I was sitting at my kitchen table last Sunday, staring at a blank piece of construction paper. Valentine’s Day’s coming up, right? Wanted to make something special for my parents instead of buying those cheesy drugstore cards. Remembered Mom always kept our kindergarten finger paintings and Dad still has that popsicle stick frame I made in third grade taped to his work laptop. Figured homemade stuff hits different for parents.
Gathering the Junk
First, I raided my kid’s craft drawer like a raccoon in a dumpster. Found:
- Red construction paper (half crumpled from last Thanksgiving turkey project)
- Dried-out markers that probably belonged to Moses
- Glitter glue tubes looking crustier than a day-old donut
- Old buttons from that shirt I threw out three moves ago
Realized I needed more legit supplies, so I drove to Dollar Tree. Grabbed:
– White cardstock
– Heart-shaped doilies (looked kinda lace-ish, thought Mom would dig)
– Gold ribbon (fancy-shmancy)
– Mini envelopes
The Actually Making Part
Card 1: Button Heart Explosion
Started simple – cut cardstock in half, folded it hamburger-style (yeah, like third grade art class). Grabbed a pencil, drew a fat heart outline. Then dug through the button jar. Found pink ones, red ones, even a weird purple one shaped like a cat. Dabbed glue on the back of each button, stuck ’em inside the heart outline like a mosaic. Pressed down hard ’cause some buttons were jerks about sticking. Wrote “Love You to BUTTONS!” inside with that half-dead red marker.
Card 2: Doily Disaster Turned Win
Tried gluing a lace doily onto red paper – looked like a fancy tea party invite. Too boring. Cut out the center heart, glued THAT to white cardstock. Then took the ribbon, made a squiggly line under it. Big mistake. Looked like a worm. Salvaged it by cutting mini hearts from the leftover doily edges, glued them along the ribbon like a trail. Inside wrote “My heart’s all tangled up with yours.” Cheesy? Yeah. Parent trap? Absolutely.
Card 3: Kid Style Throwback
Got reckless. Remembered Mom’s fridge gallery. Dunked my thumb in washable pink paint, smacked prints on paper making heart shapes. Added googly eyes above one thumbprint heart. Drew stick arms holding hands under my masterpiece. Scribbled “Love U!” with sparkle glue that shot out like a glitter shotgun blast. Wiped my thumb on jeans. Worth it.
The Big Reveal
Mailed ’em out Wednesday. Got a call yesterday – Mom was sniffly. Said Dad put his button card next to his coffee maker “to see every dang morning.” Apparently the thumbprint one’s on the fridge covering a grocery list. Made my kid-style mess for 10 minutes? Parent jackpot for weeks? Yeah. Moral: Don’t overthink it. Just grab crap around your house and smush it together with glue. Parents eat that up like free samples at Costco.
