Handmade Valentines

So, my impulse was to start this blog with a long-winded rant on why I generally think Valentine’s Day is a consumer-holiday-of-the-worst-sort, all “buy me diamonds” and “Disney-taught-me-everything-I-need-to-know-about-healthy-adult-relationships” malarkey. But I think that sentence will do…

And given that every holiday is really just what you make of it, this year I decided to make my own handmade valentines to mail out. And as I created these cards, I felt the love and the joy that comes from using your own creative means to express how you feel to those most important to you. So, maybe there’s something to this day after all…

Above is Claire’s card, and I went with an old-timey silhouette portrait, because she loves OLD-TIMEY! This was also handy, as I’m still terrible at painting people’s features.

For my Mother’s card, I created a super textured background using many washes of gold metallic Finetec paint and some of my favorite grainy Greenleaf & Blueberry watercolors. Then I used a red pen to draw in the figures, which I actually went over again before sending off so they looked a bit better in the final version than they do here. But you get the idea!

This card was made for the Huffaker clan: my dad, his wife Marie, and my brother Jordan. I used a waterproof pen to draw the heart design and then messed about with a mix of gold paint and various watercolor reds to create the background. I also used salt on this one to create an interesting texture.

For my lovely friend Nicki I made the above. I used the waterproof pen to draw the figure and the outline of the heart-birds, then filled them in with watercolor. The background is a mix of the many of the same colors I used in my other valentines.

I made a valentine for my beau, but since it’s a long-running inside joke and you’d need to be us and in love with each other to appreciate it, I’m just not bothering to post it. Also, BJ’s birthday was occurring around this time, and I decided to paint her a card instead of having Brian buy one:

Clearly, I’m obsessed with this color scheme of reds, golds, and browns. And botanicals are not easy. But that’s what I felt compelled to make for BJ, who always loves flowers.

This series of projects inspired me to commit this year to making ALL my own cards to send out for birthdays, holidays, and celebrations of any kind. It’s amazing practice and it always helps to have a reason to paint. The blank page is less intimidating when you have a cause…

Hoping you all have a love-filled day!