• Home
  • shop
  • Illustration Portfolio
  • About
  • My Books

Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Secret Valentine Exchange Updates + Valentines Download

January 22, 2014

sve-updates

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.

secret-valentine-tags-graphic

Filed in: Community, download • by sanae • 8 Comments

Comments

  1. gita

    January 22, 2014 at 5:36 am

    Yayyyy! Thanks for the update, Sanae. I’m so excited and still in the first stage of research and planning. It is so tempting to make an almost xmas stocking array of small things, but I’m leaning toward making 1 quality item I can focus on that comes from inspiration taken from my SV’s clues. I love having some parameter to work with, as it encourages me to think outside my usual box. And, yes, in case I didn’t already say so, I’ve received the info about my SV. Thanks for all the great work you and Ute have put into this- and how exciting that close to 40 of us are joining the fun!

    Reply
    • sanae

      January 22, 2014 at 6:49 pm

      Ute has done the lion’s share, Gita – all credit goes to her 🙂 So looking forward to seeing all the handmade items!

      Reply
  2. Ute

    January 22, 2014 at 6:20 am

    This has been so much fun already! Thank you, ladies, for signing up and for making this an exchange around the world! I am about ready to get started – after a little panic of “I hope I can make something that my partner will like!” I can´t wait to put it all together and send it off!

    Reply
    • sanae

      January 22, 2014 at 6:49 pm

      Ha, I think that’s a normal reaction, and I’m thinking it’s a good challenge for us all! I for one need to get over my fear of making things for other people 🙂

      Reply
  3. Meghan

    January 22, 2014 at 9:19 am

    Thanks for the update. I’ve already decided what to make, now it’s time for fabric selection

    Reply
    • sanae

      January 22, 2014 at 6:50 pm

      Excellent! I’m in my idea gathering stage…

      Reply
  4. Lucinda

    January 22, 2014 at 10:51 am

    this is so fun! thank you, Sanae and Ute for hosting this! Finally, a Valentines Day not just about the kids:)

    Reply
    • sanae

      January 22, 2014 at 6:51 pm

      Yes!! We wanted to celebrate it in a different way that wasn’t all about kids or romantic partners. This has been super fun 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address below to get blog posts delivered to your in-box. I'll occasionally include fun digital goodies!

Order My New Book!!

Order My Latest Sewing Book!!

Archives

Categories

I designed a bespoke set of fabrics for my upcomin I designed a bespoke set of fabrics for my upcoming GOOD NIGHT, NINJAS book launch (two more weeks!!). They’re not publicly available on Spoonflower at this time, but if there’s interest, I’ll pop it on there. Let me know in the comments! Now to do some super secret ninja sewing….🥷🥷🧵🪡🧵🪡🧵🪡
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2025 · Theme by Blog Pixie

© 2025 Sanae Ishida