valentinopalooza

I hosted a lovefest of valentine making with middle school daughters and ladies on Saturday. What a blast of collage, candy, and connections. It dawned on me right before that I actually didn’t have enough chairs for everybody, but somehow we crammed in amongst the scissors and stickers just fine. It was parallel fun: girls in one room…

and big girls in the kitchen (where else?)

Some girls made valentines for moms right off. Nothin’ like that mother/daughter love, especially now as it gets dicey and delicate in the tween years. It’s important to be lovey dovey so girls won’t settle for anything less, right?

One girl made a valentine for the dog:

Another made one for Dad about the dog:

And the big girls got crafty. Carol is a veteran scrapper:

Trisha made these confections:

Elena got angelic:

Molly got a bit naughty:

Nancy, the goddess of collage and assemblage, made a handful of pretties:

And Jolene was a blur of 3-D creations, wrapped and sashed with cool fabric bits:

Mary Anne made sweetly animated ones like this cutie:

Of course, I never cleaned the whole house beforehand, dawdling over my stash of stellar cards from years past like this oldie but goodie Love Bug by Mary Anne:

I managed to make a few, one of them with some of Mary Anne’s painted papers:

The girls all headed out skating, to work off some of that energy. Oh, to be 12.
I myself would rather not repeat it.

The ice pond is not far.

And even the moon made an appearance, caught in some branches.

After the gang all left, I was inspired to make this with some loot that got left behind.

So, grab some scissors, maps, stamps, old wrapping paper, and heat up the snail mail. You and the recipient will feel warm all over.