PB Valentine Cards

Today I thought I would share some of the valentine's cards/crafts that PB exchanged during his elementary school days past.  With him being in middle school now there are no more card exchanges or parties so I have to get my kicks some how. 

I am not going to put up the cards he exchanged for kindergarten.  It is quite embarrassing.  They were just plain store bought deals with a lenticular image of a character from Star Wars. And the worse part was it was Clone Wars!  Ughh.  I didn't know.  I bought them the year before on clearance and thought I was clever for saving 25 cents.

I photographed most of these from his Valentine scrapbook so the candy is long gone, which can make some of the 'cards' look a bit lacking.

First Grade

template here

I pulled together the second most clever Valentine card (in my opinion) for PB when he was in first grade.  He loved collecting the limited series Lego Minifigs (so did Hubs and I as well!)  One of our favs was the zombie one.  I happened to find the image of the trio of zombies on the nets somewhere and  I came up with and added the text. I then cut the edges of the card with a pair of decorative scissors to look like it was kinda chomped on by a few zombies.  For an activity at the class Valentine party I brought a simple craft for the kids to cut out and make.  Lollipops with mustaches for the boys and big red lips for the girls...or which ever one struck their fancy.   I traced the designs out on black and red foam sheets and pre-cut the little slit for the lollipop stick.  All the kids had to do was cut out the outline edge and push the stick through.

Second Grade

 PB was (and still is!) into super heros and comic characters during second grade.

I was lucky enough to find the work already done for me with a template for these cute caped super lollipops.  People, we are talking pre-pinterest days. Of course now these things are all over the place.

Found at zakka life

Third Grade

During this year PB was really into having his own rock band.  Him and Hubs formed the group Kat Kall and performed nightly in the living room.  Again we were doing the lollipop/valentine card deal.  The stick of the lollipop is the arm(?) of the guitar with the candy part behind the paper guitar. I found the template online, the other side of the guitar had the text "You Rock!"  I have tried to find a link to the original template but can only find that it was also a creation of Zakka Life. 

Fourth Grade

During this year, PB really liked my Ren and Stimpy Valentine's cards.  He collects Ren and Stimpy stuff himself.  I bought these when I was in high school and while I don't really want to accept it, they are 'vintage', being nearly 25 years old.  We scanned his favorite ones and printed them on card stock.  We then put them in little clear plastic bags with a few Dum-Dum lollipops, which we thought would be Stimpy approved.

Fifth grade is the best idea I have had and will be a separate post because really...it is awesome.

However here is the valentine's box he made for fourth grade and then added even more to it in fifth grade:

It originally had his name in the speech bubble but I typed over it for this post.
He covered the entire thing with print outs of vintage Super Friends (one of his favorite shows).
valentine cards and stickers.

I liked using the Vans shoe box because of the colors and not covering the words up too much.

Next up is his fifth grade valentine cards...I will brag on myself.  They are amazing.

Valentine Card Swap..Not just for the kids!

I love little valentine's day cards!  Every year I have to check out all the stores to see what cute stuff is available for me , I mean, kids to exchange...this year the winner is Grumpy Cat!

A couple of years ago I thought it would be fun to have a Valentine's Day card swap at my work so I could add to my collection stash and craft up some fun ones for others.  Above is the sign up sheet that I made and printed out.  Part of the deal was of course you had to have something to put your cards in...a mailbox of sorts! I have such fond memories of making a valentine's box from a shoe box when I was in first grade (aluminum foil was heavily involved) and you better believe I was looking forward to making this one too.

Here is what I came up with.  The outside.

The box open and in card receiving mode. 

I scanned several of my Ren and Stimpy cards, printed them out and glued them down.  Along with adding some ribbon and stickers.  Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I had about seven other coworkers sign up, which was not a bad turn out at all.  But truly myself and another work friend rocked this exchange.  Above you can see the ones she made.  Super awesome and glued to construction paper in true valentine card elementary style! She made the Harry Potter one especially for me on the left due to my HP obsession.  Everyone else she gave the "your face is nice" to, but I loved that one also so she whipped up an extra for me! 

These are the cards I made for everyone...creepy and cute!

I had plans on making some cookies with icing spiderwebs and a small spider with a heart shaped body to include but they didn't work out.  I then opted instead for plastic spiders mixed in with little conversation hearts!

Sweet Tooth

These are some crazy cookie bars that I made last year for my favorite dentist office hence the card with the false teeth!

The bars were from a mix but I added sliced almonds, a white chocolate drizzle, and valentine sprinkles to the top.  I am all about 'sprucing up' prepackaged mixes. They turned out great even if they are cavity inducing!

Vintage Valentines

 I have a fairly decent amount of vintage valentines since my mom gave me all of hers from 1960's elementary school years. Above are just a few.

 This is my favorite one from her collection.  Several years ago I used some of these valentines to make these valentine cookies:

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I also buy vintage valentine stuff from flea markets and antique malls.  I really like this uncut booklet that comes with envelopes.  It's a DIY kinda thing!

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Lastly, I have about 25 valentines from the early 1940's.  Here are a few:

The Ho-Beau is so cute!

I cho-cho-choose you!

 We are some Simpson loving fools in our house.  I have several different collections of Simpsons Valentine's Day cards I have collected over the years.

The cards above I bought in 1994 while in high school.  I am missing a few of the designs and the box.

 These are all "newer" ones.   2007, 2005, and 2001.

 These are the 2005 edition.  

This set has a cute Ralph one saying "Me fail English? That's unpossible!".  Nelson's is the 'Teacher Card' and says "If you know so much, how come they don't pay you more?"  The flip side of these have several cute graphics of various characters.

2007 edition. 

 My least favorite ones. I don't understand what is going on here.  The sayings are dull and the colors and graphics horrible.

2001 edition.  

I love this set!  The front of the box promises "All cards guaranteed to be free of all lame, mushy Valentiney stuff*" however the "* Non-lame guarantee is void in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Springfield."  It has a copy of the classic Ralph's "I Cho-cho-choose you" valentine card and he "pickeded" it himself:

But my favorite is the Mr. Burns one:

 More Simpsons stuff below!

Tree House of Horror

Hub's (Doh!) Birthday

Greetings From Springfield
Simpsons Christmas Tree

Be mine!

I thought for this post I would share some of the valentine's cards I have collected over the years.

The first ones are Ren and Stimpy and are some of my favorites!  I bought these not off ebay, but off the store shelf in 1993 and 1994.

 Here are several of them but I am not sure if I have a complete set for each.  After all, I actually gave these out to friends and never considered that I would one day savor 'collecting' them.

 These are some pretty neat Universal Monsters ones I got in 1997.  Again, I gave these out to friends (while in college) and it appears to me that all of the Creature From the Black Lagoons are missing. Hmmmm....

(this and this could be why!)

 These Mucha Lucha guys are so cute!  I can not find a date but I think I got them in 2002 or so.

 Love Harry Potter!  This set is for Prisoner of Azkaban.  I also had Half Blood Prince but used them all when making Thank You cards for PB's Harry Potter Party several years ago.

Cute little Curious George.  These are from 1998 or so.  Remember when they had envelopes?!

Valentine Scrap Books

Something that is a 'family tradition' for us is having a valentine card scrap book.

My mom's mom made her one and my mom started me my own as well. I have also started the tradition with PB.
Here are a few images of my mom's scrap book. She handed hers down to me a few years back along with a bunch of loose cards that never made it into her book.  Hers dates from the mid 1960's.

Every one of the cards are gorgeous!

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Mine

My valentine card scrap book is from the early 1980's.  It is certainly not as beautiful as the artwork in my mom's.  Lots of Strawberry Shortcake.  Here are a couple of pages:

I gave out valentine cards up until ...well.... I still do.  But I stopped receiving any during high school.

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PB's

I have been carrying on the tradition with PB but it is so pitiful what passes these days as a valentine card.  Look how boring... The only saving grace on this page is the Ron Weasley one.

A 'card' is now a pack of candy with a sticker on it saying"To:" and "From:".  Also what is with all the mini tattoos!?  I would much rather have a sticker myself. 

Sugar Wafer Treats for your Sweets

These sugar wafers are so easy to make, cute, and yummy.  Yummy if you like sugar dipped in sugar and then sprinkled with sugar that is!  I made these for PB's fourth grade Valentine's Day class party and there were no left overs!  Kids love sugar.

The strawberry sugar wafers can be found at any grocery store.  I then dipped the ends in white melting chocolate and tossed on some valentine sprinkles.  I really liked the black hearts!

He-Man Valentine Decorating

I always try to do a little valentine decorating even in the midst of PB's birthday planning months whether there happens to be a huge Death Star already hanging on the wall in the background or not.
Generally on the day of Valentine's I come up with something neat to decorate with or display.
Last year's little vignette was my favorite ever!

I had taken PB to a thrift store some time in Jan last year and he came across some vintage He-Man figures that he fell in love with. I decided that these guys needed to help with the Valentine scene setting!

I put some valentine stickers (also from a thrift store) on them to get them in a loving mood.  Then had them 'delivering' camellias from our yard in vases. 

We looked up some information on these guys and found out that Moss Man (seen above) used to smell like pine.  He didn't anymore but I wanted to help him out.  I spritzed him with some room air freshener that is pine scented!  Everyone wants to look and smell their best on Valentine's Day!

On Valentine's day we watched The Princess Bride together and happened to notice that in the grandson's bedroom on a shelf is a Grizzlor (the furry guy far above aka "Hugs -n- Kisses").   I love when serendipity and connections like that happen!

More mushy stuff on the way!

Hi Sugar!

Generally at this point in January I would be up to my neck in cardboard UFOs or painting a faux brick wall as a passage to Diagon Alley or perhaps making super hero capes out of old t-shirts. It would be officially PB birthday party planning time.  To keep the wheels turning here on MHICTY during those months I post a bunch of vintage images with perhaps a quick statement that I schedule far in advance.  This year is when all of that changes.  PB started middle school.  He decided that this year he wants to have just a 'fam' party (just us 3) with a smaller scale theme.  I love doing his birthday parties but I am really okay with keeping it low key for a change.

This means I have the opportunity to share a few other things that I have had going on over the past several years which happen to occur during those months.  Just because I am busy with his birthday stuff doesn't mean that valentine's day gets over looked. By no means, no!  But it never gets posted because who wants to see valentine's stuff in April?

So I have scavenged, scoured, and photographed several years of Valentine's stuff to share over the next couple of weeks...

Hope you love it! 

Twistee Treats and Butterfly Roofs

 We took a trip to Disney World during PB's winter break.  Seeing one person's Disney pics is just about the same as seeing anyone else's, you know, huge crowds of people you don't know ruining them.  So I will spare you those images.  But here are a few other things we did see or experienced while there that were pretty cool and free of random people.

We happened to find this neat Twistee Treat ice cream stand while in Kissimmee.  

Pee-wee wanted ice cream soup but it wasn't on the menu.

I have always loved these butterfly roof picnic tables at some of the Florida welcome centers.  I decided I better get a pic of the flock of them before they fly away or are replaced by ugly new styled ones.

Other non-Disney things we did while in the area was PB found his comic book store equivalent of Disney World called Comic Colosseum.  It was next door to our hotel so he went over there everyday.  There was a Converse shoes clearance store in the same shopping plaza.  This is where the really ugly converse go, end of the line.   But I was able to find some really cute low tops with a print of official Andy Warhol soup cans.  We also got to hear an angry old man talking on his phone outside a restaurant telling the listener that because of what they did to him, Jehovah was going to punish them with great vengeance.  It was probably that they ruined all of his family's Disney photos by having dumb looking expressions on their faces while getting in the way of his camera's viewfinder.