Valentines: A Roundabout Story

When I started thinking about Valentines way back in December, ideas about using candy conversation hearts immediately came to mind. By the way, it is a BEAR trying to find conversation hearts for inspiration's purpose in December.

I debated whether to photograph them, paint them, or draw them. Turns out the original brand of hearts are very shoddily print. 

These were the best of the bag. Eeps.

Also, I didn't realize the hearts are made with new sayings every year. I knew I definitely wanted to use some of the older ones like Fax Me and Page Me so the fact that those weren't printed anymore solidified the desire to paint the hearts vs photographing them.

Now that I knew what I was doing, I made a lot of doodles in my handy-dandy notebook.

...some of which eventually came to life:

My Call Me, Maybe Valentine celebrates the single life -- the inside reads:

heehee... :)

I also made a conversation heart valentine for soul mates:

The idea behind the Old School Love Valentine is that you feel so sad for poor Fax Me. He's old news, he got left behind. But, then! You open the card and discover he found true love with Page Me. (And presumably lives happily ever after.)

I love how both of them turned out!

I originally planned on three conversation heart valentines because...because, well, three is a nice number. But, I didn't like any of my other doodles as much as these two and I didn't want to put out a card that I didn't love so...two it is!

Here's where my theme veers off-course.

With February quickly approaching, I was suddenly in a flamingo frame of mind -- and I decided to make a flamingo valentine as well. Why not?? 

Inspired by this top-hatted fellow...

...I thought it would be cute if the valentine flamingos were dancing.

My mind is a scary-crazy-wonderful place.

I polled my friends for iconic music moments and the Addicted to Love video by Robert Palmer was suggested.

YES.

So was born the Addicted to You Valentine:

Aaand since I already threw a wrench in my candy-conversation-heart theme with the flamingos, I might as well change this year's theme to Smorgasbord -- I'm feeling it! -- and put out another valentine completely out of left field:

To be fair my Faded Beauty card isn't really a valentine -- it's blank inside so you can use it for any occasion you wish. Valentine's Day, engagement, wedding, Mother's Day, back-to-school, President's Day...it's your choice!

That sums up my Candy Conversation Heart Smorgasbord Valentines. I'm extra pleased -- dare I say, even chuffed -- with how they all turned out. Hope you love them too!