cheap kid's valentine's day cards

Bring on all of the bits and pieces of lace, ribbon, beads and baubles, including old broken jewelry. It's a veritable Valentine's Day blizzard of "stuff" to stick on construction paper.

Of course there is the basic shape. You start the project by going to the stationary store and buying a box of small envelopes. Then get a package of pink, white and red construction paper and cut a rectangle twice the width of the envelope and exactly as high. Fold the construction paper in half and you have a bare card template. If you have scissors that cut deckle edges, trim away for a fancier look.

Most kids love to paint and a very cute idea is to do thumb print creatures. First talk about a scene your child will create - this is so that the placement of the print will be in approximately the right spot. Put a little acrylic paint out on a saucer (it washes off easily). Have your child roll his thumb in it just like he was having his fingerprint done. That's just what it is. Then have him carefully roll it on the face of the card. When it's dry, use a black Sharpie to make it into something. It can be a cathead if you add ears, a nose, whiskers and eyes. If it's up in the air, it's a butterfly. These are easy for little one. You may have to do the final outline, but that makes it a Parent & Me project.

You can use the same prints to put two side-by-side, and use the Sharpie to make them into a heart. Do pinky dots around the border of the card. If you want to introduce your little one to actually brush painting, get a grass brush - looks like a fan and it is easy for them to paint "grass" on a card. If your child is old enough, teach him or her a few basic brush strokes and stand back and let the magic flow.

For those who are more comfortable with glue, let them cut pretty paper into geometric shapes and past them on. After they are all stuck tight, give your child some glitter to brush the edges. Use heart stickers to fill in spaces.

You might want to go on an "embellishment" hunt around your house. Surprisingly, there are things to find in the pasta bin - curlicues of painted spirals are very cute. Lentils, flax seeds, alphabet pasta all add up to a different look on a card. If you saw how they made the Rose Bowl Parade floats, it was all out of everything from seeds to broccoli heads on those huge projects. In this case, as long as it's dry and small enough. It should work out well.

Look for scraps of cloth, shiny, slubby, and silky even. These can be cut into shapes or draped across the page along with different types of yard or bits of ribbon. I have a whole bag of leather scraps I'm intending to do something with, some day. They are gold and pink and would be fabulous as an embellishment. Surely the local fabric store has something like this on the remnant aisle.

Lace is the ultimate in luxe for the Valentine card. It stands alone of course, or it can be temporarily attached to the card so that it is a pattern template. Get a sponge tipped pounce brush - the type they use to do stenciling - load it with paint and pounce it on the lace. Let it dry and when you lift the lace off, the pattern beneath is painted lace. Again, tidy up the edges with your Sharpie. Go look for glittery beads or rhinestones to glue on too.

If your child has pictures with classmates, make that a personal part of the Valentine, and if that isn't possible, get out the camera and take pictures of your child making the card for that person and holding up the finished product. It makes a nice way to cover the inside facing page.

Now for the inside sentiment - you could just have your child print out his or her name, but older kids need to write something. If you can't think of an original yourself, go on line and Google Valentine quotes. Read them to your child and have him pick out something that works. Then, have him paraphrase it into something personal. It's a lot of writing, which is good, and a lot of thinking which is better.

Notice that I never said to put candies in the card or use them as embellishments. If they are glued on, you know the recipients will eat them off glue and all. Besides, they are lumpy in the envelope and everyone else will be giving them away. Be different and avoid them.

This is the time to get started on the cards. If you wait until February 1, it puts a lot of pressure on your child to whip out a classroom full of cards. Better than just tossing a shoebox of embellishments at your child and walking away, make you own with him and it will be a memory forever. And don't forget to take pictures.