love thursday bonus: simple photo valentine's day card for kids

So, last year, I read an idea for a photo Valentine's Day card for kids that I promptly forgot about.  This morning, I realized that I hadn't done anything to prepare for Alex's Valentine's Day party on Monday.

"Dude!  We need to make Valentines this weekend!" I said to Alex over breakfast.

"Yes, Mom," she said, barely hiding her impatience.  "We should do those ones you found on the web last year after Valentine's Day that we didn't get to do."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I responded, dumbly.  She sighed.

"Remember?"  And then she explained it.  And then I remembered.

And then I couldn't find the actual post or the original site.  But I think I remember how to do it, so in the event that you have kids in your house that need Valentine's cards, and you, like me, have waited until the last minute, here's a quick, fun, personal idea for making your cards.  And it shouldn't cost much at all.

First, take a photo of your kid, like the one I did of Alex, above.  Notice her outstretched fist:  this is important.  Make sure your kid's fist is exactly like Alex's:  as if she's holding a stick vertically in her hand, and not like she's about to give an uppercut to the jaw.

Also:  make sure that the fist in in focus.  It's not so important that your kid's actual face is in focus; in fact, it's preferable if it isn't, to lend to the 3D effect that we're going to be going for.

Once you've take the photograph, print out as many 4"x6" copies of the photo as there are children in his/her class.

Now here comes the fun part:

After you've printed the photos, take a knife or a pair of scissors, and cut two little slits above and below your child's fist, as shown above, in each printed photograph.  I'm going to make Marcus do this, because he's better with an X-acto knife than I am.   Then after you've done that:

... insert a lollipop into the two slits!  I haven't bought the lollipops yet, and I'm sure I'll go look for heart-shaped ones; however, Tootsie Pops or whatever you can find will work just as well. 

Frankly, I would be done with it here.  But the teacher sent home all the kids' names with Alex, so I'm thinking that they need to be personalized.  No worries! Here's what we're going to do:

We're going to go get some construction paper -- probably pink, maybe red -- and cut them into 5"x7" rectangles.  Then we're going to glue the photograph with the lollipop inserted onto the paper -- taking care not to actually glue the lollipop itself on the construction paper.  Does that make sense?  Basically, we want the lollipop to slide out easily, without ripping the photograph.  And then finally?

Alex will customize.

Should work, right?  When I finally do the real thing (probably on Saturday), I'll update this post with the finished product.  But for right now, I have to go buy a bag of lollipops.

Good luck!

Update:  Lauren, below, reminded me where I saw this first!  Here it is:  Lavish me with praise

Thanks, Lauren!