I’ve mentioned before that all the children in our lives live far away. My family moved away from our extended family when I was four, so I know how it feels when a relative sent me something in the mail. Mostly I received birthday cards from my grandmothers, with a bit on money tucked inside, but I distinctly remember the year that my father’s mother mailed us each a valentine. I thought that was pretty cool.
Anyway, I try to send our nieces and nephew and my cousin’s children some snail-mail to commemorate various holidays, if only to let them know that we are thinking of them with love.
So for this Valentine mailing, I sent them some cards from this neat reproduction Valentine book that I picked up on ebay a few years ago. It was published by Golden Books in 2006 and is filled with charming copies of valentines from years gone by. Being a keen vintage paper collector, I was happy to find this book so I could send something with a vintage look, but not have to part with any of my original cards. In fact, I have some of the cut-and-paste envelopes that are reproduced in this book, in their true original form.
I won’t show you any of the actual valentines in the book because I’m planning a post for next week showing you some of my favourites of the real vintage ones I have, and I don’t want to overload you with images of valentines! But um, ok, I will show you this one, because it is so darned cute.
One part of the vintage valentines that I particularly find charming are the little stamps they used to provide, that children would cut out and glue to envelopes that they would be hand delivering. So I made my own reproduction of some by scanning some from an original vintage sheet and printing them up.
Since I would be mailing to households that included more than one child, I personalized the valentine for each of them by including a small hand-written note and putting them into a small envelope. I made the envelopes by completely opening up an old used one I had, and then tracing it onto a sheet of paper. I then cut them out, scored the fold lines and folded. I didn’t go so far as to glue them, rather using a sticker to seal them shut.
I like this heart-strewn notepad as it will be handy for leaving little love-notes around the house too!
And since I think it’s better for such things to arrive before the holiday rather than after. I popped out in the massive snow storm to mail them on Friday. Here is a shot of the storm when it was only about half way through. I’m not a huge fan of winter but one thing I do like doing is going out during snow storms. It is like you’re on a different planet. Mind you, I certainly would never be walking along in it bare headed like this lady was. I can’t help but wonder why she didn’t pull that warm looking hood up.
Thank you for visiting. I hope you’re having a great Sunday.
loulou
The storms are lovely in a way, aren’t they? So great that you send snail mail to the kids in your life. My daughter sent some things off to relatives in the mail too. Her idea. People are so happy to get something special in the mail. I know I am! :)
Isn’t it lovely to get something in the post, other than bills. These are so thoughtful and pretty. Take care in those snow storms.
oooh love this!!!! xO!
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I love the little deers! It’s so fun to get mail when you are a kid. I am sure your nieces and nephews are thrilled!
Those Valentine’s cards are lovely, the deer is such a sweetie, can’t wait to see more.
What a clever idea with the recycled envelopes, too. They look so exciting, I bet the kids will be beside themselves when they pop through the letterbox.
Bare headed in the snow! Some people are very odd. x
Love these cards so much !!
Really need to buy a few as well haha
xxxx
They look lovely, I’m sure the children will love them
Love these cards! They totally remind me of my childhood and the ones I received/handed out in school, one of my best memories of school and growing up.
Oh, love snail-mail! I try to send cards on Xmas and bdays. Maybe I should also consider other holidays ‘cos today I got a surprise card from a friend and it just made my day!
xx Kaisa
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Vintage stationary is the best. I’m always on the lookout for old cards in the charity shops. Valentine’s Day isn’t really a tradition in Germany, but I always loved the idea of sending love letters to people without revealing your identity. Happy Valentine’s Day!