourself every year! Thank you for inspiring me!!

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  29. Thank you for sharing your pdf! I LOVE THESE! I'll be making these for my son's class this year!

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  30. These are stinkin cute! I featured this on my FB page today :)

    Kara
    www.mineforthemaking.com

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  31. These are perfect for me! Love the LOVE BUGS!!

    Melissa
    www.lovebugliving.com

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  32. I'm going to see if I can talk Lucas into these.
    I think they''re my favorite ones ever!
    Love, Lin

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  33. What a great, great idea. Who thought bugs could be so cute? The jar is amazing.

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  35. CUTE! I too am wondering what kind of paper you printed on? Just and FYI for readers-Dollar Tree has plastic bugs!

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  36. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

    My son is going to LOVE these!!

    Thanks for sharing :)

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  37. These are amazing! Sharing a link on my Facebook page :)

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  38. I cannot even handle how cute these are!

    Kim www.plumberrypie.blogspot.com

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  39. Such a cute idea!!! Thanks fr sharing, I found you via Pinterest! Hope you don't mind if I'll share it with my readers tonight :)
    Veronica

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  40. Thank you so much for this adorable idea and template! Though I think I'll use bugs molded from "recycled" crayons instead of plastic bugs... perfect for our playgroup's V-day party!

    PS: Stumbled upon your blog a few weeks ago and love it!

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  41. These are so cute. Thanks for sharing.

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  42. Why in the world did I buy valentines when we could have made these. Who cares, I'm throwing those stupid store bought ones away and using these. THANK YOU for the printable!! I saw this on pinterest and before I even clicked on blog I was trying to image how to draw a jar. THANKS!!!

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  43. This is waaaaaaaay cute!! I'd love for you to come link up at TGIF kid oriented linky party - http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/search/label/Linkey%20Parties - I know my readers would love it too!! Have a GREAT weekend,
    Beth =-)

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  44. Thanks so much for the jar pdf Danyelle, I used it this morning to make some jars with the kids for the staff at their school - we used chocolate ladybirds as the bugs.

    Sue

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  45. Bugged out, cool! This is super cute and I can imagine the receivers loving these! g at www.willowday.com

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  47. Thank you for all of your kind words, guys! A few of you have asked what kind of paper I used, it's basic kraft (like brown paper bag) colored card stock from my local craft store. xo.

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  48. I love this! What an unexpected treat with all the store bought cards out there! We will be doing something like this!

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  49. These are the best! I'm a new follower

    Jenny
    www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

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  50. This is such a fantastic idea! I have a big chocolate mold around here someplace and this will be a perfect and affordable way to make valentine cards. Thanks for sharing!

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  51. Saw this idea on pinterest. BEYOND adorable. I bow down to you and how brilliant this idea is. I'll be saving this away for a future Valentine's day. Thanks for sharing.

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  52. I love, love, love this BOY Valentine and will be saving this for next year! Spotted this awesome idea on Pinterest and also on Eighteen25 today! xo, Jenny

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  55. Love this! I missed where the bugs came from.

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  56. This is so so cute! My kindergarten class is called the "Brilliant Bugs" - I can't wait to make these for them!

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  58. I made these with my little boy, Brady, today. They are perfect! Thank you so much for sharing :)

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  60. These are perfect for the boys in my daughters class!!! Thank you!!!

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  61. My daughter will be over the moon with these cute critters! Thank you so much for creating & sharing. My daughter loves nature and just about every creature it has to offer.
    ~Becki

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  62. LOVE all your amazing diy valentine ideas for kiddos...I am so excited to find so many fab ideas that don't include candy!

    Thank YOU!
    xxoo

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  63. Thank you! I'm definitely making these with my son for his class! Really great idea.

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  64. these are the cutest EVER! thank you sooo much!

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  65. These are so cute! Thanks for sharing the template. I'll be making one for my son who I've called my love bug since he was born. As corny as it is there are kids cups by Jane and Jenni with it along with a few others.
    Thanks again!

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  66. brilliant! Bugs and valentines are perfect for my son. I shared this creation on Modern Hostess blog. Thanks. http://modernhostess.net/2012/02/08/valentines-for-the-boys/

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  68. Thank you so much for sharing these! Found the creepy bugs at the 99 cent store!

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  69. I purchased the card stock and bugs today to make these. Thank you so much for the free printable!! These are so much cuter than store bought cards and perfect for little boys.

    I found bugs that are Phthalate and Lead-Free from our local specialty toy store. Many times dollar-type stores have recalls on their toys. The website for the bugs I purchased is www.safariltd.com . I am in no way affiliated with them, I'm just an overly cautious mom.

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  70. Ha! I see now that you used the exact same brand of bug that i did. Great minds! :)

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  71. I made Valentine's using a version of your free download. Thank you!! ~Stephanie

    http://pinaforesandpinwheels.blogspot.com/2012/02/tutorial-tuesday-lovebug-valentines.html

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  72. Would a little hot glue hold the bugs on? I just bought everything to make them, but couldnt find the this to that tape.

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  73. Love this...am making them right now! Thank you so much for the printable. It's adorable!

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  74. Thank you so much for the free download! I am making these for my 2 year old DAUGHTER to hand out to her little friends. She is going through a love of bugs and reptiles right now so she is ecstatic over these! We found cute little "Glitter Bugs" at the dollar store to put on. Thank you again!

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  75. Just stopping by to let you know that I've featured your craft on Family Fun Crafts! You can see it here:
    http://funfamilycrafts.com/love-bug-valentines-2/

    If you have other kid friendly crafts, I'd love it if you would submit them. :) If you would like to display a
    featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.

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  76. How are you guys glueing the bugs on the card?

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  77. Love this!! I wanted to send something noncandy with my son to his preschool and this will be perfect!! Thank you :(

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  78. I really really appreciate you sharing your craftiness/ideas with us all. Your style is so similar to mine, and I always know I can count on the perfect party ideas. Thanks so much!

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  79. As the mother of 5 boys (and a girl), this is awesome! Just finished making 25 for my kindergartner :)

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  80. Just finished making 10 of these for my 2yr old son's Valentine's Day party at MMO! It was literally as easy as print, cut, and hot glue! I can already tell, they will be a BIG hit! Thanks for sharing!

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  81. Thanks so much for these - its perfect :)

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  82. How has everyone gotten the bugs to stay on? I couldn't find the this & that stuff. I have tried a different adhesive and double sided tape with no luck. I could use my hot glue gun, but will the kids be able to get the bugs off the paper if they want to play with them?

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  84. Used it...loved it! Thanks so much :)

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  85. thank you for sharing this perfect valentine! my 2 1/2- year old thought these were quite amazing and was happy to share them with his friends at MDO today. =)

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  87. I linked to this page in my blog. Hope that is ok. I loved using the template to make my son's Valentines for preschool. I used plastic butterflies because the bugs creeped me out some :) Thanks again for sharing. http://www.insightsbyapril.com/2012/02/day-in-life-february-14-2012-simple-but.html

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  88. Thank you so much for sharing these! I made them for my son's class & they were a hit. I appreciate when people with great talent share with the less-talented :) Thank you again!

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  89. These are SO adorable. What a clever idea.
    xo E + J

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  91. This is adorable. Is the jar printable available anywhere without the Valentine's Day Sentiment on it? I could use it for a bunch of things that way.

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  92. Thank you so much for sharing these with a printable. I think I'll try a cheaper version with printing these and then doodling a 'bug' onto them. :) Thanks

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  94. You've been featured on Little Mom on the Prairie!
    http://ow.ly/gQzx3

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  95. Is the link no longer working? I can't get it to open the printable :( I'm bummed because these are the cutest cards ever!

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  96. I'd also like to use this, but the link isn't working, can you re-post.

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  97. We just finished these! LOVE THEM!!!! Thank you for providing the printable. They are so adorable. :)

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  98. Thanks for the printable! Although I thought these would be perfect for my son.. he's opting for something 'sweeter' this year, but my daughter LOVES them :0) She is three and has a facination with bugs. Happy Valentine's Day!

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  99. These are so amazing! I absolutely love them - perfect for my partner who is a crazy fan of insects (at the age of 30, ha ha...)

    I included these gorgeous bugs in my round-up of the top ten homemade Valentine's presents on my blog.

    Thanks so much for sharing them.

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  100. Ohhh, you are good! Thank you, my boys are quite happy to make these Valentines!

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  101. I love this idea!!! Thank you for sharing!!! I will definitely use it for my preschoolers ....

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  102. Thank you so much for sharing - this is great! We shared your idea on our dental blog along with other sugar free Valentine ideas.

    http://www.dhasmiles.blogspot.com/2013/02/sweet-valentine_7.html

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  103. HI there - thanks so much - I have just printed this off on printable MAGNETIC paper so granny & gam-gam etc will have fridge magnet!!! Loved the fact it is foolproof & simple {for me} but more the fact you are a giver and not a taker ... thanks again xxx

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  104. Thanks for the printable--I'm doing these this year. Hooray for not adding another candy to the bags or a useless trinket! :)

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  105. As a teacher, I cringe thinking about the amount of sugar given out on Valentine's Day (and Halloween but that's a different story). This is brilliant!! I'm doing it for my students!! Thanks for the idea and for the printable. Saves me a LOT of time this week :) Happy Valentine's Day!

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  106. Thank you! You are so creative!

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  107. Thank you so much for the free printable! I love giving something different and that doesn't have candy attached!!

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  108. Thanks for this adorable idea! Ive had this pinned for almost a year now. My daughter is exited to bring her valentines to school this week.

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  110. Thanks so much for sharing these! I made them with my son for his preschool class! Gotta love Valentines that don't involve chocolate/candy!

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  111. Thank you for the printable. We made our last night and they turned out great!

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  112. Thank you so much for generously providing this printable! I am using it for both of my kids' valentines this year, and they're very excited!

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  113. Love these! Thank you for sharing!!!!

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  114. Found this when googling for a creative valentine project. Thanks so much for sharing the idea and the template! I used it with my 4-year-old with much success, blogged about it here: http://pocketalchemy.ca/2013/02/12/love-bugs-abound/
    Cheers!

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  115. Thanks for sharing. I showed my boy and asked him to draw his own, and after many frustrations I gave in and printed them for him. :) Happy boy. Awesome idea.

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  116. Just want to say thank you for the great idea! I was able to print it out on brown construction paper, it worked perfectly for my 3 year old's preschool class! :)

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  117. Curious what kind of paper you used? Cardstock?? Will the bugs stay on the paper pretty well?? These are adorable!!!

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  118. Thanks for sharing! I just finished ours up for tomorrow!

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  119. These were so fun and my son loved them !!! THANK YOU.

    http://pattykphotography.blogspot.com/2013/02/now-again-love-bugs-fayetteville-nc.html

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  120. i created these for my 2 year old daughter and printed them on pink cardstock. she and her classmates loved them and argued over which bug was best. ;)

    thanks for sharing the printable!

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  121. Thank you so much for the template and idea, my daughter and I just made them and they look super cute!

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  122. These turned out so cute--thanks so much for sharing! Just wondering what program you used to create them--Adobe Illustrator? Something else? Thanks for any tip you can provide!

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