Wonderland Valentines

This year, Baby Cecilia's Valentine theme was "Alice in Wonderland." (FYI, Sir John Tenniel's illustrations are part of the public domain, which is awesome.)  We'll likely do a different theme each year, and when her pincer grasp evolves enough to manipulate drawing and painting materials, she'll have more of a "hand" in their making! ;)

...Be Mine!

...Be My Valentine

...Will you be my Valentine?

...I want to be your Valentine!

Materials: Aleene's tacky glue, asst. glitter, Dollar Tree doilies, scrapbooking papers, Offray 1/8" ribbon, stickers, foam glue dots, and asst. button and beads.  

Ghosts of Projects Past - Royal Flush Valentine

I made this for my husband, Ben, in 2005.  He loves magic, particularly card tricks, so I came up with this hidden mechanism to spread the cards and reveal the message:

The base card (10) was glued to the A2 blank.  I used a small gauge punch to make holes in the lower left corners, joining the playing cards to the base card with a small brad.  I then punched a small hole in the middle right edge of each card, and knotted craft ribbon at equally spaced intervals.  That part took some trial and error, but the effect was fantastic.

In retrospect, I really could have dressed the card up a little more, but it was for a man, and they generally seem to be less than thrilled to find little specks of glitter on their person for weeks.

The greeting inside:  "It's in the cards."

Materials:  Playing cards (there are sooooo many cool decks out there- link to one of many on Amazon below), blank A2 card, construction paper, Aleene's tacky glue, brad, 1/8" ribbon, 

Fiskars hole punch, and, of course, you know, love and sentiment and what-not.

Ghosts of Projects Past - Sacred Heart Painting

Hail, most loving Heart, Inflame me! Consume me in the Burning Fire of Thy Holy Love, 2008

Mixed media on canvas

I loved everything about this piece.  Particularly the Sufjan Stevens-inspired title.  It was created for a charity auction, and despite my husband's aggressive bidding, we were unable to return it to the loving home from which it came.  I have always wanted to recreate it, along with a Sweetest Heart of Mary companion piece.  

Materials: craft-store oval canvas, glitter, sequins, acrylic paint, Mod Podge, Aleene's tacky glue, clip art, and wrapping paper, that I now see has become some kind of collector's item.

 

Gaga For Valentine's Day!

For your consideration:  the Lady Gaga Valentines.

Dollar Tree doilies, Martha Stewart glitter, asst. scrapbook papers, Michael's ribbon, and Aleene's tacky glue.  Fonts courtesy of DaFont.