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Sara Burnworth of Belleville, Ill., makes a card for Operation Heartfelt, which encourages people to make valentines for U.S. troops overseas.Photo by Gary Porter

by Katelyn Ferral

If there is any indication of the changing landscape of romance, it's the evolution of the valentine.

No longer for just the love struck, handmade cards are making gains in the competition for America's pocketbook this Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day cards are the biggest sellers for Tara Scheuerman's Cracked Designs, a Milwaukee card company specializing in quirky and unconventional handmade paper greeting cards, wedding invitations and stationery.

Scheuerman's valentine collection includes cards featuring such mock tender notes as "I love you with all my ventricles" (exhibiting a color-coded heart), "I pick you to be my valentine," (with a prominent proboscis), "I wanna rub tires with you" (for the cyclists out there), "You're saxy" (jazz romance for those saxophone players) and a card displaying a revolver pointedly declaring "Be my valentine . . . and nobody gets hurt."

Scheuerman attributes the wit behind her cards to her own take on the holiday.

"I'm not really a mushy person. I don't really like over-the-top Valentine's Day cards," she said.....

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