Pre-School Valentines

Pre-school valentines? Check. And here is what we did if you want to copy: first, I drew some hearts on a sheet of paper and Beeper colored them in his typical rainbow approach to coloring (I am so glad he has finally moved beyond his "orange phase" when only one color crayon in the box existed and all pictures had to be all orange, all the time).
Then I came across these little coloring cards on Etsy. They are by Little Brown Pen who makes all manner of cards, stationary, calendars and paper-based whatnot designs that are downloadable in a pdf format so you can make as many copies as you want, whenever you want, for whomever you want (and this is my official plug for Little Brown Pen--it is one of my new faves on Etsy--I love these rainy day recipe cards and the Little Brown Pen blog that covers her life as a copywriter living in Paris, eating macaroons, exploring castles with her children, and just generally making you dream about having her life--or maybe that is just my own issue...). You see, I just did not want to give a lollipop or a plastic trinket that would end up in the landfill in 5 minutes but would remain there bio-degrading for the next 12 bazillion years. Faced with the half-life of plastics or corn syrup based treats, well, coloring cards seemed like a damn good option. So, yeah, the coloring cards with 9 simple but charming designs on one sheet that you can cut apart and disperse for immediate coloring distraction--one set for every kid in the class was printed and cut up into these adorable little cards (that may also end up in the landfill, but will at least begin bio-degrading tomorrow and be compost in a few weeks time).
Then began the work of assembling the valentines--we scanned in Beeper's heart coloring and I put a smarmy little valentine's message on it , then printed it in a reduced size on full page size mailing labels--4 to a page (available at Office Depot--the mailing labels have the most sticking power of any sticky-label paper thing I have found so far, just so you know) and stuck those to these lovely pink pocket enclosures I found on clearance at Paper Source this week (they are on sale on the website too, found here). And by the way, Paper Source? So love it. Always have, always will. I have this thing about paper--so much potential waiting to be unleashed in a ream of paper--and walking into a whole store of paper , well it is almost more than my heart can take.So, the coloring cards got stuffed into the pocket enclosures, then slapped another Valentine's message inside the card so the kids would know what to do with the cards (color, dammit, color!). And finished it all up with a homemade heart sticker to seal the card (again, drawing scanned in, re-sized, printed in multiples on mailing labels and cut out and stuck to the cards). Done. And I will be back later this week with more reporting from the front lines of Valentine's Day cuz I have so many plans I have Necco conversation hearts coming out of my...well, you know.