WILMINGTON, N.C. — A Wilmington woman and her company are spreading the love this Valentine’s Day.

What You Need To Know

  • Valentine’s Day is Wednesday

  • Kayla Hevrin is using leftover cardboard to create Valentine's Day crafts

  • The crafts are suitable for school and can be fun to do at home, Hevrin says

Kayla Hevrin is a big fan of the holiday.

“I just love to love and I love pink in hearts and I love how everyone's really lovely around town,” Hevrin said.

She’s an office manager for Two Men and A Truck Wilmington. She started making Valentine’s Day decorations in the office with leftover boxes.

“You're going to cut one more of these and then we're going to decorate and kind of put them together and make like, a real fun, like Valentine's decoration that you can hang, like in a doorway,” she said.

Her office is on U.S. 421 where the city dump is, so she sees the amount of cardboard that winds up there.

“You're going to have boxes left over, especially from moving, that you're not going to know what to do with," Hevrin said. 

She says it's important to reuse what she can and found that crafts are a perfect way to use leftover cardboard. And she has the support of her company, which offered ideas for repurposing used boxes.

“It's helpful for the dump itself, for the environment, you know, and it's a fun thing to do. And you can do by yourself. You can do it with family, do it with the kids,” Hevrin said.

She says these crafts are the perfect idea for schoolteachers and just fun to do at home.

“I mean, it's a good thing to have and to do and just really kind of do together,” Hevrin said.

Here are a few cardboard craft ideas offered by the company:

Dessert toppers: You will need craft paper, toothpicks, a hot glue gun and scissors, in addition to cardboard. Cut the cardboard into heart shapes and cover them with craft paper. Insert toothpicks in the bottom of the hearts. Use hot glue to hold them in if needed. Then put them on top of desserts.

Hanging hearts: You will need yarn or ribbon, craft paper, hot glue gun and scissors. Cut the cardboard into two large hearts and fold each in half to create a crease in the center. Use hot glue to attach two hearts at the creases so there are four outward half-heart shapes. Decorate with craft paper and attach a ribbon or yarn. Then they are ready to hang.

Name hearts: You will need a small box, scissors, ribbon, paint, paintbrush, stickers or markers, and a hot glue gun. Determine how many hearts you will need for a banner and cut the shapes out from cardboard. Paint the hearts and let them dry. Spell out names on the painted hearts by using markers or stickers. Attach the hearts to the ribbon using hot glue — tie a bow at the top and it's ready to hang. You can let kids decorate their names, too.