Wendy's Jenky Valentine's Day Cards

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Last year on Valentine's Day I made pink hot chocolate and heart-shaped pancakes for my family. And I shared with you the BBB slogan. Botox Before Bills. Kind of a big day. But my kids' Valentine's Day cards last year? I mocked the lollipop cards that were all the rage and kept ours simple and inexpensive.

But this year, I decided to go for it. I always like to be at least a year behind on the trends. So forget the $3 sign-your-name here on the ninja/Barbie Valentine's Day cards from Target. Those are way too cheap and easy. This year I wanted to squander my money and make my life more difficult. And I wanted to repay the candy favor to all the parents who send my kids home with high fructose corn syrup treats for birthdays and whatnots. I was gonna do the lollipop cards.

I saw Kristen Howerton's instagram pic and then tutorial on her blog about these cards. Shoot, if she can do it, then so can I. She doesn't seem like the "I am addicted Pinterest and I pin crafts all day long" type. She juggles family, teaching, her own blog, writing for 58 websites and goes to a lot of places for free. If she can do it, then so can I. So will I. This is my year for crafting. (That last sentence is actually a lie and was used strictly for dramatic effect.)

I didn't have the white pole to match the sucker base and so there is no way I was going to make a trip to Home Depot to go buy a white plastic pipe just for matchy sake. So I grabbed an attachment from the vacuum cleaner and took my kids to our front yard. "Here, hold this thing. And make some kind of face. We're doing Valentine's cards with lollipops!" And for some reason, they were all in. I think what they heard me say was "Blah, blah, blah-LOLLIPOP-blah, blah, blah."

Then I spent way too long on my computer figuring out how to put text on the photos. (I have iphoto and no photoshop.) Then I bought the heart lollipops. Next I ordered the pics. Then a few days before go-time, I got word that there will be no candy allowed in Jordis's or Lydia's class.

That's okay, we all know I am a creative and crafty person. I don't even need Pinterest to figure out that I can shove a pencil in that vacuum attachment just as easily as I can do the lollipop trick. And when they have run out of girl pencils at Target I have no problem asking a Target manager to make an alternative suggestion. "We sell loopy straws in the food court. You could use those." Done and done.

So here is what you will need for Wendy's Jenky Valentine's Cards.

Jab, poke, and tape junk into and onto the card. If your jab is a little off of your vacuum attachment, who cares? (I realize my OCD/perfectionist friends just died a little on the inside.) Certainly not the kid who will receive it.
Boom.

Kristen suggested. . . "If you want to be a little less flimsy, you can use a glue stick and mount the photo to a piece of construction paper." Tried it. Lydia cut out a bunch of rectangles and even put a sticker on one of the lollipops. But I had to glue the pic on the paper and then put a heavy object on top of it all to keep it flat(ish) and so it would actually stay on the construction paper. That was a process I was not willing to embrace so I stuck with flimsville. Happy Valentine's Day neighbor Chloe. You are the only one receiving a non-flimsy card with a lollipop from Lydia.

Lydia's classmates . . . enjoy Wendy's Jenky Valentine's Days cards. 

If you are wondering what happened to Jordis, I had not ordered her photos yet so I decided to just order some cards with her pic on them on Costco's website. No assembly or signing of any kind required. Just hoping they get here on time. Cuz they told me Feb. 12-14 and I took the risk. Cuz I'm a risker taker. That's what I do. I take risks. Clearly.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all! May you not get caught up in the consumerism and chaos of Valentine's Day and remember it's true meaning. Wait a minute . . . what is the true meaning of Valentine's Day?

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