Handmade Valentine Cards

Basic Materials:

red, white & pink note cards, card stock or vellum
scissors
decorative-edge scissors (scallop, wave, etc.)
glue stick or thick craft glue
glue gun & glue sticks
pencil

Note: If you don't want to write the inside sentiments yourself, there are other options. Print from your computer directly onto the paper or card stock before you make your cards, or use quotes from the Love Fun Frames Sticker Frames page (#12635) by Susan Branch. Clover Andabee offers a very large variety of pre-printed matte acetate Adhesive Quotations for every occasion and topic a cardmaker could want.

Begin with a red die-cut frame (#AG427) from Anna Griffin's line of scrapbooking papers and accessories. Trace the inside opening of the frame on the back of a piece of paper. Cut around the outside of the tracing so that the piece you cut out is larger than the opening in the frame. Glue the frame to the paper with a glue stick. Embellish with a bow and heavy paper stickers from the Love Fun Frames Sticker Frames page (#12635) also by Susan Branch. Use craft glue or a glue stick to adhere the entire piece to a blank note card or piece of folded card stock.

The red heart "be mine" card was made in a similar manner. The frame, from the Love Fun Frames Sticker Frames (#12635) by Susan Branch, is adhered to a piece of coordinating Susan Branch pink heart buds paper (#12856), which has been cut to fit. Top that with a heart memo note from Impress Rubber Stamps, stamped with the sentiment of your choice. Glue the entire stack onto a piece of red card stock and trim with scallop scissors.

Note: They are frames, after all; instead of using decorative paper and stamps to dress up your frames, stick a photo of yourself or you with your sweetie inside the frame for a one-of-a-kind personalized reminder of the thing your Valentine loves best.

For the Smooch card, cover the front of a note card or folded card stock with red glitter sticker paper from Impress Rubber Stamps. The eyelet letters are attached with heart snaps, all from Making Memories. I used a variety of letters in different fonts, but you can use all from one font type or mix them up as you like. Place the letters of the word you chose on the flat card and use a black marker to note where the eyelet holes are for each letter. Remove the letters and punch holes at the marks using a Making Memories hole punch. Secure the letters one at a time with the heart snaps and eyelet setter. Note: If any of the heart come off the eyelets while you're working, don't fret; you can reattach them with a dot of hot glue.

The XO XO XO card was made the same way as the Smooch card and trimmed with scalloped scissors turned opposite the way you'd normally use them. You can try other words and phrases like "kiss me," "be mine" or "true love."

The Kissy Face card was created by stringing the kiss letters onto a length of pink wire from Making Memories, which was just wrapped through tiny holes punched directly in the card stock. Tie one end to the card, slide on the letters, and tie the other end; trim the end to match. The eyes are made from heart-shaped brads, also by Making Memories, which were just attached through regular-size holes made with a punch. If you don't want the letters to dangle and slide around, use a dot of hot glue behind each one to secure it to the card.

If you add a pretty stamp to pretty paper, you can't help but have a pretty card in no time flat. The dancing couple card was made by stamping All Night Media's "La Dee Da I Love You" (#136E) stamp onto a white heart memo note from Impress Rubber Stamps. Glue the heart note to red card stock and trim with scallop scissors. Color the stamp with colored pencils.

Look at the variety of cards you can make using the love heart stamp (#F-2841) by PSX! Stamp on white paper using burgundy ink. Cut out with decorative-edged scissors and adhere to a folded piece of shimmering gold vellum. Trim the edge of the paper with the scissors as well, and embellish with a burgundy bow tied of sheer organza ribbon attached with hot glue. Alternatively, stamp in black ink and use scallop scissors and red vellum to make a more traditional looking Valentine. Line the vellum with paper or card stock of your choice to give it more body as well as to provide writing space inside.

Take the stamped images one step further with embossing. Stamp with clear or gold ink on card stock, note cards or these pink heart-shaped cards from Impress Rubber Stamps. Then sprinkle gold or clear embossing powders on the ink and heat with a heat gun. Make sure you use fine embossing powders if your stamp has a lot of detail.

The red card embossed with gold powders was a bit of a mistake. I accidentally used ultra thick powder instead of fine, which not only melted most of the words into illegible letters but also melted a bit outside of the stamp as well. But, serendipity! It turned out to be a favorite around the office and has a very modern, artistic quality about it.

The lacy heart stamp (G-539) from PSX is a natural for Valentines. Stamp with white ink on red vellum or card stock and emboss with clear powders for a very simple, professional-looking but pretty Valentine.

What could be more romantic than the idea of a secret love letter passed centuries ago, sealed with wax to hold in all of those sweet nothings? The return of letter writing is helping sealing wax enjoy a comeback as well. It's easier than ever now thanks to Hampton Art Stamps' Little Classic Sealing Wax wafers that melt in seconds with an embossing heat gun. They come in a variety of colors, accompanied by Little Classic Rubber Stamps in simple shapes and initials. To create this pink card, layering and glue white and pink card stock to a pink note card and stamp your sentiment across the bottom. For a little bit of puny fun, consider the melted wax and use a saying such as "You melt me, Valentine" or "My heart melts for you." Then simply place a wafer of the wax on the card and melt with a heat gun. When all edges have melted, press the stamp into the hot wax. If it doesn't release easily right away, just wait a few more seconds until it cools. I used white ink on the stamp to help it show up a little better, but an ink-less stamp would work just as well.

Another option is to stamp onto white card stock and adhere it to the glitter sticker paper from Impress Rubber Stamps for an interesting mix of contemporary sparkle and a traditional wax seal.

Tie a ribbon or cord through the hole in these pretty little Creative Imaginations double-sided Sonnets heart tags by Sharon Soneff and you've got a ready-made decoration for a card. They have metal rims, so use hot glue to attach them to paper or card stock. Stamp a message onto the tag if you wish, or just leave them plain and write the message inside.

The pink card was further embellished using a tiny heart charm from Impress Rubber Stamps. Their little frames would work well too, with a photo of you inside.

Valentines have been around for hundreds of years, and in that time, countless cards with images of cherubs, doves and flowers have been swapped between loved ones. Draw on a little of that romantic history to create your own using vintage reproductions. Anna Griffin's antique reproduction (PC011) card trimmed and adhered to card stock is just about the simplest card you can make, but so elegant. Use a gold pen to add a bit of gilding and detail to the card, top it with a bow, and you're ready to add your own sweet nothings inside. They also offer do-it-yourself pieces like pre-tied bows and beautiful cards to combine with the reproductions to make your own very professional looking Valentines.

Impress Rubber Stamps also offers vintage post card reproductions. There are fourteen different varieties (this one is from the Valentines page, of course) and there are nine to a sheet. Just trim them with decorative-edged scissors and adhere them to card stock (trimmed here with gold pen), or slip a little one inside Impress's small vellum envelopes and hand them out like you did in elementary school. (Look for the Vintage Post Cards on ImpressRubberStamps.com to see how cute they are in the vellum envelopes.)

Everyone knows the best gift is the gift of yourself. Make your sweetie a coupon book with offerings of a backrub, candlelit dinner, video & popcorn night on the sofa, a free car wash or game of checkers--or whatever else you know he or she will love. Make sure you pay up when they want to redeem a coupon! Write the value of the coupon by hand or use a rubber stamp alphabet. The heart-shaped coupons were made with heart memos in a tin from Impress Rubber Stamps--two red hearts for the front and back and several white hearts inside. Punch holes and string them on a ribbon, chain or cord. Dress up the hole in the front with a heart-shaped eyelet from Making Memories, and stamp or write on a sentiment of your choice.

The little red Be Mine coupon book was decorated with Making Memories self-adhesive gold page pebbles. Glue, staple, or tie with string the inside coupon pages of plain white paper--or just slip a tiny store-bought note pad inside red vellum or card stock, glue to the back cover, and use the little note pages as your coupons.

By simply gluing those tiny ribbon roses onto card stock or decorative paper, you can create lovely Valentines with a lot of texture and style. The roses in the heart card were simply glued onto red paper trimmed with scallop scissors, which was then glued onto card stock trimmed with another pair of decorative scissors. Draw the heart first in pencil to help you with the shape, and do a test placement before you begin to glue. Hot glue worked best for me.

For the LOVE card, first draw the word in pencil and then trim the paper (Susan Branch pink heart buds paper #12856) as you like. Use a glue stick to attach the paper to red card stock. Then glue the ribbon flowers onto the words you drew on the paper. The little heart sticker is from the Love Fun Frames Sticker Frames (#12635) by Susan Branch.