If I haven’t expressed my enthusiasm for Valentine’s Day enough, let this post serve as another reminder because we are hosting a handmade Valentine exchange! Ye haw! What’s a Valentine exchange?! Let me tell you all about it below!
Materials:
In the mad rush of the holidays, I was looking ahead to Valentine’s Day, as one does. I was thinking about something we could do as a community to share in the love and showcase our mad making skills and thought about a Valentine exchange–it would be perfect!
When we first moved here to Utah (about ten years ago now!), I was invited to an in-person Valentine exchange (funny how you have to clarify these things like that these days). I made these leather heart pouches and met some of my now closest friends there. It was such an important event and I loved seeing what everyone made.
I thought it might be nice to do in with our dear Lars community because if anyone can make a mean Valentine, it’s you! But even if you aren’t a “maker”, you’re still invited to participate.
Victorian Puzzle Purse
This year we are thrilled to announce the Second Annual Lars Valentine Exchange. Last year we had hundreds of fellow creatives join in making a handmade Valentine. It was too much fun, so we had to repeat it. We announced it over on Instagram on Thursday (do you follow us there?!) and today is the last day to sign up on our form over here.
We also made this beautiful printable Victorian puzzle purse to serve as inspiration for it. And the good news is that you can print it off and make it yourself (available here)
What’s a Valentine Exchange?
A Valentine exchange is just what it sounds like: you make a handmade valentine and someone else makes a valentine and you will exchange them. Simple enough? Ha! 
How will the valentine exchange work?
- First, fill out this form indicating that you would like to participate by Sunday, January 21st.
- W will email you you a name and address via email of one person to send a handmade Valentine to.
- You will receive one Valentine in the mail from someone else.
- We will also be sending a discount code to our Valentine shop in case you’d like to use any of our templates for it.
What should you make for a Valentine Exchange?
The big question–what to make! This is really up to you! You can go as big or a simple as you want to go. The goal here is to share the love! It’s not a competition! Whatever you think you would be excited to receive is probably what other people would also like to receive.
If you’re still stumped, I put together this handmade Valentine card list with some great ideas to get you going. You can also check out our Valentine Pinterest board for more inspiration.
Note about Valentine’s Day
Last week on Insta stories I asked about your favorite Valentine’s Day traditions. A lot of of people wrote in saying how much they despised Valentine’s Day because it made them feel sad and lonely. I totally get it. It can be triggering. While I totally think that we should talk about that and hold space for it, I also want this to be a space where we can all express a shared love, independent from romantic love. In fact, I’ve totally disassociated it from romantic love because I think it should be a day to say “hey, you exist and I love you”. To me, it’s about caring and sharing.
I realize it may not mean the same thing to everyone, but I think that’s precisely why we need this!
Share in the love
I think it will be very cool to see what people are making and where they are making it from. Tag any process photos or video along with your final card with #LarsValentineExchange so we can all see it happening. I’m so excited to see where everyone is from and what you’re making!
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