I love sending Valentines mail!
Last year I got to send a fun package to a super talented lady I now consider a friend,
Kadie from Seven Alive. I was excited when I saw a similar type of thing happening at Create.Craft.Love!
This exchange entails sending a card to each of the participants- there ended up being 43 in all!
Jill specifically said that the cards did not need to be homemade-
that "that would be insane" to ask of those that sign up.
But...
well... you know...
I just couldn't stand not doing something crafty!
I thought about a number of different options, even started designing a few.
I had the thought that, because I was needing to make so many of them,
I had better stick with what I know. And a light bulb came on!
I love these matchbook notepads and have rocked them before!
I have a fair stash of cute paper and wouldn't need to buy any... and so I began!
Cutting strips of paper 3" x 9",
folding up a titch at the bottom,
adding ten sheets of printer paper cut to 2.75" x 4.25",
folding back over at the top
and tucking in.
I normally sew along the bottom,
but, again, with so many to do, I whipped out the stapler for these ones,
then covered it with a fun Valentine sticker.
Phew! Cute, brightly colored little notepads almost ready!
I think I could create these just above every day- they are so fun to make!
I quickly designed two little tags to add to the notebooks and serve as my greeting to each person.
I made them circle just slightly smaller than 2" so I could use my circle punch to cut them all out-
a much more efficient option than hand cutting! And now my hand muscles are seriously tougher too ;)
I hope this little greeting doesn't sound cheesy...
the thing is, I don't actually know ANY of the ladies I'm sending these to.
They might be really struggling, they might be really blessed.
They might be surrounded by love. Or they might need this little note to bring a little into their day.
No matter what, I feel like Valentines is a time for helping others to feel loved!
It's not about lingerie or chocolate or jewelry or commercialism, at least not to me.
It's about conveying love, or even happiness really,
in a more pronounced, fun, unique way than you do any other day.
Even to people you don't really know.
And hopefully the thought that
"whoever you are, whatever you do, you deserve a very Happy Valentines Day!"
will be uplifting for those who receive these!
Anyhow... I know, I know... I'm a sap :P
So I started hole punching and tying the tags on with baker's twine.
But not too far in, I realized I could be using washi tape for the tags instead
and that it could be much quicker!
I'm definitely discovering that washi tape is so fun to work with!
I thought both looked really cute, but was a bit partial to these washi tape ones :)
See how these little guys open to reveal paper for writing on?
I love that I'm send something that is more than just a greeting, but could actually be useful too :)
Again, I grabbed the washi tape to add some frosting to the envelopes-
I opted to just use the basic ones we already had instead of buying actual greeting card ones.
I really like how they turned out with the flair on them!
Today these will be on their way to their new owners,
who'll hopefully have a better Valentines Day and get a kick out of their cute mail!
Nuts, I know, but I almost wish there would have been even more people to create for and send to!
Thanks, Jill, for organizing such a fun exchange!
