Vintage Valentine's Day Cards

Vintage Valentines

Vintage Valentine's Day cards carry us back to another era, when life was slower and sentiments didn't have to be hilarious, witty, or edgy. Greeting cards spoke about relationships as if they were made of glass.

I kind of like that.

This lens will present closeup photos of vintage Valentine's Day cards my parents exchanged in their 58 years of marriage. I chose to photograph each card's details rather than the cards as a whole, because that's what I like best about them--the extra-special touches of vintage design.

We'll also take a look at card projects you can easily make at home, and ways to sweeten your Valentine's Day celebration.

1945

My parents loved exchanging cards from the time they met, right after WWII. I don't think a single card ever left their collection, either. My mom stored them away and it wasn't until almost sixty years later, we found them all, lovingly stashed in a zippered bag.

Valentine Poem

by Eugene Field (1850-1895)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Accept, dear girl, this little token,
And if between the lines you seek,
You'll find the love I've often spoken
The love my dying lips shall speak.

Our little ones are making merry
O'er am'rous ditties rhymed in jest,
But in these words (though awkward very)
The genuine article's expressed.

You are as fair and sweet and tender,
Dear brown-eyed little sweetheart mine,
As when, a callow youth and slender,
I asked to be your Valentine.

What though these years of ours be fleeting?
What though the years of youth be flown?
I'll mock old Tempus with repeating,
"I love my love and her alone!"

And when I fall before his reaping,
And when my stuttering speech is dumb,
Think not my love is dead or sleeping,
But that it waits for you to come.

So take, dear love, this little token,
And if there speaks in any line
The sentiment I'd fain have spoken,
Say, will you kiss your Valentine?

Vintage Greeting

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Hugs 'n Kisses

Your Favorite Valentine's Gift?

Gifts from the heart mean something different to each of us. I'd rather spend time together, or receive something with a sentimental attachment than roses or a box of chocolate. Others love jewelry and clothes, wining & dining, and luxury cruises. That's what makes the world go 'round.

One Valentine's Day we took a drive to the coast and planned to spend the night in a beachfront hotel there. Being a lover of nature, I saw a road winding up a hillside and pointed. "Want to take a detour?" I asked my husband. I had my camera ready for what I hoped would be some breathtaking late-afternoon shots.

We ended up winding our way across a mountain by way of a road that was not exactly paved. In fact, it was a logging road! Of course we couldn't have known that until we had invested 15 minutes of driving.

Long story short: We got lost! Every fork in the road looked the same and when we finally turned back and located the right fork, we were laughing our heads off. That is the Valentine's Day I remember most--the year we got lost for two hours up a muddy logging road.

My gift? Dinner, a heart-shaped pendant & earrings, and TIME--our favorite gift to each other.

Vintage Valentine's Day Cards