valentine's countdown

The frame that we used for our Christmas advent calendar is still up on the wall.  I left it on purpose knowing that I'd find more uses for it.  I have been meaning to print some Instagram pics and rotate those out a few times a year.  But I haven't gotten to that yet. 

 

But for the next 2 weeks, we'll use it to help us countdown to Valentine's Day.  It took me just an hour or so to throw together, with all things I had on hand.

 

Here is what I used:

Martha Stewart Swiss Dot Card and Envelope Set  (I bought these for our Christmas advent calendar but used something else)

small paper doilies from walmart

 hearts hand cut out of red felt

and "love" scriptures printed from here  (although after I took these pictures I re-typed some of them in another translation).

 

If I was to do it again, I think I'd use mini kraft bags so I could put little treats in them.

 

 

I just folded the doily over the envelope and used a glue stick.  And then glued on the heart.  I didn't trim the doily, just left it as is, for simple and quick.

 

 

I only glued the doily on the back where the flap comes open, otherwise I would have glued it shut.

The envelopes came with the cute pink scalloped card, I used those to write notes to Taylor, and I cut plain white cardstock rectangles about the same size for Mason's.  When I took these pictures I hadn't thought about making a seperate card for Mason.  I was going to write a note to Mason on one side of the pink card, and Taylor on the other side.  But then I figured that the kids would want to keep their cards and "collect" them.  And that would obviously cause problems if their notes were written on the same card.  So in the end, I added the extra white card for Mason's notes.

 

 

So each envelope has a note for each kid, that says "We love you because...",

plus a "love" scripture that we will fold and glue to make a heart that we can link together to make a heart chain.

I didn't get a final picture with them hanging in the frame, so you can just check out my Christmas post if you need to see what it looks like.

 

I think the kids were a little dissapointed that it wasn't activity based, like it was for Christmas. But I think once they start reading their notes, they will love it and be anxious to hear the ways we love them each uniquely.

It would definitely be fun another year to add in tasks that help them show love to others too.  A great way to tie in the reason we give Valentine's to our friends and family.

 

This is the first time we've ever done a Valentine's countdown, so we'll see if it's a hit or not.

We may have a new tradition if so.  The only problem is that I only had 12 envelopes on hand, so we started today, February 3rd instead of the 1st.

 

And maybe after V-day, I'll finally get Instagram pictures put up!