Valentine Greetings

by Shanna Hatfield
When I was in grade school, we always decorated shoe boxes or envelopes for Valentine's Day. Something grand, covered in glitter, was needed to collect all the Valentine cards we knew we'd receive. Hopefully, one or two especially wonderful friends might even include a piece of candy with theirs.
Oh, the giddy splendor of it all.
One year, the teacher held a contest to see who could create the best envelope. I labored intently over mine, coloring the cupid (inside the lines!) and adding glitter and red hearts made of construction paper.
I think it was working on that project that spurred my interest in creating cards. Hours would slip away while I worked to create the perfect card.
When rubber stamping become so popular, I jumped right into that phase, then segued into graphic design that allowed me to add or subtract elements until I had something that looked just right.
As I learned more about designing cards, my inspiration often came from a collection of old postcards we'd acquired from Captain Cavedweller's grandparents.
In one of their storage sheds, buried beneath piles of family treasures, we found an old wooden box full of postcards that were mailed in the early 1900s, mostly during World War I.

I've often pulled out the postcards and stared at their beautiful, bright designs, wondering what led the sender to choose that particular card or what the recipient felt when they received it.

I just love old Victorian postcards and greetings.

They seem so sweet and endearing - full of charm.

 I can just picture a cowboy riding into town and seeing a display of cards in the store. He might saunter over, spurs jingling against the plank floor of the mercantile, and casually glance through the selections. Would his sweetheart like one with birds, or perhaps roses? What message should it convey?

Do you have a favorite Valentine card? One that was so special you couldn't bear to throw it away?

*~*

A hopeless romantic with a bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a bestselling author of sweet romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor. In addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, she is completely smitten with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

She is a member of Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Romance Writers of America.

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