Reclaiming Valentine's Day

If I'm honest, I haven't always been a fan of Valentine's Day. I loved it as a kid. All the cute cards from classmates in those fun holders we'd make in art class. I'm sure even in those days we pretty much had to give one to everybody in our class or nobody, but I was young (naive? innocent?) enough not to be bothered by that fact back then. Between that and the chocolate I got - not only from my parents, but also from at least two aunts and my grandparents - it was a good day. I didn't get have any interest in examining it more deeply than that. I probably had the intellectual capability to see through it had I wanted to, given how precocious I was (I was the kid who could not understand why, at age 8, my peers would rather discuss tv show rather than politics), but I also somehow had the self awareness to realize I didn't to go there. It was only in grade 8 - oh the perils of junior high school - that I had little choice but to confront reality. 

I boycotted Valentines' Day - well, protested, though not loudly or fiercely enough to refuse the chocolate I still received (and continue to receive now) from my mother, even after the aunties and grandma dropped the holiday from their gift giving list - for a very long time. Then in 1998 I met a friend who reframed Valentine's Day for me. We had amazing talks about not letting marketers define what type of love matters, and for a while, at least, I gave Valentines' Day cards to friends. Of course, Hallmark caught on and our secret started to feel a little corrupted, so I gave it up for a while. 

This year, I'm reclaiming Valentine's Day again. I have a cousin who I adore who is 16 and dating. My brother and his wife have a little girl now. I have a lot of friends who have daughters I adore. I want them to feel good about themselves for who they are - not based on some false sense of worth that you get when you find the right man (or woman, for that matter, should any of them discover that to be the way they're oriented). They are beautiful children of God and I want them to love themselves for that - not because society says they're ok. 

So in that spirit, I didn't skip the valentine themed make & takes this year. I made the treat box at the grand opening of the scrapbook store that just moved here from up island. I also made a card there, but it's a different theme. Also, I messed it up, (no, really.... I sealed a part that wasn't meant to be sealed) so I want to try to salvage it before I show it. I made the card at the twoonie coffee & card the first Monday in February (had to do it that early, as they were closed for the Family Day stat on Monday, Feb. 10).

Project Details
Take Out Box
Cardstock: American Crafts
Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Card
Cardstock: Bazzill
Dies: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots); Sizzix
Other: Ribbon, rhinestones