Kansas City DIY: HAPPY V-DAY!!!

This is one of those spontaneous, random blog posts that I just couldn’t help but share….and just made the decision to share about 5 minutes ago.  Tonight, the night before Monday, a school day…the night before Valentine’s Day…it occurred to me that I had, yet again, failed as a parent.  I completely forgot to get my kids those stupid, cheap-o, Valentine class handouts.  You know the ones…they either come in 24 (which is probably one too little for the average school class) or 36 (which is too many, and you feel guilty for throwing the several access cards in the trash, but know you won’t have near enough to save and reuse next year).  Anyway…as an act of redemption, I told my kids we could whip up something super cool and unique, DIY style.  My sister, for years, has called me “Martha”, but actually I would like to think of myself as a hybrid of “Martha Stewart” & “MacGyver”.

(And if you are from a younger generation that doesn’t know MacGyver, I feel sorry for you.  He is a resourceful agent able to solve complex problems with everyday materials he finds at hand, along with his ever-present duct tape and swiss army knife.  Consider yourself educated.)

So…with the love of all things photography…here’s what we came up with using:  Scissors, a camera, printer, scrap pieces of scrapbooking paper (from ages ago when I used to have time for scrapbooking), glue dots, double-sided tape, ribbon, and candy

Niki wanted a special box or bag to take her treats to school in…and I had a bunch of really old Victoria’s Secret store bags, pretty pink…and I thought it would be super clever to flop a picture over the “Victoria’s Secret”…you know, to keep it secret. 🙂

Just as we had finished up our very first project piece, my mom dropped by.  Little flashback story….For as long as I can remember, my sweet mother has always given us something special for Valentine’s Day.  When I was a teenager, out late, sleeping in…I wouldn’t always see my mom at the beginning of the day on Valentine’s Day, BUT there would always be a little treat bag waiting for me to find (usually in the bathroom, since that’s the main home hangout as a teenage girl).  Now that I am grown, moved away, kids of my own…she still manages to give me little Valentine’s Day surprises.  Now, I’m guessing you’re jealous of me right about now.  Hey, hey…don’t hate. 🙂

Here’s what she dropped by to give me.

My sister should really start reading my blog…so that she can see the secret notes our mom leaves me.  I AM her favorite!  (ok, ok…so maybe my sharpie and I did some embellishing…but she’ll never know. hehe)

BTW, did anyone else used to make a specially crafted Valentine’s Day box?  When I was in elementary school, every year we would have an art project of making a box to collect our classmate’s Valentine’s treats.  Usually there would even be a contest and prize (extra recess time) for the most creative, most effort, and/or most unique.  That was always my favorite yearly project…and let’s just say I would let the nerd-factor multiple.  I would spend countless hours giving a kleenex box major bling (of course, that was back in the day the “Be-dazzler” was a hot item).   At least for my school it was something that EVERY kid got into.  I even remember one year, maybe 4th or 5th grade, a boy in my class (one of the non-athletic, brainiac types) made a 4ft tall, robotic Valentine collector box out of erector set type of pieces.  It was super cool…and duh, that kid won the contest.  I was thinking about that today because schools don’t do that anymore.  It’s sad that has disappeared over the years.  I know it could really inspire some imagination.

HAPPY Valentine’s Day ALL!