Sweets to the Sweet: a box of bookish valentines

When you were little, did your class decorate shoeboxes or paper bags for Valentine’s Day? And did you receive love notes from a special boy or girl who made your heart beat just a little bit faster?

For this swap, you are invited to fill a small decorated box or bag with valentines…signed by different book characters! Everyone will:

• festively decorate a 250-count matchbox or lunch bag (these indicate minimum sizes—containers may be larger if you wish)
• include your partner’s name or user name somewhere on the box or bag design
• include at least 6 small valentines that are handmade, vintage, or store-bought.
• each Valentine should be signed by a children's/YA book character, with a short, sweet salutation or message.

Valentines can even be as simple as the “penny valentines” that are meant for children, just so long as they are somehow related to your book. Be creative with your valentines and their sentiments, and try to choose/make valentines that have some significance to the related books, or at least generally pretty ones (ones from that time period, with flower themes, with beautiful poems, etc, etc). The main point is mostly to avoid things the sender would never actually use--that is, Gilbert Blythe would not be sending Anne Shirley a Dora the Explorer valentine. ;)

The majority of the valentines should feature illustrated cards, but you may certainly include one or two written letters from book characters instead if that is your preference.

Please join this swap only if you are very sure you can buy or make appropriate valentines in this theme...with all the images available online, this should be a pretty easy craft to do! This swap is also posted well in advance so that participants may plan ahead, with two weeks to complete the swap upon partner assignment.

The characters you choose should be ones that are meaningful to you, so you'll be sharing something you love with your partner. You will also receive a heartfelt little package from your partner that will hopefully surprise, amuse, and delight you!