We have been strongly encouraged by my son's preschool teachers to appear at school on February 14th with homemade Valentines. I enjoy a bit of arts and crafts every now and then, but my kid is not interested. We've bought him crayons and glue sticks and glitter and stickers and he indulges us for five minutes every now and then but, really, it's not his thing.
So I was delighted to spot this great idea on Pinterest and at Design Mom. It qualifies as homemade, but does not involve doilies or Elmer's glue, and it's super cute. Also, it's relatively inexpensive and requires minimal craftiness!
First, I took a photo of my child smiling sweetly and holding out one hand in a fist, like so:
(This was an outtake. Obviously.)
Then I doctored it up in Picasa. It is one of my life goals to learn to use Photoshop, but until that happens, I can usually cobble together what I need in Picasa.
I used the "Text" tool under Basic Fixes. The hearts are from the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font - type "W" and it gives you a heart.
I uploaded the finished product to Shutterfly, ordered prints to be picked up at Target, and just over an hour later they were in my hands for 19 cents each. I also grabbed a bag of heart-shaped lollipops and an X-acto knife while I was there. Total expenditure: $14.68 for 24 cards. I ordered extra prints in case of goof-ups. If I'd been able to find the X-acto knife I know is in a drawer somewhere, it would have been under $10, and even cheaper if I'd purchased the prints somewhere like Costco.
My son addressed each card on the back and handed it off to me.
I cut slits above and below his fist...
...and bent the card a bit so I could insert the lollipop stick.
Voila! Valentine lollipops all around!
What a GREAT idea!! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: PinkieBling | February 09, 2012 at 12:22 PM
That is absolutely adorable! How creative!
Posted by: Heather | February 09, 2012 at 12:26 PM
Both of my girls selected this valentine this year. Gotta love Gabby's ideas.
Posted by: elz | February 09, 2012 at 02:32 PM