Ahhh . . . l'amour. What better way to express your love than with a homemade valentine written in French?

Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to learn a little français as you create a memorable, romantic card for someone special.

Materials

Choose art supplies that will inspire some creativity. Gather your favorites such as:

• colored tissue paper
• colored construction paper
• doilies
• calligraphy pens
• markers
• watercolors
• pastels
• stickers
• ribbons
• glitter
• scissors
• glue

Stop by a travel agency and request brochures from Paris or the French countryside. Clip out your favorite images to create beautiful decorations or collages. Your loved one's imagination will be transported to romantic France!

French Valentine Vocabulary

Express your sentiments with these French holiday words and phrases:

Bonne St. Valentin/Joyeuse St. Valentin - Happy Valentine's Day

Je t'aime. - I love you.

Je t'adore. -I adore you.

Je pense à toi. - I'm thinking of you.

Sois mon valentin. - Be my Valentine (said to a man)

Sois ma valentine. - Be my Valentine (said to a woman)

Les fleurs - flowers

La rose - rose

Le chocolat - chocolate

Le coeur - heart

Le baiser - kiss

Cupidon - Cupid

French Terms of Endearment

The French take the cake when it comes to "Sweetie's" and "Honey's." Here are just a few terms of endearment:

Mon amour - my love

Mon ange - my angel

Mon chéri - my dear (said to a man)

Ma chérie - my dear (said to a woman)

Mon trésor - my treasure

Ma biche - my doe

Mon petit chou - my little cabbage

Ma puce - my flea (that's right . . . flea!)

French Poetry

If you haven't already captured your true love's heart, you surely will with one of these poems:

Partons / dans un baiser / pour un monde inconnu -- Let's leave / in a kiss / for an unknown world -- by Alfred de Musset

Chaque jour je t'aime davantage / aujourd'hui plus qu'hier / et bien moins que demain -- Each day I love you more / today more than yesterday / and much less than tomorrow -- by Rosemonde Gérard

L'amour est la poésie des sens -- Love is the poetry of the senses -- by Honoré de Balzac

L'amour n'est pas seulement un sentiment / il est un art aussi -- Love is not only a feeling / it is also an art -- by Honoré de Balzac

Voici des fruits, des fleurs / des feuilles et des branches / et puis voici mon coeur / qui ne bat que pour vous -- Here are fruits, flowers / leaves and branches / and then here is my heart / that beats only for you -- by Paul Verlaine

L'amour n'est rien d'autre que la suprême poésie de la nature -- Love is nothing other than the supreme poetry of nature -- Novalis

French-themed gifts

Although a homemade card is a gift in itself, consider presenting it to your petit chou along with a box of Belgian chocolates, French champagne, a travel book about Paris, or a book about French art. You could also include French-language CD's by singers such as Edith Piaf, Celine Dion, Francis Cabrel, and Isabelle Boulay. Instrumental CD's are another option--traditional accordian music or classical selections by the French composer Claude Debussey. Your Valentine will love it.

Joyeuse St. Valentin.Resources: Notre famille and Linternaute