A Valentines Tale
Getting everyone inspired for making Valentines was a bit of a challenge this year. Liz joined me at the table to make cards for a little while, but Helen wasn't so enthusiastic. It's an ongoing theme/challenge with teens--how to keep up the handmade traditions as they get older and less engaged.
I got inspired to do a little bit of "found poetry" out of the newspaper. Liz's Valentine poem was made up of words clipped from an article about an Albatross who had recently had a baby and flown across oceans to care for it. Helen's came from a travel article on vineyards in France! Perfect words in those two articles, I tell you!
Here's the one I made for Nelson.
Helen and Liz finally got inspired and disappeared for an afternoon. They drove into town, had coffees, and bought a large amount of gourmet chocolate. They came back and made Valentine boxes for their purchases. Yup. My girls are now driving off for afternoons on their own. Here are Helen's designs.
Liz got inspired by origami and made us these little boxes....filled with chocolate!
The weekend before Valentines day Nelson disappeared into the basement to work on a mysterious project. The girls were mystified. I had an idea since I know that Nelson isn't a big fan of making paper valentines and he hadn't joined in the paper/glue extravaganza either. He presented us each with a wooden box he had made... filled with chocolates.
No worries about us eating all that chocolate. Before I could catch him, Odin climbed up on the table and finished it all off foil coverings and all. Bad doggie. He got put in the crate for a long time!
Thanks for sharing. Yes- they get older and I long for the years of glue and paint, glitter and goggly eyes. My 13,16,18 just are not regularly making the same things they once did, or at least not cards . . . Robots, computers, LED heart that runs on a battery . . . for the 13 y/o and my 18y/o made a screech Owl house and Bluebird yesterday. The 2 older ones are both on the cusp of having that drivers license. It will be interesting to see what it brings. Being sister and brother - not sure they will run out for a hot drink. I made watercolor Valentines for the most part this year, fun but never as much time as I would like to devote to them.
That's so lovely :-) Like Quiltin' Mama, our craft days have matured into making more serious things. I miss the little childhood fun stuff, but can clearly see how it prepared my daughter for a more serious creativity.