It doesn't take long for Alice to discover that, in a place like Wonderland, anything can happen. After falling down the rabbit hole, she gets swept away in a flood of tears, witnesses a race in which the contestants run in a circle and everybody wins, and watches teapots dance on the table at an un-birthday party. But things really start rolling when she wanders into the Queen of Hearts' court. There croquet balls are hedgehogs, mallets are flamingoes, and playing cards shuffle into place to serve as wickets. Here's a clever way to transform an old deck into messengers that are well suited to reveal your child's hand on Valentine's Day.

You'll need:

• Heart templates
• Scissors
• Red and pink paper scrapbook paper
• Black and red markers
• Glue stick or glue dots
• Red, pink, and white pipe cleaners
• Playing cards, in the suit of hearts

Instructions:

1. Print out the templates and cut out the pieces.

2. For each suitor, use the templates to cut out a cape heart, a head heart, and two 1-inch squares for the feet from red paper. Cut out a face heart from pink paper.

3. Trim a red pipe cleaner so that it is 10 inches long. Glue the center portion to the back of the card, positioning it along the upper edge, as shown.
4. Fold down the very top of the cape heart, as shown.

5. Glue the cape in place, sticking the folded top to the front of the card and the portion below the fold to the back. Shape the arms, bending them at the elbows and looping the ends for hands.

6. Turn the head valentine so that the tip faces up. Glue the face heart in place. Draw on small red hearts for the nose and mouth. Use the black marker to outline the facial features and to extend the corners of the mouth into a smile. Glue the bottom edge of the head to the top of the card.

7. For feet, fold the red paper squares in half and cut a small notch in the fold near the back, as shown. Insert the bottom of the card into the notches.

8. For a staff, cut out a pair of matching hearts from scrap paper and glue them together, sandwiching the top of a 5-inch length of a pink or white pipe cleaner between them. Slide the bottom of the pipe cleaner through one of the hand loops.