Valentine smiles!

I got crafty this year and hand-made valentines for Julia to send to grandparents, aunts & uncles, and great-grandparents, and other such important people. And of course I made an extra one for the scrapbook!

I am trying to be thrifty in my crafting so I used some fun bathtime photos that I had already printed with the intention of mailing. I still have some red number 10 envelopes left from our wedding invitations (I had to buy 500) so I based the size on that. The piece with the greeting is actually trimmed off the end of the full valentine. The cool transparent paper was a free sample from a paper vendor (hint: secure it with clear 2-sided tape so it doesn't show). And the cute little heart was made with a paper punch that migrated to my home when I moved out (sorry Mom!).

Speaking of Mom, she was my inspiration for this project. She did something similar with photos of the three of us girls during my childhood. One year, each of our faces were flowers. Another year, we were each a scoop on an ice cream cone. I can remember specific photo shoots just for these valentines. And, if my memory serves me correctly, we got to help assemble and use the very same heart paper punch!