Heart-felt, hand-crafted Valentine cards at WHS

"Valentine, won't you be mine?" That question and other heart-felt messages were incorporated into clever cards created Saturday afternoon at the Westport Historical Society.

The workshop for Valentine's Day crafts was designed for attendees of all ages to handcraft one-of-a-kind heirloom Valentine cards.

Also featured was a display of vintage cards on loan from George Dragone.

"This is my first experiment in multi-generational programming," said program leader Elizabeth DuVoll. "Why should kids have all the fun?"

An array of materials were spread across three long tables in the basement space, which was decorated with Valentine decor. Materials included old-time, vintage and retro graphics, doilies, glitter, fabric, lettering and even rose petals.

"With any of my programs, I like to give participants a lot of choices of materials rather than dictate a certain approach," said DuVoll. "It lets them use their imaginations."

Children, parents and even grandparents collaborated on making cards with glue, scissors, tape and crayons to create collages for loved ones.

"Today, I'm making a nice card for my mom," said Leora Wong, 11, of Westport. "I like art, but I'm not a very good artist. I like to glue stuff down though."

One of the mothers at the workshop, Holly Maybruck of Westport, was accompanied by her daughter and another mom with daughters. "We all love to do art activities," she said, "and because this is vintage, we thought it would be fun for the girls to see -- the gimmicks, typefaces and slogans."

One Valentine that DuVoll was particularly fond of was made several years ago by her daughter, then 12 and now in college. It proclaimed, "I love you more than a hamburger," and showed a hand-drawn picture of a hamburger.

The message was as corny as the vintage cards belonging to Dragone. "Some of these are very clever for their time, with moving parts and fun messages," DuVoll said.

The Valentines took shape with personal expressions of affection and creative images of love.

"Eat your heart out, Hallmark!" -- pun intended.