Ten Quick and Easy Valentines To Make

For the past two weeks I've been thinking about valentines for Valentine's Day and looking for easy ideas to share online. I wanted cards that were simple enough that most people could put one together on short notice or make them with their children.

First of all, see what craft supplies you have on hand. The quickest way to do this is if you don't waste half the day shopping for supplies. It's also the most affordable. Some of the designs assume you already have some crafting skills. If you honestly think these designs are too hard, write me a comment and I'll write a new hub and simplify even more.

Try to match your paper to your art medium. I'm using fairly thick paper designed for mixed media. It's 9"x12". For the big cards, I used a whole sheet folded in half. For the smaller cards I cut the paper in half and then folded it. The tri-fold card is one full sheet with a bit trimmed off the bottom after folding. The sizes are flexible. Use your artist's eye to figure out what size the card wants to be. If you feel your card must have an envelope, you can make one to fit.

If you try to duplicate my card exactly you are going to get frustrated. Use what comes naturally to you. If you don't have paint use crayons. If you don't have lacy paper, use a scrap of real lace. If you don't have yarn use a shoestring. Improvise.

If your card starts to warp while the glue is drying, set a book on it. Put a wax paper sheet between the card and the book if you think glue will be seeping out anywhere.

I used the paper shown in the photo to make the card foundations out of. Sometimes it is easier to make the front of the card on a separate paper so it will lay flat on the table, and then glue it to the card foundation later.

If you have things like decorative edged scissors, a hole punch, or other specialized tools, use them. If not, improvise with what you have on hand.

I was determined to use what I have on hand and not go shopping for supplies. Most crafters have things they have squirreled away. See if you can ferret some of them out and use them for this project.

For cards like these, you can't just stick them in a flat envelope and mail them. Give them out in person if you can. If not, put them into one of those envelopes that are lined with bubble wrap and slip a thin piece of cardboard inside too. The postage will be higher as well, but figuring you saved money by making it yourself (for a comparable 'art' card) it's not so bad.

I prefer the thicker craft glue over runny white glue. It holds better for things like buttons or lace. For collage effects I prefer Modpodge or acrylic medium. I'm not a fan of hot melt glue especially around kids and pets, but if that's your thing, happy gluing.

This first card is so easy, I literally made it at a fast food place before and after my lunch. It's made on good card stock, but construction paper will do, or whatever you have on hand. Take one sheet of paper and fold it in half width wise. Decide whether you want a vertical or a horizontal card.

For the winged hearts, I drew them freehand with bold metallic markers in silver and gold. If you can't draw to save your life, there are plenty of heart stencils online. It is hard to scan metallic ink, so the photo doesn't do it justice, but the card says 'You Make My Heart Soar'. Of course you can make yours say anything you want. If you have time, you can spiff it up even more by filling in the hearts with glitter or glitter glue. When using glitter, work over a large piece of paper folded in half to make a crease, then laid flat. That way you can easily funnel glitter back into the bottle. Shake off excess glitter and lay flat to dry completely. See photo.

For this card you a piece of notebook paper and various shades or red or pink or grey tissue paper. I had a giant sheet of fancy tissue that had all 3 shades on one piece of paper. Take a rectangle of paper, fold it in half, and cut out your heart. Most of us learn this 'cut out a heart' thing in grade school. If you have no idea how to do it, ask me and I'll explain more.

Cut out assorted hearts. I used double stick tape to hold them in place. Then I went over the whole thing with ModPodge, which makes the hearts semi-transparent. I laid it on wax paper so it wouldn't stick to the surface under it. When it was good and dry, I outlined all the hearts in gold metallic marker, being careful to figure out which hearts were in the background and which were in the foreground. The veins in the hearts were part of the paper and add an interesting effect. Raid your scrapbooking stash and see if you have anything that will work. If not, generic tissue paper will work. Or if you are like me, you save the tissue from presents and have a bunch of it squirreled away somewhere. Being a hoarder has its advantages.

When everything is dry, glue the collage to cardstock because notebook paper is too wimpy.

For this card you need a favorite photo. Either use the original if it's not too precious, or scan it and print it and use the copy. When I get prints made I often get duplicates to use for craft projects.

Cut out a heart out of stiff paper. Then cut another heart out of the center while it's still folded. Set the new heart aside for something else. You just want the window heart frame part. Lay it on your photo and figure out how it looks the best. Draw around it with a marker outside of the heart. Now you want to trim the excess off the photo just inside the drawn line. It has to be small enough not to show outside the heart, but big enough to not fall through the hole. Then I took a gold metallic marker and added stripes around the brown heart frame.

Take your card foundation, and scoot the photo and frame around until it looks the best. I used card stock that matched my grandson's shirt. Once I had the layout in mind, I glued the photo down first, and then glued the frame around it. Only put glue on the back of the heart frame and take care not to get glue anywhere you don't want it. I use a toothpick for better aim. Set under a book to dry flat.

If you don't have a photo you can frame some art like one of your kid's drawings.

This card is simple if you already know basic crochet stitches. I literally learned it in about five minutes from the tutorial I'll post here. Then take your crocheted heart (or knit one if you have the skill), and button it to your card.

1. Supplies: One piece of beige card stock
2. One pink 3x5 index card
3. Crocheted heart (I used worsted weight yarn and a size G crochet hook)
4. Button slightly bigger then the hole in the center of the heart
5. Needle and sewing thread

You'll also need scissors, a hole punch and a craft knife.

Cut the card stock into a 12"x7" rectangle. Fold into thirds as show in the photo.

Using a metallic marker, draw a border on 3 sides of the front and middle panel as shown in the photos.

Using the tutorial, make a crocheted heart. Unlike the tutorial, leave a strand of yarn about 8" long, crochet the heart, then leave the end about 8" long. Shape heart with fingers making sure there's a small hole in the center, then knot the ends to secure so the hole doesn't stretch bigger. Set aside.

Pick up your index card. On the striped side of the index card, draw a light pencil line from corner to corner, and then from the other corner to corner to find the center of the card. Using the lines printed on the card to guide you, cut four 1 1/4" slots in the card as show in the photo.Sew your button to the center on the blank side of the card using a needle and thread. Put your crocheted heart on the button to hold it in place.

Now on the right flap of the card, cut 2 slits 1 1/2" from each end to put the index card tabs through. I used scissors but it would be a cleaner line if you use an Exacto knife. (Kids get a responsible adult to do the cutting).

Measure your button to make sure it will go through the heart with a little tugging. Sew the button on the blank side of the card with the needle and the thread. Now slot the pink index card into the right flap of the card. (See photo). Tuck the excess yarn behind the card so the heart will be removable and the extra yarn will let the recipient tie it to their hair or a hat or something.

Cut another piece of yarn 3 feet long (1 yard). Punch two holes near the top of the other flap with a hole punch or scissors. Thread the yarn through it. This yarn is used to tie the card shut. It's easy to pull the yarn through the holes with a yarn needle, a tapestry needle or a crochet hook.

If you open your card all the way, the back blank area is where you can write your love note or message. I like to write it on a separate piece of paper in case I spell something wrong and just set it there so they can remove it. You can tack the corners of your note with a spot of glue so it won't fall out.

My prototype isn't perfect. Yours will be better since you have some directions to follow, right?

Don't feel like you have to stick to red, pink or white when making your cards. I had some barely blue freshwater pearls. I got them to make jewelry but the holes were so very tiny, it was too frustrating to thread them for earrings. But they work great when glued down around this brown heart frame, and the blue background brings out the color of the pearls.

If you don't have pearls laying around, use beads or sequins or even beans.

I cut out the brown frame first, and used it as a template to cut the slightly bigger paper lace heart. I glued the lacy paper on the flat blue paper rectangle, then glued the brown frame to it. Then I glued the pearls onto the brown paper frame. After it was completely dry, I glued it to the brown card foundation. I left plenty of space around the heart to personalize it with the recipient's name. Pick a color theme that matches your beads and papers the best.

The last step was to set the card on a cutting mat and cut a hole through all the layers with a craft knife. (Ask an adult to help you if you can't handle knives yet). Tie 2 ribbons into the opening.

This was my favorite card and I already know just who I will give it to.

This is a simple card. I took a piece of scrapbooking paper with music symbols on it. I folded the card foundation in half, then I folded the front cover in half again so I could cut a heart out.

Then I cut a rectangular piece of the music paper to glue behind the window, slightly smaller than the front of the card. Make sure the back of the scrapbooking paper is blank, or you'll have to glue yet another piece over that to cover up the price tag or writing. Let the glue dry and you are good to go. If you are in a hurry or have to make a lot of cards this is an easy way to do it.

To add a bit of charm I glued mismatched buttons in the corners. Or you could glue on a music charm.

You don't have to stick with a music theme. You could even use a print of a photo instead.

This card is so much fun to make. And it's kid friendly. Cut out an assortment of hearts. If you want it to look like mine, the ears are a long narrow white heart, cut in half along the spine, the head is a regular sized brown heart. The body is a somewhat long and fat heart. The paws are two small hearts. The tail was cut like a comma shape from white paper. Then there is a comma shaped eye brow, two pupils and a heart to go around one eye in white, and a circle for the other eye. In a pinch an index card works well for the white. If you aren't good at cutting out tiny circles, use a hole punch to cut out paper for the pupils. Then add a spot to the body with white paper. You can use wiggle eyes if you'd rather.

This card is large to make it easy for kids to put together. You can make it any size you like though.

Before you do any gluing, slide all the hearts around until you get the look you like. Then make a note of the order things need to be glued down in. If necessary, make some small pencil marks to show you where things fit together. Glue each part down. Glue down a button nose, or make one out of paper. After all the glue is dry, cut the zigzag edge around the card front. Or use decorative scissors or pinking sheers if you have some. Glue that all down to your card foundation.

I wanted to stamp the words 'puppy love' with rubber stamps and emboss them, but I couldn't find my alphabet stamps. So I resorted to using a metallic marker instead. Use what you have. A Sharpie marker would work too. Or even crayons or gel pens. Cut a hole through the front part with a hole punch and tie a ribbon through it, or glue a small bow in the corner if you like.

Go raid the bandage box for an adhesive strip bandage. Often there are some old ones laying around that aren't really fit for putting over a scrape. (Ask mom first if you are a kid).

Take your card foundation and some crayons or pastels or markers, and make a cross-hatched background. Cut yourself out a big heart and then cut it in half with crooked lines. You might want to draw the lines first on the wrong side to use as a cutting line. Glue the two parts down, stick the bandage over them, and then write the words with a gold marker and outline it with a black permanent marker, white gel pen or marker of your choice.

This whimsical card is a lot of fun to make.

First take your folded card foundation made of card stock and tape it to a board. Decide if you are making a horizontal or vertical card. Using a clean watercolor brush, on the front only, do a wash of color in green and blue over it with watercolor paint and let it dry completely. The green represents the ground and the blue is the sky.

If you don't have card stock you can use watercolor paper or poster board.

After it's dry cut out two hearts to be the wings of your butterfly. Try them in different positions and when you get one you like glue them down.

For mine, I glued little pompoms in assorted colors to be the body with a bigger one for the head. Or you can use a pipe cleaner or a toothpick. Glue them down in a line. Draw the antennas with your marker and glue a pompom to each one, or a sequin or a bead. Decorate the wings with a marker as you wish. I used a white gel pen to write the greeting.

For those of you who like a bit of a challenge, I saved this one for last. It doesn't take that long once you get the hang of it, but it's a bit fussy.

First make the foundation card. Then take a piece of fancy handmade paper, and cut a piece slightly bigger than the front of your card. Glue it to the front, and wrap 3 edges under and glue them down.

Gather up some assorted paper scraps, ribbon, lace or trim to use as the weavers. Cut out a big heart. Measure it to make sure it fits on the card, but make it as big as will fit. Fold it in half again and cut slits as shown in the photo. Taking your time, weave each strip in and out. If you've never done weaving, practice on a square paper with slits first, and then do the heart after you figure out how it works.

Once you get the heart all woven, flip it over and carefully trim and glue down all the overhanging edges. Neaten it up as best you can.

Then glue the heart to the front of your card. Embellish your heart by tracing around it with a gold marker.