It is almost Valentine's Day and I admit it, I have roses on my mind. I adore roses, fresh or dried. I delight in making tea with rose petals and hips; crafting with sweet little baby buds of rose; and making body care products with anything rose such as rose water, rose petals and rose essential oil.

Roses are great for crafting with especially with kids who really love the little dried baby rose buds. These projects and activities provide a great way to to enjoy the beauty and joy of roses with children, as well as giving them hands on experience with a wonderful healing herb.

Use these crafts to make unique Valentine's for friends and family instead of passing out the traditional junky candy! (Well, a little dark chocolate is ok though, right?) They also make a great Valentine's gift for the little ones in your life!

ROSE & CHOCOLATE PLAY DOUGH

These two play dough recipes are lushly scented with essential oils, flowers, chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla. The colors come from beet powder and cocoa powder. Two little heart of each kind of play dough tied up in a little bag would make a great Valentine to hand out to friends!

ROSEBUD CROWNS & HEARTS

Use sweet little baby rosebuds to create a lovely crown to wear in your hair! Or make beautiful hearts for hanging in windows or on the wall. I have mine hanging from my car's review mirror!

ROSE HEARTS

This is all about glue and roses, mixing them together to make a gooey concoction that dries into pretty, fragrant hearts. They make the perfect gift for mom, grandma, aunts and teachers!

BABY ROSEBUD BARRETTES

These are simply precious. They look so sweet and beautiful in hair. They are really fun to make too!

FLOWER 'N' SPICE MANDALA

Help little ones learn about mindfulness and emotional health by making mandalas together. Use one of the play dough recipes above and offer up some beautiful botanicals for decoration including plenty of baby rose buds!

ROSE SALT DOUGH

Whip up a batch of salt dough with some lovely rose petals and use it create and unique keepsake! We orginally created these for Mother's Day yet they seem perfect for Valentine's too!

ROSE TEA TASTING & ROSE BUD SALT ART

Have you ever tried tea made from rose petals and buds? How about rose hips? Have a little tea tasting to discover how they taste and then create a unique craft supply by pounding roses in a mortar & pestle and then combining your ground flowers with salt.

GRAPEVINE MAGIC

Make sweet little wreathes all deck out in roses to adorn the walls or give to a favorite person!

~ Beyond Crafting ~

Roses Are Good For You!

Rose Petals and Hips

Rosa spp.

Roses, in their beauty, open the heart and speak of love. Yet they offer so much more than meets the eye. The petals are edible and are lovely added to salads, desserts and even made into rose butter. They also make a tasty tea (use fresh or dried) that I have found to be quite popular with children. All that deliciousness brings with it immune enhancing properties as well as soothing coolness for the urinary system, nervous system and heart. The petals ease cold/flu symptoms and lung congestion increasing lung strength and vitality. Roses are also helpful in cases of PMS and fullness in the pelvis. Emotionally roses sooth broken hearts and aggravated nervous systems. Rose hips, the fruit of a rose, are very high in Vitamin C. They make a tasty sweet sour addition to teas and foods helping to prevent infections. I love to soak the hips in apple juice until they are soft and use them as jam on my kids' PB & J.

Roses are often heavily sprayed so be sure to use organic roses.