Love Notes & Valentines— A Community Creative Project

Get out your markers and glue sticks...and post your valentine on our "Community Love Notes & Valentines? Pinterest Board.

Hi Everyone

Because February is all about love in all its many forms, this is a community creative project to celebrate all the many things and people in our lives that we love. I’ve created a Special Pinterest Page for us to post simple valentines addressed to someone or something we love.

I don’t know if you remember giving Valentines as a kid. I do. I remember going to the local five and dime store called G.L. Perry’s, a place that carried nearly everything a kid could imagine: rakes, hand saws, bobbins and buttons, bins of rubber snakes and comic books, mixing bowls and egg beaters, hamsters and goldfish and in February displays of red boxes filled with enough valentines for an entire room of classmates. I remember how our teacher had us decorate shoe boxes, cutting a slot in the top for our classmates to drop in envelopes. It was the 1960’s so we were supposed to give a valentine to every person, no one would be left out. I think a lot of boys had their mothers help them, just signing their names and no mushy stuff. But all the girls I knew would carefully study the little cards and decide who got the puppy or teddy bear or kitten or duck, and each perfect valentine signed with “2 sweet, 2 be, 4 gotten”. I love the idea of a special holiday devoted to being simply nice to one another. My mom always got a box of chocolates and my father would take her on a grown up date to a local Italian restaurant, I would smile as I watched her put on her red dress, comb her still black hair and dab a little Channel no.5 on her wrist, behind one ear, and at the base of her throat. We also make handmade valentines out of red construction paper, crayola crayons, paper doilies, and elmer’s glue for our teacher, no pre-made valentine for Mrs. Golden or Mrs. Frances would do.

So today, in the spirit of community, kindness and simple but heartfelt expressions of love, we’re making valentines for one another…kind of like we did as children. So get out paper and glue and markers and glitter and have some fun getting in touch with your inner little kid creativity.

Project!

I hope you will feel free to create your own Valentine addressed to anyone or anything you love. It can be a particular person, or it can be for nature, or music, to books or librarians or raspberry jelly, or hope or kindness or dogs or just anything you love.

There is no pressure here, you can get as elaborate or simple as you’d like, whatever you do, take a phone photo and upload it to our shared Pinterest Page. There are some ideas and pdf templates if you need a starting place.

The point is simply to experience expressing the many things and people we love in a fun and creative way.

Or you can just enjoy the gallery and all the love expressed. Its up to you…but I kind of hope you’ll join the pinterest board because..well because I think it will make you smile…and oh we need humor and love and taking risks for love in this moment in history :-)

A Private Gathering Of Spirits Pinterest Page is now live for our love notes and Valentines. To Access the page,click the link or button below.

You can see my valentines AND you can add your images!