Zombie Valentine's Day Paper Doll Chain

     Looking for some way to decorate for Valentine's Day now that the world has been thrown into chaos?  If you haven't burnt the newspaper left over from last week's tablecloth DIY for warmth, why not make some paper doll chains.  I made mine into zombies as an homage to my pre-apocalyptic Valentine's Day crafting tradition, but if you don't have the stomach for zombies anymore (totally understandable), then you may just want to make regular paper dolls.

Materials:

*Newspaper
*Scissors
*Pencil
*Pen
*Black marker
*Crimson paint (optional)
*Paintbrush (optional)

Directions:

*Take a strip of newspaper and fold it accordion style.

*Sketch half the outline of a person along one edge of the paper.  The figure's arm should be outstretched and should reach roughly the center of the paper.  Draw a second half outline which is holding hands with the first.  You may want to sketch the silhouettes in pencil and then go over them with a pen.

*Cut out the silhouettes and then unfold to reveal the paper doll chain.

*Draw on faces with a marker.

*If you're going for the zombie look, add blood splatters and maybe snip off some limbs.

Zombie Valentine's Day Recycled Tablecloth

     Welcome to Amber's Post-Apocalyptic Craft a Week Blog.  I know a lot has changed in a short amount of time, but we can't let the hordes of invading zombies stop us from being our craftiest!  Valentine's Day is a little over a month away now, and what better way to celebrate than with a romantic candlelight dinner with your special someone?  Or a candlelight galentines dinner with friends? Or a relaxing candlelight dinner for one because few of us have consistent access to electricity anymore.
     The main thing you'll need for this craft is newspaper.  Where we live, The Weekly is mailed to everyone for free.  Or it was, until . . . you know.  The postal service hasn't been keeping up since the zombies came.  Anyway, a lot of people toss their copies of The Weekly into recycling immediately.  Brian and I had scavenged some copies so we could burn them for warmth, but then I realized that they also had a lot of crafting potential.  If you don't have any newspapers on hand, check your local supermarket or your neighbors' houses.  In a pinch, magazine or book pages could work as a newspaper alternative.
     You'll also need some candy wrappers, which I imagine you have an ample supply of now.  If not, head to your nearest convenience store immediately (with some well armed friends) and start stocking up on them before they're gone.  Red or pink wrappers are ideal, but really, any will do. If your valentine criticizes you for using non-Valentines colors in your tablecloth, you should probably turn them over to the zombies.
     The other supplies you'll need are tape, scissors, and glue.  If you don't have these on hand, head on down to your nearest craft supply store (with your well armed friends) and grab some.  There's a good chance no one has thought to raid their candy section yet either.

Materials:

*Newspaper
*Candy wrappers
*Scissors
*Tape
*Glue

Directions:

*Tape together as many sheets of paper as you need to cover your table.  Don't be too worried about lining everything up perfectly.  No one's going to see it very well by candlelight anyway.

*Cut out heart shapes from candy wrappers.

*Glue the hearts to the newspaper.

Now you're well on your way to having the post-apocalyptic Valentine's Day of your dreams!  Come back next week and I'll show you how to make a centerpiece or decorate with body parts, depending on how my week goes.

Glow-in-the-Dark Valentine's Day Arrows

     Cupid's not the only one in town with arrows now.  Keep him (and zombies) at bay with these fun, glow-in-the-dark arrows.

Materials:
*Cardstock in two colors of your choice
*Glow bracelets
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors

Directions:
*Cut out a section of cardstock at least twice the height you want your arrowhead to be.

*Fold the paper in half and cut out two isosceles triangles.

*Pinch the triangles together over the end of the glow stick, keeping the edges aligned as you do so.  This will create an indent in each triangle that will make it easier to glue them together.

*Glue one triangle to the end of the glow stick and then glue the second triangle to the first, with the glow stick sandwiched in between.  Make sure to keep the edges of the triangles aligned as you pinch them together.

*Cut out a section of cardstock twice as long as you want the end of the arrow to be.

*Fold the paper in half and cut out two shapes like the end of an arrow.

*Glue one piece of the arrow end to the end of the glow stick and then the other, following the procedure outlined above.

*Cut out a triangle area at the end of the arrow.

*Cut fringes in the end of the arrow.

*Optional: decorate with washi tape or strips of colored paper.  This will block some of the light from the glow stick, but you could always create fun patterns or shapes in the light.

Mini Clothespin Zombie Heart

Materials:
*Red cardstock
*Black marker
*Scissors
*Mini clothespin
*All purpose adhesive
*Pencil

Directions:

*Draw a small heart sized to fit along your clothespin on the red cardstock and cut out.

*Draw a zombie face on the heart.

*Cut the heart in two pieces, following the mouth line.

*Glue the two halves to the top and bottom parts of the clothespin such that when the clothespin is closed, the two halves of the heart align.  Let dry.

*Once dry, your zombie is free to begin chewing away.

Zombie Fortune Valentine's Card

     Got a friend who is always wondering when they'll find love?  Help them figure it out with this handy wheel of fortune card.  Who knows, the zombie apocalypse may come sooner than we think!

Materials:
*Pink cardstock
*Red cardstock
*White cardstock
*Brad
*Hole punch
*Pen
*Mounting tape or other adhesive

Directions:
*Come up with a list of twelve zombie apocalypse love forecasts.  I've included mine at the end of this post if you need some inspiration.

*Either type up and print or hand-write the fortunes on the inside of the card.  Include your Valentine's Day message on the opposite page.

*On the front of the card, write at the top: What will your love live be like during the zombie apocalypse?

*On the bottom of the front of the card, write: Spin the wheel and then find the corresponding number inside.

*Make sure to leave enough space between the text at the top and bottom to fit your wheel.

*To construct the wheel, print out a copy of the wheel template below on white cardstock.

*Cut out the wheel and fold it in half along one of the black lines.

*Very carefully punch out a half circle shape from the center of the wheel and then unfold and smooth out the spinner.

*Draw a spinner on red cardstock, decorating as you wish, and then cut out.  Punch a hole toward the bottom of the spinner.

*Slide the brad through the holes in the spinner and wheel and flatten out the prongs at the end, taking care not to flatten too close to the end of the brad.  You want the spinner to be able to move freely.

*Adhere the spinner to the front of your card.  Give the spinner a few test spins before you glue it down to make sure it's functioning as intended.

Not sure what to write for your fortunes?  Here are the ideas I came up with:

1. You'll meet a partner who'll love you for your brains!

2. Someone will steal your heart - literally!

3. You'll have a fighting chance at love.

4. You'll have little trouble chasing someone down.

5. You'll be single, but it's for the best.  The pickings are slim.

6. You won’t be able to hold down a partner for long.

7. You'll bunker down with the last person you texted.

8. You'll be the most sought after person in town.  Too bad everyone sees you as a piece of meat.

9. There’ll be plenty of eye candy, but nothing lasting.

10. You’ll have lots of chances for a dinner date.

11. You’ll find someone who travels at your own pace, which is now very, very slow.

12. Your flings will be short lived.

Felt Gingerbread Zombie

     Looking for something cuddly and sweet to give your valentine?  Search no further than this craft ;).

Materials:
*Brown felt (for a more gingerbready aesthetic) or green felt (for a more zombie-like look)
*Gingerbread person template (I traced around a cookie cutter)
*Chalk
*Scissors
*Red and white (or black) fabric paint
*Needle and thread
*Stuffing

Directions:
*Trace two gingerbread person shapes onto your felt with chalk and cut out.
*Decorate one of your gingerbread cut outs with fabric paint to make it look zombie-like.  A few years ago, Brian and I made gingerbread zombie cookies for a Halloween party and I decided that I wanted to make mine resemble that, but you can also go for a more gruesome look.  Set aside your zombie to dry.

     The zombie gingerbread person that served as the inspiration for my zombie gingerbread plushie.

*Using a blanket stitch, sew the together the two zombie halves, leaving an opening large enough for you to add the stuffing.  Insert stuffing until your zombie reaches its desired fullness and then sew closed.

Zombie Valentine's Heart Banner

Materials:
*Cardstock

*Silhouette CAMEO (or heart template and a pen)

*All purpose adhesive

*Thread

Directions:

*If you have a Silhouette CAMEO, import the below template into Silhouette Studio and have it cut out the hearts for the banner.  (For more detailed instructions on using the Silhouette CAMEO with my templates, see this post.)

*If you don't have a Silhouette CAMEO, you can print out a heart template and trace 27 hearts (or 21 if you want to leave out the zombie bit) and hand write letters.

*Space out hearts as desired and then glue them to the thread.  Let dry.

"Bloody" Handprint Zombie Valentine's Card

     Valentine's Day is one month away, which means it's time for me to liven (or deaden, I suppose) up this holiday with some zombies!

Materials:
*Blood colored paint (I added a small amount of black paint to red paint)
*Tap water
*Paintbrush
*White cardstock
*Pencil
*Black marker

Directions:
*Fold paper in half to create a card.
*Cover your workstation in newspaper or other scrap paper and place the card at your workstation.
*Paint your palm with the blood colored paint and then place your hand at about the center of the front of the card to create a "bloody" handprint.
*Use your fingers to smear streaks of paint along the card.
*Add some blood splatters using the paintbrush.  I had to water down my paint a little to get it to splatter.
*Once the front of the card is decorated to your liking, set it aside to dry.
*When the outside of the card has dried, add some bloodstains to the inside and then let dry.  Make sure to leave some white space for your Valentine's message.
*Write your Valentine's message in pencil to make sure you get the desired spacing and then trace over it with black marker.

     The inside of the card says: In a ZOMBIE apocalypse, I'd choose YOU!  Seriously, you'd be way better at all that survival stuff.

Ribbon and Hearts Bookmark

Materials:
*Ribbon
*Scrapbooking paper
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive
*Stickers

Directions:
*Cut a length of ribbon about an inch longer than you would like your bookmark to be and knot both ends.
*Cut out four heart shapes from the scrapbooking paper.
*Adorn hearts with stickers.
*Glue hearts to the ribbon.

Zombie Valentine's Lotto Ticket

    Here's a slightly different take on the Valentine's lotto tickets I've seen floating around online.  Instead of having prizes underneath each scratch off heart so that your loved one is guaranteed to be a winner, add zombie images under some of them.  You can still think up a prize to correspond to the zombies if you would like, but don't tell your valentine about that beforehand.  Keep them in suspense as they play the zombie Valentine's lottery.

Materials:
*Zombie lotto ticket printout (either my template or your own design)
*Pink cardstock
*All purpose adhesive
*Acrylic paint
*Liquid soap
*Pencil
*Paintbrush
*Scissors

Directions:
*Print out zombie lotto ticket, either my design (pictured below) or make your own design.

*Glue template onto pink cardstock.
*Write/draw/paste in your zombies and prizes.  I used photos of my sister Katie, Brian, and me dressed up as zombies (as well as a photo of zombie gingerbread) for the zombie hearts.  You can use whatever ratio of zombies to hearts you would like.  Since I'm rather cruel, I stacked the odds against Brian, adding five zombies and four prizes:

*Take a strip of contact paper and trace nine hearts onto the back.
*Mix one part liquid soap with two parts acrylic paint.
*Paint the soap/paint mixture across the contact paper.  Set aside to dry,  Add a second coat if necessary.  (Full disclosure: I didn't have any contact paper, so I used packing tape instead.  I stuck each end of the tape to the bottom of a drinking glass and then painted it.  Once the paint was dry, I traced hearts onto the paint using a black permanent marker, ending up with the situation pictured below.  It worked, but it was a lot more challenging than I imagine using contact paper would be.)

*Once dry, cut out the hearts and stick them over the text/image hearts.  Now you're ready to pass it off to a loved one to play.

Unfortunately for Brian, he ended up with a zombie.  Somehow he survived the encounter and I told him he could scratch off until he won a prize.  After a second close encounter with the zombie kind, he finally won a kiss.

"I Think I Might Like You More than I Like Zombies" Valentine's Box

Materials:
*Heart shaped box
*White paint
*Paintbrush
*Mod Podge
*Red, pink, and white tissue paper
*Scissors
*Colored pencils
*Glitter glue
*Black permanent marker
*Zombie owl template
*Colored pencils

Directions:
*Paint the box white and set aside to dry.
*Cut out squares of the various colors of tissue paper.  Once the paint has dried, glue the squares to the box using Mod Podge and then set aside to dry.
*Once the box has dried, paint with a coat of glitter glue and then set aside to dry.
*Resize the below owl template to the desired size and print out.

*Color in the owl the desired colors.
*Once the box is dry, glue down the owl and write in the phrase "I think I might like you more than I like zombies" on the box.

Printable Zombie Valentine's Cards

     If you are a fan of zombies and are looking for some printable Valentine's cards, you have come to the right place.  Below are 5 different printable zombie Valentine's card designs, which I based on the stone "conversation" hearts I made last year.  I left them blank so that you could decorate the cards however you saw fit.  I also have included heart templates so that you could cut hearts out of patterned paper and glue them over the three hearts on the to-from half of the card if you so choose.

Materials:
*Printed zombie Valentine's
*Colored pencils, crayons, markers, etc.
*Colored cardstock or patterned paper (optional)
*Scissors
*Double sided tape

Directions:
*Print out some zombie Valentine's cards.

*Color in the cards however you wish.  Alternately, you could leave the cards blank so that your recipients can decorate them.
*If you so choose, cut hearts out of the patterned or colored paper and layer them on top of the three hearts on the to-from half of the card.
*Fold the card in half along the solid black line and tape together so that one face of the card is the to-from page and the other is the Valentine's message.

     What are your plans for Valentine's Day?  Brian and I are planning on watching the 1970's zombie movie Messiah of Evil.

Perler Fuse Bead Zombie Valentine's Owl

     Need another zombie Valentine's craft?  Here's an cute little zombie owl that you can make from fuse beads.  You can also use this pattern to make a non-zombie owl by modifying the eyes.

Materials:
*Fuse bead kit (e.g. Perler beads kit)
*Large square fuse bead pegboard
*Iron

Directions:
*Arrange beads on a large square pegboard in the pattern shown above.  If you would prefer to make a non-zombie owl, you can easily modify the eyes to make a non-zombie Valentine's owl.
*Cover your owl with a sheet of waxed paper and iron the first side, then remove from the peg board, flip over, put waxed paper on top and iron the second side.  You can find more detailed directions here.

(Zombie) Valentine's Tic Tac Toe Board

     Have an empty sour cream (or similarly shaped) container kicking around?  Use it to make a portable Valentine's Day tic tac toe board.  The lid becomes the board and you can use the container to store the pieces when not in use.  Looking for more (zombie) Valentine's crafts?  Check out my pom pom creatures and my stone "conversation" hearts from last year.

Materials:
*Wide sour cream container (mine had a diameter just over 4" at its widest point)
*5 red and 5 pink plastic heart gems (you can find them at Dollar Tree)
*Cardstock
*Mounting tape
*Scissors
*Black permanent marker
*Marker or printer
*Optional: stickers, patterned paper, or other supplies you can use to decorate the outside of the container.

Directions:
*Draw or digitally design a tic tac toe board to fit the lid of your container and tape it to the lid.
*Draw faces onto the heart pieces, either zombie faces (see above) or happy faces (see below), depending on what you prefer.

*Decorate the outside of the container however you wish.  I used self-adhesive holographic laminate to decorate mine.

Another idea:
*For a slight modification of this craft, you could use zombie pom pom creatures (or non-zombie critters) for game pieces.

Valentine's Day Zombie Stone "Conversation" Hearts

Materials:
*Stone hearts (or hearts from another material such as foam)
*Permanent marker

Directions:
*Look up zombie Valentine's phrases.  Some examples include "I love you to pieces," "I love you this munch," "I love you for your brains," and "my love for you won't die."
*Using your permanent marker, write zombie phrases on your hearts.  You can also add an illustration to the hearts if you would like.
*If you're not interested in zombies, make stone "conversation" hearts using traditional Valentine's Day phrases.

Valentine Zombie (and Non-Zombie) Pom Pom Creatures

Zombie Pom Pom Creatures

Materials:
*Large pink and red pom poms
*Small pink and red pom poms (twice as many as the number of large ones)
*Red and black fabric paint
*Red and pink foam
*Heart stencil or template
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors
*Pen
*Optional: written or printed zombie valentine saying

Directions:
*Trace heart stencil or template onto the foam, then cut out the heart shape.  This heart will serve as the feet for your pom pom zombie, so size accordingly.
*Glue large pom pom onto the heart shape.
*Glue small pom poms onto the large pom pom to make ears.
*Draw x-shaped dead eyes using the black fabric paint.  If zombie is pink, add a bloodstained mouth using red fabric paint.  Set aside to dry.
*Glue a zombie valentine message to the bottom of your zombie's feet, if desired.

Googly Eyed Pom Pom Creatures

Materials:
*Either a kit for glittery pom pom critters (which is what I used)

OR:

*Large red and pink pom poms
*Googly eyes
*Red and pink foam
*Large heart template
*Small heart template
*Pipe cleaners
*Scissors
*Pen
*All purpose adhesive

Directions (if not using a kit):
*Trace one large heart and two small hearts onto the foam, then cut out the hearts.
*Glue a pom pom to the large heart.
*Cut off two sections of pipe cleaner slightly longer than the length you would like your critter's antennae to be.  Glue a small heart to each length of pipe cleaner.
*Glue googly eyes to the pom pom, then add the antennae.

I came across this song when looking for zombie Valentine's Day ideas and thought I would share it.  It's a fun song for a zombie themed Valentine's Day: The Zombie Song by Stephanie Mabey