Valentines for a Car Lover

I saw this really fantastic idea for vehicle valentines over at Family Fun. Knowing that I have a car fanatic, I decided they were perfect.

A vehicle valentine for Linus's classmate.

 Here's how I set everything up during the now-sporadic nap time.

The crafting set-up.

I drew a "Go" line and a "Stop" line. I figured that a few traffic signals would help slow down the cars and keep them from racing their paint covered wheels right onto my dining room table. Of course, I still took precautionary measures and covered a large area with butcher paper.

For the cards, I used oversized index cards that I already had and folded them in half. For the paint, I again went with what I had and grabbed a bottle of dark brown acrylic crafting paint.

When Linus awoke, he was ready to dive (or should I say drive) right in.

Once they dried (about one Bob the Builder episode later), I grabbed a red marker and added the text.

Some of the phrases we used:

• You're a "wheely" good friend.
• I "wheely" love you.
• You're a "wheely" great teacher.
• "Wheel" you be my Valentine?

A few days later, after he had signed them all (and we'd mailed the family ones), we journeyed over to Foster's Market to pick up the car chocolates. Linus absolutely LOVES these chocolates, admiring them every time we are there.

He signed his own name.

The chocolate cars are attached with some double-sided, foam tape tabs. I did that step on my own, although it was simple enough Linus could have helped (if it hadn't been past bedtime.)

I gotta say, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. They clearly represent Linus's interests, have zero commercialization, and definitely required his participation. Plus, making our own saved having to drag Linus into Target risking the possible temper fit as we hurried past the toy section.

The completed vehicle valentines.

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How about you? Did you make your own Valentines or did you opt for the less messy, store-bought route? Do you like to get your craft on for Valentines Day?