All Paper Arts

I have another party this weekend! Okay, really my 3rd grader was invited to a Valentine Making Party. But it is a Mom and Daughter party so technically I am invited, too. I think I am as excited as my daughter. It has been awhile since we have made Valentines with anyone else. My two younger daughters didn’t seem too phased by the news of their sister and me going to a party. You can never tell sometimes. I am sure it is because they are secretly plotting when they will ambush me to work on their classes Valentines. I am trying to make them all, this weekend. I don’t want to be up on Tuesday evening gluing over 40 Valentines. Yes, I could take the easy road and go buy the pre-made cards but my daughters would be crushed. I remember when my oldest was in 1st grade and we didn’t get to making our own Valentines. She was devastated. To this day I can’t remember why we didn’t make them. I know the two younger ones and I made some for the museum school classes. Oh, well I have been making up for it every since. I even enjoy making Valentines for my own friends.

So far one of my very favorite Valentines I’ve made were the ones I made for my oldest Ballet Classmates when she was three. They reminded me of Victorian Valentines. I had some beautiful thick watercolor paper. I cut little rectangle or actually more tore them so it had that unfinished edge. I believe they were about 5X4. Then I had some old wool felt in shapes of pink, purple, and red that I cut into rectangles just about 1/2″ shorter then the watercolor paper. I glued the felt rectangles on to the watercolor paper. I then punched a hole on each top corner (shorter width) and placed some beautiful ribbon through the holes to make a little hanger. I can’t remember for sure what I placed in the center of these little cards I think it was different things like a vintage button, a heart charm, or a flower that I pulled of an artificial flower bush I had. I used a glue gun for the centers. This was before I had some many gadgets and embellishments so I can imagine with what is available today the same cards could be even more elegant.

If you are looking for something much easier for kids there are a number of great sites out there. Many of them have the same ideas like the lollipop mice. This is simple and if you are a paper hound like me they can look so much nicer then the plan ol’ construction paper ones. What you want to do is cut out a heart. (I use my biggest sizzix heart die). I would try to make the heart about 3 of 4″ high. The cool thing about this is if you are like me and cut better hearts by folding the paper then you have just done 2 steps in one. After you have your heart cut out you want to fold it over the sucker part of the lollipop. Then you glue the sides together. The stick makes the tail. You can add googly eyes if you want. Also, you can make ears out of two teeny hearts folded over.

Heart dollies are still a classic and one of my favorite Valentines. I think it is because it reminds me of my childhood and using them not only to make Valentines but for decoration on our boxes. It seems like no matter where I lived when I was in Elementary School we always made mailboxes (usually out of shoeboxes) for our classmates to drop our Valentines in. Does anybody still do that? My oldest had to make one for her Kindergarten year but since then both her and her younger sister has only had paper bags they decorate in class. Where is the tradition people?? heehee! Speaking of tradition what traditions do you remember or love for Valentines?