Rainbow's Love Letters

In Australia Valentine's day is a heavily merchandised occasion focused purely on romantic love.

We don't tend to do the writing of valentines for friends and family.

Yet at the moment Rainbow is really interested in writing. She talks about sounds all the time. Then one day I asked her if she wanted me to show her how to write her name. She was excited and before I could do it wrote the first half of her name herself. It absolutely blew me away. I take the view that if they show interest you go along with them - match their interest. Motivation is the most important factor, you want to encourage that. There's plenty of time to learn their letters and it will come a lot quicker when they are developmentally ready.

But it gave me an idea for a lovely little valentine gift for my lovely little Rainbow. A writing folio.

Inside their is a space for envelopes and cards.

The folio is made of 2 squares of scrapbooking paper but could easily be adapted for any size or shape of paper. I used pieces Rainbow had painted.
The first paper is folded into quarters, creased then opened up.
The second paper is used to form the two pockets. They are triangles. The two shorter sides have flaps that tuck around. Here's how I cut mine.

Actually I made a mistake there should be a diagonal line.

Once the edges are folded under . The pockets then slide onto the bottom corners of the first sheet of paper. This is the view from behind. The pocket flaps are glued on.

Fold the top of the page down and glue. This will enclose the pocket flaps between the outside and the inside of the folio.

Then decorate. I've got for the title and hearts.

I kept the cards really simple so that Rainbow can decorate. They are simply folded pieces of card in pink, red and white. I used this very simple template to make the envelopes. I must admit I was very tempted to download some of the cute stationery that's available on-line.

Here is her first card.

Her message inside reads "Lauren loves ----(Rainbow). I love playing with Lauren." She says it really slowly and her zigzags emphasise the syllables. It's the cutest thing!