Let ye be burdened with Heart and Flower

LOVE is in the air. Love. Love Love. That four-letter word that makes the world go 'round. The Beattle's said,"All you need is love." Ali McGraw said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."
Aretha said, "L-O-V-E, find out what it means to me. Fool!" Actually, Aretha said something a little different. But you get the drift.

Duly noted. Last year was not our best Valentine's day. It was the day my mother's cancer took command central of her brain. Such a benign term for what the unpredictable cells did to her brain, "sugaring" as the oncologist called it. Microscopic sugaring of the cancer cells created such pressure on her brain she went into a seizure. She awoke at around 2 A.M. looked at my father and laughed, we rushed her to the hospital where she fell in and out of consciousness burning with fever.
We finally brought her home with the help of hospice, and on February 22, 2007, she left us. The year has flown since that day.
I was trying to decide which photo I was going to post for this blog. I'm creating a few funky Valentines in a technique I've never used before, and I thought that I would post photos of those.

Then, I remembered my secret stash of Valentine's candy. ( Yes, you knew this candy girl couldn't wait). But for some reason, my mind kept straying back to the clay dove and cherub I photographed in my mother's garden days after she died. I don't know why I took this photo, but it compelled me to. What was odd, was that my mother would have made sure the statuary wasn't full of mud. Perhaps that is why I took the photo. A rare opportunity to capture the blight on an angel. In a blink of an eye, or the snap of camera, everything gets out of focus. So, the cherub and dove won out over the red and pink chocolate foiled hearts and the homemade DIY Valentines.

This crafter is not going to bah humbug Valentine's Day, though. I like Valentine's Day, but I've never luuved it. St.Valentine would have wanted us to celebrate our affection and love for family and friends, by creating out own special Valentine's keepsakes and goodies, without the dictates of the retail world.

Did you happen to notice that this month's tunes have a theme? Yep, just listen. Who says this crafty blogger isn't in the cupids and candy spirit?

The Petaluma Craft Mafia doesn't really aim to break your heart. Okay, well perhaps just a wee little bit. It can feel kind of good. If you haven't had your heart broken, you need to live a little. The thing I do heart about Valentine's Day is that as much as I'm skeptical about the holiday itself, I enjoy so much designing stuff around it. See, I'm a die-hard romantic at heart, so my ambivalent feeling of Valentine's day surprise even me.

I'm working on a few Valentine's Crafts, one inspired by a commission I'm doing for a client. I will most likely post the Valentine's later. Anna is going to post something. She has a surprise. Well, it's not a surprise to me, see, because I"m on her team of official testers. It goes with the territory. Jeesh! :-)

I'm always curious to see what other people do for Valentine's Day, as Valentine's Day was never a particular favorite of mine growing up, so it's fun to see who gets excited about this particular day of hearts and flowers.
You could say I love Halloween, and I'm learning to like Valentine's Day. We were thinking of making rooster and heart cards, with a risque greeting. This is chicken and egg country , ya know. I nixed that idea, as I've done something similar to it before.

My thought was that the Petaluma Craft Mafia would kick the year off right with a big ol' Indie Have a Heart" Craft Show." Everybody feels we should wait until late spring. Tsssk. Okay, but next year we're gonna do a Valentine's Craft Show. It should put a spring in your step and a glow in your heart to anticipate this holiday with deep pagan roots. Randy villagers everywhere eagerly looked forward to St. Valentines Day. But you already knew that. It was the Roman Catholic church that put a 'kabosh' on the whole celebration of Valentine's Day, thinking it would have a devastating affects on the sanctity of marriage.

Until then, Valentine's Day is exactly one month away. What will you be doing? How do you spend your romantic day? Do you go out? Exchange tokens of luuuve? And in your secret heart of hearts, what do you really want for Valentine's Day?

Hey? I just got an idea to do a sweet little Valentine's goodie swap.... hmmmm.
Anybody crafty crafters game?

p.s. Lookout for stray bow and arrows!