AHHH, Valentine’s day!
I can still remember making the real homemade valentines for friends at school. Cutting out paper dollies and gluing them to construction paper hearts…adding in a little sparkle here… a little rhinestone there. Being an artist sometimes has it’s advantages. I purposefully try to engage my children in artistic projects that build both a wonderful heirloom, but form a familiar tradition as well. Each year I spend time with my children making homemade valentines. The “store bought” kinds are cute but not “real” if you know what I mean.
A few years back I decided to make a hand-printed valentine ornament as a part of our family tradition for February. I cut out hearts made of construction paper and painted their tiny hands with white or red paint depending on what color heart would receive the prints. I labeled each hand print with the year, child and age of child. This year I pulled out of my valentine tub of decorations these wonderful homemade hearts that showcase the hand-prints of my children at several ages. To me they are priceless.
I found some wire trees one holiday, a tree that could be decorated for each season with treasures from years past. These small wire trees do not have the regal of Christmas but year round they are the perfect hosts for family crafts that offer up a new year’s worth of opportunity for quality time with my children.
This year we made love bugs. These tiny treasures are easy to make and in the future will prove to be, I am sure a perfect remedy for a valentine’s that’s missing that special something. Not to mention an appropriate addition to my hand-prints from years past! On any given day, a love bug holds a magical “love” bite of a time gone by, a mother’s love and a time spent well with one’s children. To make you only need a few small items… a handful of white paper, a few markers, an ink stamp and of course your children! Make stamps of their tiny fingers, using the stamp, mark up papers with fingerprints. Have the children add eyes, legs, wings…really whatever they want. (Therein lies the most of the fun!!!) After the love bugs are made, cut the paper into hearts or other shapes around them and mount to a beautiful card stock, similar to what you can readily pick up from a scrapbook store. The rest is up to your imagination, you could position them proudly in a simple small frame and display them on your desk or counter, or you could add a ribbon and find a perfect wire tree to display them year to year!
I have found that it’s really the small things that matter the very most to those we hold dear, a love letter or a small cross stitch or a special scribble or photograph. These “things” are more important than any monetary thing we can buy because they are a reflection of a relationship or a time that can never be regained or purchased. I remember the year I found the love letters my father once wrote to my mother. Many of you know that my mother was tragically killed when I was little and my father remarried shortly afterwards. These love notes though….They were buried amongst other kept items from my mothers life. I stumbled upon them at my grandparents home and at once realized the tremendous love my father had for my mother. These letters, written while in medical school and safely tucked away were a treasure, a confirmation for me of a love that even in death could not be erased. It was merely a collection of paper but for me it meant an indescribable confirmation of a love once lived and once known. I remember telling my father of my discovery and his reaction made a great impression on me. He knew what I had found was tremendously necessary for me as a child, but as an adult he did not want to remember. It was too painful. He knew at once I knew those love letters held a magic of a love lost…taken away too soon and he also knew I needed to know as his daughter just how much he loved my mother.
I still have the letters and to me they are just as important as any advice letters from my grandparents or scribbles made from my children. I encourage all of you to not only make a little love bug with your children to make the season of Valentines, but to write a beautiful love letter to the one you love. The letter, although important and well understood between you and that special loved one for today will, if kept safe, make a clear impression to the future generations of your family what you felt at how strong the bond of love is with those that share it’s perfect embrace!
Take care of you!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
