Valentines For You!

Download the PDF here

I’ve been doodling little characters in my sketchbook lately and thought they’d make for pretty darn cute Valentines. I hate the cheesy 5 dollar cards you see this time of year, so instead my boys are going to be getting these little notes tucked into their pockets and lunches on the big day. I thought you might enjoy them too, so feel free to download the PDF and print ’em out yourself!

printed on card stock & cut out

I’m not one to go all out with big romantic gestures on the 14th, mostly because I like to think of myself as too cool of a chick to fall for such a commercial holiday, but after being in a relationship for 9 years, I now appreciate Valentine’s Day for what it is – a reminder to take a moment to think about the people you love. This doesn’t necessarily have to be romantic love; some of the longest lasting & most rewarding love stories are ones between good friends, sisters, hell even our pets! I still think society in general puts far too much emphasis on the entire notion of coupling, but once you’re in that couple, it’s a lot of work. Day in, day out there are a million tiny moments that come with sharing your space with another person who doesn’t share your exact brain & hormones & emotions that have the potential to lead to a fight. Or an eye roll. Or a snotty tone. It’s remarkably easy for people who have been together a long time treat each other worse than they would ever treat a complete stranger.

So, I think it’s kind of nice to take a day to remind ourselves that love can be silly and fun and yes, romantic too. That it’s worth it be to kind and gentle with each other. And that sometimes it’s worth it to cut out a simple paper heart and give it to someone who makes you smile.

Edited to add: If you’ve never downloaded a PDF before, you may need to install a program to open it. The most common (& free) one is Adobe Acrobat.