Valentine's Day for the uninspired

 

 

Looking for something different this Valentine's Day?
Spice things up with Scratch-off Love Notes!

 

If you're familiar with our Lunchbox Notes, these work the same way. Simply write your own message in the box, and cover it with a sticker. This cute little bag includes 20 fun-sized notes (2" x 3.5") for you to enjoy together.

Here are five fun ideas to try this Valentine's Day:

LOVE COUPONS  |  Write "IOU's" or coupons on each one, filled with "gifts" or acts of service that can be redeemed in the coming year.

HIDDEN SURPRISES  |  Write a secret note and hide it in a work bag, coat pocket, the car, a laptop, or somewhere else where it will be discovered.

SPICE IT UP  |  While you're out to dinner together, split the deck of blank cards in half. Each of you will have TEN cards. On each card, write a fun or spicy thing you'd like to try (and yes, writing "Extra Hot Thai Peanut Curry" is completely acceptable), and cover your writing with a sticker. Shuffle the cards, and place them back in the bag. Pull cards from the bag when you'd like to spice things up!

DATES FOR A YEAR  |  Take turns writing down 20 different date ideas that you'd like to do in the year to come. Every few weeks, pull a card out of the bag and scratch it together to see what your next date will be!

POP THE QUESTION  |  Surprise your loved one with a proposal. Maybe you've been married for twenty-two years. So surprise her with a different type of proposal... a weekend getaway someplace you've never been. A honeymoon you never had. A thumbs up to start trying for that baby. Whatever you'd like to propose, a scratch-off is such a fun way to do it!

What are your ideas on how these could be used? I'd love to hear them!

xo

 

Lunchbox Notes

School's coming (shudder), and I've got a four-year-old who goes to Jr. Kindergarten this fall. That's right folks... five mornings a week at a brand new school. I love my little skoober, and am always looking for ways to tell him... but as a mom with a toddler and a newborn, sometimes it takes a miracle just to get out the door. And while I'm blessed to be able to work from my home studio most days, on the days when I go in to clients' offices, I found myself whipping out a piece of construction paper and some markers from the craft drawer and making one of these:

While these are all well and good, this beautiful artistry (note sarcasm) takes time. And I found myself being tempted to re-use the signs. Because let's be honest... there are only so many ways to draw kissing hands.

But it won't be long before my little guy (who still adores finding these notes) will be embarrassed if one of these shows up in his lunch box.

That's when I decided that something had to be done. There had to be a cute, easy way for parents to create little love notes for their special little people, even while on the run. Something that was small enough to slip in a lunch box, without being a Post-it note (not that there's anything wrong with Post-its...). And best of all, something that was easy to give, and fun for a toddler to receive.

I knew that I had the fun factor down pat. My little man can't HELP but scratch off a card. Every time he finds a stray scratch-off card in our house, he comes to me and asks if he can scratch it. I call him our quality control manager. So imagine his surprise when he scratches a card and finds a funny cartoon, or a short little love note in mommy's handwriting, written especially for him! And thus, Lunchbox Notes were born.

The shot at the very top of this post is my little guy with the very first card.
Here it is again:

Disclaimer: I paid him $0.26 for the shot. I offered him a quarter if he would pose for the camera after scratching, and then I let him keep his scratching penny. Before you judge me for paying my son to pose for the camera, consider the shots below which represent our last attempts at a family photo during cottage week this summer. My son hates. having. his. picture. taken.

It's my own fault, I realize. After all, I did do THIS to him as an infant (see below). I'm not sure what finally broke him. It could have been the antique bonnet (which he clearly was embarrassed of, even at just 5 mos), the bear rug experience, the leg warmers, or the Anne Geddes-style "Baby-in-Distress" photo shoot attempt (lower left) which yielded shots that never made the birth announcement. Either way, getting a picture of my son is always a challenge. Thankfully, it didn't take much coaxing to get my son to smile with the lunchbox notes... and if you were there with me this morning during the shoot, you'd know that behind the card, that little stinker was sticking out his tongue.

But I digress. Back to the Lunchbox Notes. Here's a step-by-step look at how they work:

Each set comes with 20 cards printed on our premium, ultra-thick card stock, 20 scratch-off stickers, and a cute hand-stamped muslin bag that's perfect for stashing in your junk drawer until that moment when you need them most. 

Inklings Lunchbox Notes are available for purchase here. To my awesome blog readers, please feel free to use the coupon code "BACKTOSCHOOL201310" for 10% off your set!

So what will you write on yours?