download – Page 4 – Sanae Ishida

February 12, 2014

Valentine’s Word Search

For some reason, K’s school hasn’t allowed Valentine’s exchanges in past years. This has been hugely disappointing for me because I LOVE making Valentine’s. As with any holiday involving cards and sweets, I get completely jazzed while K looks on with a jaded expression, resigning herself to yet another craft project gone bonkers.

This year, still inexplicably, her school is allowing its first ever Valentine’s exchange. I am beyond excited. I created this word search card, thinking it would be perfect for second graders. K nixed it, unfortunately, saying that it’s too easy. Perhaps you’d like it for your less opinionated kiddos? There are four per page with fourteen words to be hunted down. Initially I wanted to include vintage-looking pencils (something similar to those tiny pencils you get at IKEA, but cuter) but I couldn’t find any locally. These small markers were $2 per 10-pack, making them easy on the wallet. That’s gold washi tape, but I should use something with a little more pizzaz/pattern.

Here’s what they look like on the sheet, and there’s a convenient download button below.

So I’m back to square one. K loves the bookmarks, but wants them to be less lovey-dovey. We’ll probably just end up stamping a bunch. I don’t have time for it this year, but next time I may just revisit the scratch-off idea. That was fun! We also did some potato stamping a long time ago, and that was fantastic too:

How about you? Are you getting V-day cards ready?

January 29, 2014

Valentine’s Bookmarks Download

Still not indestructible in spite of the wonderful soup. However, I’m feeling more human and I’ve been procrastinating using some paints and doodling with Valentine’s Day on my mind. And what do I like to do when I have a bunch of sketches? Make bookmarks, of course. How are these different from the tags I’ve made before, you may ask? They’re not, but I thought they would sound fancier as bookmarks. They’re multi-purpose (case in point: K insisted on wearing one as a necklace)! Plus, maybe you’re not as scatter-brained as we are, but we’re always losing bookmarks around here — which is very inconvenient in a book-obsessed home — so it’s handy to have multiples.

This one’s my favorite, mainly because I love the wreath with the leaf ribbon. I’m also pretty darn smitten with all the food ones. I know, I know, watermelons are so not Valentine’s, but they’re fun to paint. And who can resist a little e. e. cummings? Just for kicks, I tried out different ribbons and leather cords:

I hope you like them! There are even more designs/colorways. You can see the full sheet below, and if you click on the image, you can download the tags. Oops, I mean bookmarks.

Okay, back to sewing – enjoy the download for personal use!

P.S. The book up there is Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, and so far, it’s awesome.

P.P.S. How are your Secret Valentine gifts coming along? Let us know if you have any questions or would like us to communicate anything to your partner!

January 22, 2014

Secret Valentine Exchange Updates + Valentines Download

Ute and I are thrilled with the response we’ve gotten from the Secret Valentine Exchange! We have 39 participants (quite the international group, I might add), and the creative energy is palpable! Ute and I told each other that if we got close to 10 people, we’d be totally happy, so the turnout is above and beyond expectations. Huzzah!

So, just a few updates and housekeeping info in response to inquiries and things we realized we didn’t mention:

1. If you received a partner information email, please respond back to confirm receipt. We want to make sure that the emails didn’t get lost in the fray. Thank you to those who have already responded!

2. For you Instagram users, feel free to use the hashtag #secretvalentineexchange — Ute and I haven’t been bitten by the IG bug yet, mostly because we’re both terrified of becoming addicted to yet another social media outlet. I might change my mind though…we shall see.

3. We’ve had inquiries about how many items/size limits. Officially, we’re encouraging one item per Secret Valentine that will fit into roughly a 9×12 inch (or C4/22.9×32.4cm) envelope. This is in the hopes of keeping things fair and cost-effective. Unofficially, it’s completely up to you. If you want to include multiple items, go to town!

Please contact us at secret.valentine.exchange[at]gmail.com with any other questions. And remember, even if you’re not participating, you’re more than welcome to play along and upload Valentine’s inspired projects to our Flickr pool here.

Also, I wanted to mention that the Valentine’s tag download I created is available for everyone – who knows, maybe you have your own secret valentine project going on? I included a couple of non-secret valentine tags and I have plans of creating more tags in the very very near future. You can see the tag sheet in its entirety below, and it can be downloaded here.