The other day I was chatting with one of my twin daughters about Valentine’s Day and all the fun we’ve had in the past making up special treats and cards for their classmates over the years. Over here in Italy (and I think generally in Europe) Valentine’s Day is a day reserved for couples and adults and not something kids celebrate like in North America. So even though my kids have always been one of the few that celebrate it in school it has still become a lovely yearly tradition to make something together for their friends.
This year we decided to make simple cards with sewn paper buntings that have little hidden messages. Easy, quick and fun for kids of just about any age.
This is all you need to make these sweet little cards. I used glassine for the actual bunting paper so that you can see the pretty patterned paper through it. If you don’t have glassine paper any type of paper would be fine.
I cut the glassine paper in long strips and folded it in half to have a square piece of paper. I then sewed the pieces of glassine squares together with the sewing machine (making sure the folded edge is on the bottom). This way the glassine paper is sewn on the top, closed by the fold on the bottom and open on the two sides (to make it easier to slip in the small pieces of paper with message on the back).
After sewing the bunting together we slipped in little square pieces of paper with our special messages on the back. Seeing as the glassine is open on both sides the messages are easy to slip in and out. We then simply attached the sewn paper bunting to our cards with tiny heart stickers (pieces of washi would also be nice).
Now to come up with all the short little messages to go inside. Some of my favourites that my kids have suggested for their classmates are: ‘you have nice handwriting’, ‘you are pretty smart’, ‘you have the best snacks’ and ‘you don’t smell’. Let’s hope their romantic sides develop a little more in the years to come.
Jillian In Italy 