Our Homemade Valentines

Since my Christmas post is normally completed in January, it is quite a feat to actually post Valentine’s Day during the month of February!

This year, Mary Catherine asked if she could make homemade valentines for her classmates.  Not being overly crafty, I was a bit overwhelmed by the idea, but gladly put on my “we can do anything” attitude and bounded off to Michael’s Craft Store with my very crafty daughter. 

We had a successful shopping venture and this is what we returned home with:  lots of foam stickers, heart-shaped cardstock, beautiful glitter scrapbooking paper and ribbon.  Somehow the paper doilies that were in the shopping cart didn’t quite make it to checkout.

To speed along the process of creating 15 homemade valentines for classmates and teachers, I traced and cut-out the scrapbooking hearts for Mary to adhere to the heart-shaped valentines.  Her first attempt at using glue stick to attach the scrapbooking paper was unsuccessful, so after a  quick lesson in the art of how to use Elmer’s Glue, she moved on to greater success…and adhesion!

Next, she attached her foam stickers to the inside of her valentines and diligently “signed” her name to each one.  I never tire of watching a preschooler/kindergartner print their name…it’s just the perfect example of childhood innocence!

(We haven’t quite mastered the “only use a capital letter for the first letter in your first name” rule, but we’re almost there!)

Finally, it was time to insert valentines into envelopes.  I thought we were finished, but my little Picasso had other ideas.  She insisted on coloring all 15 envelopes using either a red or pink crayon (front and back) and adding more stickers.  I tried to warn her about this undertaking, but I guess true crafters don’t see coloring as a form of punishment!!! LOL

Now, I know these weren’t the fanciest or most beautiful valentines out there this year…I’ve seen the most incredibly creative/crafty scrapbooking valentines floating around on the internet, but I truly had tears in my eyes when she proudly handed them over to her teachers to be distributed into mailboxes.  (I know, it’s a pregnancy thing!)  Even her teachers were overwhelmed by the amount of time and effort that she placed on making each of these homemade valentines.  She truly put her “heart” into this project.

Hoping your Valentine’s Day and the month of February was filled with lots of hugs and kisses!