OK, fellas, I know you read this column – and I know who you are. I have my sources out there. It’s Valentine’s week, love is the air and Cupid is on the move. Instead of buying your sweetie a valentine, why not build, fabricate or bake one?

Handmade valentines don’t require much more than a scrap of sheet aluminum, tin snips and crimpers – just kidding – my point being that the tools and materials you use for making a valentine don’t matter; it’s the thought that counts. Truly.

The heart-in-hand motif is a good place to begin. Place your big capable hand on the fold of some paper, which could be the comics, tissue paper, a paper towel or a page torn from a sports magazine. Trace around your hand and cut out the shape without cutting apart the fold. Cut out a few hearts, glue them where you want them and write a little message to suit the occasion. It could be as simple and straightforward as “Be Mine”; a bit more profound, such as “Two Hearts, One Love – Ours”; or even “Baby, My Heart is in Your Hands.”

If paper is too flimsy a substance to proclaim the strength of your love, then cut hearts out of an aluminum can and embellish them with stuff you’ve saved because you know it will come in handy sometime – such as washers, bits of wire and little brass screws.

Or cut lots of hearts in various sizes from paper, foil or aluminum cans and see what animals you can assemble from them. How about a worm and this message: “Valentine, you’ve wormed your way into my heart.” Or make a cat and attach a message that says, “I purr for you, valentine.” Or a tree and the message: “Valentine, I pine for you.”

Cut hearts from heavy paper, punch holes around the edge, then thread it with carpenter’s twine, copper wire or blaze pink surveyor’s tape. The accompanying message could read, “I’m all tangled up in your love, valentine.” Some fun, huh?

You might want to visit www.enchantedlearning.com to learn how to say I love you in Hawaiian – aloha i’a au oe; Ojibwe – gi zah gin; or Spanish – te amo, and use those sweet phrases on your valentines.

If you don’t want to mess around with making valentine cards, then bake a cake. Buy a cake mix or make it from scratch. Bake it in a heart-shaped pan or in several small heart-shaped pans. Spread lavishly with pink frosting from a can.

Or stir up a batch of cookies, spread the dough in a heart shape on a cookie sheet, stud with M&Ms or other sweet stuff, and serve warm to your best beloved. Another idea is to buy slice-and-bake cookies, arrange the slices in a heart shape and bake.

A special valentine for your best girl doesn’t have to revolve around spending too much money on roses that last barely a week. As long as your valentine offering is the product of your own squishy heart, it will be a hit, whether you build, bake or fabricate it.

In my opinion, any woman who spurns a valentine that comes from a man’s lively, heartfelt imagination probably isn’t worth the wooing.

Snippets

The Ewe Spinners will hold a midwinter spin-in Saturday Feb. 14 at the Newport Elementary School. Activities include a Yankee swap, show and tell and a used equipment sale. Call 474-0476 for more information.

Spinners groups in Maine include:

. International Quoddy Spinners, 726-5063, or (506) 752-1081 in Canada.

. Bethel Area Amiable Arachnes, or BAAA. 836-3011.

. Ewe Spinners, Athens, Madison, Solon, 474-0476, or 643-3475.

. Purple Fleece Spinners-Knitters, Stockton Springs, Prospect, Searsport, Belfast, 323-1871.

. Dresden area spinners, da.burk@verizon.net.

. Monmouth-Winthrop Knitters and Spinners, judy.gates@maine.gov.

. Spins and Needles, Sebec, Dover-Foxcroft, Abbot, 564-0815.

. Kennebec Valley Spinners, 643-2440.

. Dunn’s Corner Spinners, 685-9573.

. Sheep Thrills, Waterville, Oakland, 453-9526.

. Wednesday Spinners, Machias to Camden, 963-7771.

Ardeana Hamlin welcomes comments, suggestions and ideas. Call her at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.