Get Carded: Valentines For Vets!

Hello! It's the 1st of February today, which for me means another crafting session of Valentines for Vets. For the past several years now, I've made cards for the Valentines for Vets program. The cards then get sent to a regional veterans' hospital for  distribution to some of the deserving folks there. 

Here's a portion of the valentines I crafted:

All the cards began with white card stock bases, then squares cut from various papers (scrapbook, altered pages from vintage books, or printed examples of wallpaper designs) were affixed to the card stock. Heart-shaped yo yos I'd made from vintage fabrics were glued to the squares. Lastly, I glued round or heart-shaped pearl buttons (the buttons came from a thrift store lampshade)to the yo yos and stamped the word "Heart" below each decorated square. 

A few close-ups:

Printed wallpaper design paper, yo yo heart, round pearl button

Altered page from 1950's home model book, yo yo heart, heart-shaped pearl button

Altered page from 1930's gardening book, yo yo heart, round pearl button. 

I started the project by picking out the yo yo fabrics from an assortment of vintage quilt squares. Then after making the yo yos, I had the fun of mixing and matching them with various papers. I like playing with paper, I like playing with fabrics - and for these Valentines for Vets, I got to do both!

The only problem with using the yo yos is that they added considerable bulk to the cards. If I was mailing these out individually, I'd likely need a padded mailer for each valentine. I don't think these would go through a sorting machine very well if sent in a regular envelope. 

But since my cards are all going to the same address (a regional VA hospital), I'll just stick these cards in regular envelopes, then put all 24 in a large padded mailer. The added bulk from the yo yos will be no problem when sent out that way.

And even though it took time to craft these valentines, that was not a problem either. I am glad to do this every year for our veterans!

If you'd like to learn more about the Valentines for Vets program, go here.