Playworks sells toys that invite play and enhance early childhood development [fun for all ages]

According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of greeting cards sent each year in the United States are Valentine's, making this celebration second only to Christmas as a card sending holiday. Wonder if these stats apply to e-cards too.

Nowdays, sadly, most Valentine's are commercially made, yet what better way to declare our devotion than by taking time to make our own? Possibilities are endless. Use paper or cardboard and crayons, markers, or pencils, watercolors or poster paint. Think beyond sheets of paper, consider envelopes, lunch bags, even small gift boxes. Decorate these, then create and tuck a special heart inside for your Valentine to discover.

Use rubber stamps or make your own stamp by slicing a potato in half, cutting an outline of a heart~or any shape that tickles your fancy~on the exposed potato, then carefully cutting away the excess to reveal your shape. Pour liquid acrylic paint into a pie pan, dip your stamp into the paint just enough to cover the shape you carved, and stamp out impressions.

Other materials afford additional opportunities to experiment and create unique treasures for our Valentines. Gather scraps of fabric, felt, ribbon, lace, and yarn, buttons, beads, sequins, and glitter, even feathers. Nuts and bolts work too.

Explore your natural environment for more materials~acorn tops and acorns, tiny pine cones or pine roses, a sprig of lavender, a piece of bark, bits of twigs, shells or pebbles. All these glue easily onto cardboard, a block of wood, or, my favorite, a circle cut from a fallen tree limb.

Adults and children alike can enjoy discovering what happens from gathering a variety of materials, checking inhibitions that hinder creativity, and diving in. The results will amaze and delight you and that special someone who will surely treasure his/her unique, one-of-a-kind Valentine. [If not, then figure there's no accounting for taste, and revel in the joyful act of being creative. My 90 year old mother, who hand quilts one-of-a-kind baby blankets, follows this rule. Whenever I announce that I know so and so~the designated recipient of the in-process quilt~will be absolutely delighted, she invariably says she hopes so, adding if they don't like it, they can just give it back. Then she'll give it to someone who will enjoy it. In her 35 years of quilting, no one has ever been anything but delighted with her quilts and touched by her generosity. Still, should that change, she has a plan. We would all do well to learn from her.

We at Playworks wish you a love filled Valentine's Day. As always we're eager to hear from you. Anyone sharing pics of homemade Valentines will receive a bright red Playworks market tote. It's reusable and handy for gathering supplies. St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. You could surprise someone with a one-of-a-kind greeting then too.