How to Make Shrinky Dink Valentines

By eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor

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Make something different with your children this Valentine's Day. Help them make Shrinky Dink Valentine's Day baubles. You probably remember Shrinky Dink from your childhood. The plastic sheets shrink to one third their original size when you put them in the oven.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Shrinky Dink plastic sheets
Colored pencil crayons
Scissors
Nail or hole-punch
Brown paper bag
Cookie sheet

Step1

Create your Valentine's Day patterns. These can be hand-drawn or you can create a pattern using a computer's clip art collection. Let your child help you find the patterns. Just remember that the Shrinky Dink plastic shrinks a lot.

Step2

Purchase your Shrinky Dink plastic sheets. You can usually find them at craft and hobby stores. Be sure to allow enough for trials and errors.

Step3

Lay the pattern on a table with the pattern facing up. Place the Shrinky Dink plastic sheet on top with the rough side facing up.

Step4

Trace an outline of the Valentine's Day pattern onto the Shrinky Dink plastic with a black colored pencil crayon. Color in all the insides of the pattern. If something is supposed to be clear, color it with the white pencil crayon.

Step5

Trim around the edge of the pattern with a sharp pair of scissors. Don't leave any pointed edges. If you're going to hang the Shrinky Dink on a necklace or bracelet, poke a hole in the plastic with a small nail or hole-punch.

Step6

Pre-heat the oven to 325-degrees F. You can use the toaster oven for this project. Place a piece of brown paper bag on a cookie sheet.

Step7

Place the Shrinky Dinks on the cookie sheet and place them in the oven. Turn the oven light on. Watch the Shrinky Dink carefully. It curls, and then it flattens out. After it's flat for 30 seconds, remove it from the oven. Let it cool before removing from the cookie sheet.

Tips & Warnings

It's best to make a test Shrinky Dink before baking the whole batch.
You can make the finished Shrinky Dink into charms for bracelets, magnets or any number of baubles for Valentine's Day. Use your imagination.