Happy Groundhog Day 2012!

Source: luckymecraftsandkids.blogspot.com

via Shannon on Pinterest

Happy Groundhog Day! Here in Maryland, we've been having a mild winter, so when our favorite weather forcasting rodent, Punxetawny Phil, predicted 6 more weeks of winter, I assured myself that I can definitely handle six more weeks of this.  It was sunny and an atypical 70 degrees here yesterday.  I even wore flip-flops!

To celebrate, the girls and I made these adorable Heart Groundhogs.  I saw them on Pinterest late last night and knew we would be whipping some of these cuties up today. I love how both groundhogs and hearts are incorporated, making it a perfect February craft.

I've been a little under the weather lately, so I was happy to find a simple craft to do with the girls that didn't require me to venture out for supplies.  To make it more uniform and easier to cut out the various hearts needed for this project, I printed the hearts right on the paper and then cut them.  Here's the template I made for myself:

Heart Groundhog Craft Free Printable Template

The template makes two groundhog crafts. You'll only need a few other supplies:

• 1 sheet of white paper 
• 2 sheets of brown paper (Tan, gray, red or pink would work just fine too.)
• scissors -- My little ones are 2 and 3, so I did all the cutting in advance, while they donned their party hats and princess costumes in anticipation of Groundhog Day Craft Festivities. (See photos below).  
• glue sticks
• 4 googly eyes -- In a pinch, you could easily let the kids color the eyes on instead.
• Optional: Tape -- We taped our Groundhog's ears on from the back. Several pipe cleaners in a neutral color -- We used strips of white paper, but if I could have found some pipe cleaners around my house that weren't red and pink, I probably would have let the girls use those for whiskers.  

Here's Princess Zazu showing off her groundhog and her fine fashion sense:

 

Here she is again admiring her royal craftiness:

And here, Kaylicious shows off her groundhog while sporting a Hello Kitty Party Hat!

Happy Groundhog's Day, My Friends!  We're wishing you beautiful weather wherever you are!