Emancipation Day...

...or, The Holiday Formerly Known as Valentine's Day.

Let me explain.

I happened to have escaped a very bad relationship on the fourteenth of February a few years back. Prior, I'd always dreaded V-Day:

• Presents (because usually I simply feel awkward about receiving a present, picking-out an appropriate gift for the other...among other things).
• Chocolate (HIPS. 'nuf said)
• The general SAP factor

So. This year I decided to do something. Something crafty. And good. And kind. . .

        I'm becoming not only a Rav-Addict, but also an Etsy Addict...

                  So. When I heard about the project Special Delivery  on Etsy, I had to participate.

So today I surrounded myself with paper, ink, yarn, buttons, glue and ho

t-glue and had a total flashback to third grade.

Remember those Valentines

 we made in elementary? I remember, we decorated tissue boxes and turned them into V-Day Mail Boxes. I put so much effort into that dumb box: I painted pre-made wooden hearts in bright pinks, reds and dusky mauves; I plastered the thing with tinfoil and gaudy stickers. I think I thought it was legitimately pretty, too....

       And we made our cards. Er. I made my cards. Most people got the cheap boxed valentines from Target or Wal-Mart. Not me. 

I cut and pasted.

   I mean that in the scissor and glue way--this was

 199-something, folks.

I drew hearts, sprayed perfume on the construction paper.

Yes. 

Seriously.

         But today's effort seems a bit more successful:

My mother participated, too:

And all the V-Day Assembly and the thoughts of the elderly opening my handmade cards made me remember a kind little lady I knew once upon a time. So I sent her a special one: