Katy Brown is a wife, mom and part-time super-hero. She lives in a humble, cozy home with her SuperHub and three adorable kids. This is her blog.
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Feb 09
Tuesday
My Silly Little Valentine
Today was a snow day. At 6:30 am I was grateful. By mid morning I was certifiably crazy.
The solution: Making the kids take off the headphones I didn’t know they had on for two hours. No wonder no one was responding as my yelling reached record volumes. They were enjoying Bob Marley, Grateful Dead and Jack Johnson as I was pondering WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?
As we restarted our day with a fresh outlook, we decided to tackle Valentine’s Day card making for Cooper’s class. We had purchased the traditional wild animal tattoo valentines at the store over the weekend. Yet, the other night as we toyed around with Sparkbooth software, we decided we could do something a little more silly.
All we needed was some time.
Enter Mother Nature.
We started with coloring signs: Happy, ♥ and Day. Then Cooper wrote out the name of each of his classmates and teachers on single sheets of paper. Soon it was time for him to get gussied up in the outfit of his choosing. Red collard shirt, brown corduroy hat. Love that kid.
In the Sparkbooth software, you can choose your preferred layout. We chose 4 squares, stacked 2 x 2, with a black base. We took 24 sets of photos. The 3 signs, then each of the 21 names.
It took lots of giggles, jokes and silly banter to keep the smiles genuine and delightful but we got the job done. All told, it took about 8 minutes.
I opened one file in Microsoft Paint and made a master copy that contained 3 of the 4 squares. Then I copy and pasted one frame with each name and saved them as individual files.
The end result was 21 adorable, personalized files. I uploaded them to KodakGallery.com and had them printed 1 hour at CVS. We picked them up, along with a pack of Metallic Silver Sharpies and headed home so Cooper could sign his name to each card.
The result was a set of sweet and silly valentines, that Cooper is proud of, for $4.83 plus the cost of the Sharpies.
The fun we had in the process almost erased my memories of our rough start to the day.
I said almost.
- Posted By: Julie
These are so cute!! Cooper, you did such a great job!! i love your handwriting and I especially love the hat!!!!!!
- Posted By: Sara
These are adorable. Great job Cooper and Katy!
- Posted By: Lori
So unbelievably cute & creative! Love it! :)
- Posted By: Katy
Julie – Cooper will love to read your message over his cereal in the morning! Thank you!
- Posted By: Katy
Thanks girls! It’s SUPER easy. It’s not too late to do it for your kiddos too! Or you. The software is free for 10 days and you can learn as you go. It’s such a fun little idea.
- Posted By: Mimi
ok..so I wish my 5th grader was a little more enthusiastic,young and innocent again to try this….my instructions were..” Can you pick up some valentines for me mom…any kind will do, Thanks…”
They look great and thanks for sharing!
- Posted By: Renae
those are awesome and you’re so creative! I love the ideas you come up with, just wish I had more time to try them all out! Thanks for sharing.
- Posted By: Luke
I am going to cover my whole store in Valentines.
- Posted By: Nicky
Another brilliant idea! And Cooper looks so dapper in his hat!
- Posted By: Mandy
Could those be any cuter? And Cooper in that hat?? Oh Tres’ Adorable.
I too spent half of yesterday knee deep in construction paper and glitter with the kiddos…there is something about a homemade Valentine that I just love. However- on step 4 of the 7 step robot Valentines for Max’ class- I almost cried. True Story.
- Posted By: Katie
What a fabulous idea!! Now I feel lazy for just getting the transformer cards. Cooper looks so cute in the photos.
- Posted By: Katy
Hahaha, oh the torture we put ourselves through to make Valentine’s cards for school! Mandy, that is hilarious. :) Really truly, this whole process took less time than one might think. If Mother Nature hadn’t dumped buckets of snow on us, I wouldn’t have gotten it done either. It’s a great project for any holiday or just because. No Mom Guilt Allowed! Don’t feel lazy for getting Transformer cards, Katie. Those are the ones that I find under my kids pillows a week later. They adore receiving them from friends and that is what is important. Happy love day to you all! (A little early.)
- Posted By: Sarah
You are so stinking creative and adorable! I love this idea and I love Cooper’s outfit, smiles and cards. I might TRY to copy this idea . . . if I can muster up some creativity.