Valentines for kids

One of my favourite childhood memories of Valentine's Day is exchanging little Valentine cards with my friends and classmates.  We often made little mailboxes in art class that we would hang from our desks on the big  day and then at lunch time everyone would go around the classroom and deliver their Valentines.  Then, when it was time for our party, we were allowed to check our mailboxes and  read our cards. 

I think this memory is what inspired today's project.  I wanted to make some fun, kid-type cards and a little tin that could be used to keep special Valentines from friends.  Here is what I came  up with:

Tin o' Kids' Valentines

Valentine design #1

Valentine design #2

Valentine Design #3

Valentine design #4

Aren't these adorable?  I love the Pun Fun stamp set and think it is just perfect for doing Valentines!  I did play around with the sentiments to get what I wanted, but that's the beauty of inking with markers!  This set also gave me a chance to experiment with various forms of watercolouring...I have to say sitting and colouring these images was very relaxing for me! 

Each card is 1/8 of a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock..very economical and perfectly sized for little Valentines.  They are single layer, so the greeting would be written on the back of each card.  I used the Love Impressions DSP as well as some retired epoxy brads and ribbon for embellishments.  The images were all stamped in black Staz-On on watercolour paper and then coloured using markers and a blender pen.

The tin is one of the skinny tins that are currently available in the online Clearance Rack DIRT CHEAP.  I used my Big Shot multi-purpose adhesive sheets to adhere the paper to the tin.  I also adhered some 1/8" taffeta ribbon all the way around the lid using sticky strip.  The polka-dotted ribbon is retired and is also currently available on the Clearance Rack.  The tag is just a decorative label punch of DSP layered over real red and basic gray punches.  I added a shimmer brad in real red and attached it to the ribbon with some retired silver elastic cord.  This really was a fun project...my son is going to give these Valentines to his little friends!