Valentine Kit

Nancy Rosin's Valentine Kit

All the ingredients you need to create lasting Valentine keepsakes, except scissors, glue and imagination!

Until Valentines became mass-produced, friends, lovers, children... virtually everyone, created their own mementoes of love and affection. These were given all year to celebrate every occasion and reflected enormous care and tenderness. Within this kit you have the materials to create individual, one-of-a-kind messages from your heart.

Inspired by a special event, you may decide to add a tiny photo, a strip of fabric, lace, or ribbon, even a theater ticket or edge of a matchbook... All these things become true "ephemera" ..and wil surely be cherished forever because of the care taken now to remember. The collage artist adds trinkets, shells, pearls or sequins, even a treasured lock of hair, to create something that becomes much more than its' individual parts.

Having thought about this idea for a long time, and having been inspired by several callers, I decided to create this kit for the real sentimentalists and craftspeople. This may be a springboard, I hope, to the revival of the art of making home-made Valentines. It was mass-production which hastened their demise, so it seems natural that handcraft might even revive the treasured custom!

Also take a look at the Victorian Greeting Cards page if you are interested in custom design or to see what is possible!

Valentine Kit Front View Valentine Kit Back View

Click on the images above to see a sample kit. Your browser will likely reduce the image to fit the window; click once on it to restore the image to full resolution.

Full text shown on the reverse side of the Valentine Kit:
Within this envelope are the magical elements to create keepsake cards
and treasured memories --- from your heart. Antique materials have been
carefully reproduced to add timeless artistry and design. Golden borders
and ornaments have been made on the same machines in Germany since the
19th century. Ribbon trims and flowers complete your contemporary vision,
with innovation and sentiment. Your card will be a cherised gift.

Also available..

Prints for framing

Your favorite Valentine carefully reproduced. Please call for details. Scherenschnitte (paper-cutting) templates of various Valentines in the Nancy Rosin Collection. Wonderful framed just as you receive them!

Antique Valentines

A list of available antiques is being compiled and will be sent in response to all inquiries. As each piece is unique, and fragile, xeroxes will generally be sent with details and pricing information. The specific pieces shown in the article are not, I regret to say, for sale at this time.

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