Did You Know...?

To go along with our Valentine inspired theme here on the blog this week, I looked up some fun trivia about the holiday. All of these were taken from http://www.stvalentinesday.org/

• About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
  
• Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
  
• In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
  
• About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.


• Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
  California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
  73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
  
• In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
  
• The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.


• Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.


• In Medieval times, girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future husband.


• Superstitions:
  If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
  If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.
  If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!
  If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
  If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.
  

I thought these were amusing... single gals be on the lookout for random gloves in the street! :)

And here's a photo of one more Valentine project for you (I made this back in 07). I altered a Heidi Swapp box of chipboard letters with some patterned paper. I cut squares of chipboard that would fit inside and then altered those too. I wrote the things I love about my husband on each card. :) Have a great day!