In bygone days, children made Valentines to give to their family and friends. At school they designed boxes decorated with hearts. The handmade cards were distributed among the student's boxes. On Valentine’s Day each child carried home a box of cards from his fellow classmates.
In many modern classrooms this tradition lives on as children have parties and exchange cards. However, most of the cards are prepackaged greetings which the student signs and places in a tiny envelope for each of his friends. These seem to lack the fun and interest of handmade cards.
Fortunately, today many stores carry scrapbooking supplies which are great for making Valentines. Look in the craft department and in school supply and office supplies departments. Many materials found around the schoolroom and home can be used. Here is a list of some of the items you can use to craft Valentines.
Cardmaking Supplies
Paper is the main material needed. Have you considered:
- Scrapbooking paper
- Construction paper
- Tissue paper
- Printer paper
- Paper doilies
- Used greeting card fronts
- Magazine pages
- School folders
- Wrapping paper
- Wallpaper
Other Supplies
- Crayons
- markers
- pens
- pencils
- paints
- glue
- scissors
- pattern scissors for edge trimming
- glue dots
- goggle eyes
- ribbon
- buttons
- conversation heart candies
- envelopes or paper to fold into envelope shape
- stencils
- stamps and ink pads
- scraps of cloth
- stickers
Start by assembling a collection of materials on a tabletop or workspace. Fold some sheets of plain paper into card shapes and then begin cutting out some heart shapes. Set these on the cards and try different combinations to create a card. When you like the layout start gluing pieces in place.
Heart Making Ideas
- Fold a sheet of paper – any size and cut a half-heart shape. Leave the fold intact and when you unfold the paper you should have a heart shape.
- Use a stencil to make the heart shapes.
- Cut smaller paper hearts of all colors and glue all over the card.
- Wallpaper with a texture makes unusual hearts.
- Try the funny papers or cutting colored hearts from slick magazines cover or page paper.
- Cut halves of different colors and fit them together into a folk art style heart.
- Decorate the hearts with bows of raffia ribbon or satin ribbon, buttons or stickers.
- Craft hearts of unexpected shapes, and paper designs.
- Give your heart a pocket with a small heart tucked inside or even a piece of candy or a packet of flower seeds.
- Center smaller hearts inside larger hearts.
- Make your heart look like a bird or bug or butterfly.
- Make your heart smile.
- Add glitter to the heart.
- Color it brightly.
- Paint a large sheet of paper with water colors. Cut hearts from the painted paper.
Write a greeting inside each card and you are through. The card doesn’t have to have an envelope, but if you want them, buy a box of white envelopes or fold paper into envelopes the size you need.
You should have a great time crafting your own Valentine’s Day cards and they will be highly prized for their artistic originality.
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