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How to Make Handmade Valentines

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a Valentine's Day Card out of basic cardstock-- and then turn it into something personal and beautiful with just a few accents.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 10 cards (or more)
Author Naomi

Ingredients

  • 92 lb colored cardstock I used an assorted pack including different shades of red paper and pink paper
  • Invitation envelopes optional
  • Printable heart template
  • Heart shape stamps
  • Hole punch
  • 4" heart doilies white
  • Ribbon
  • ​White yarn
  • Embroidery thread
  • Handmade with love buttons
  • Lace border stickers
  • Glue sticks
  • Scissors safety scissors for children
  • Pens or markers for writing messages

Instructions

1 - Make the cards

  1. Take a piece of cardstock and lay it out in front of you horizontally. Measure across the width of the paper and make two little tick marks at the halfway point at two different heights on the paper (I used US Letter sized paper, so I made my 1/2 way marks at 5.5").

  2. Use the two marks to line up a ruler, and draw a straight line halfway down the page to make 2 equal sections. Cut the paper in half down the line, and fold each section in half to make your blank cards.

2 - Assemble the cards

  1. For this section, obviously, you can do whatever you want to make your cards unique and most like you. There is no perfect way to do this!

  2. If you want some specific tips and inspiration, here is how I made each of the cards in this post (in bullet point/list form):

    **For all of these designs, I used a simple glue stick to attach hearts and doilies.**

Pale pink card:

  1. Vertical orientation
  2. Small holes punched into the top of the card, about 3" apart from each other
  3. Pink embroidery thread strung from one hole to the next, with a button threaded onto it
  4. Loop the thread a couple of times, and tie in the front next to the button
  5. Angled heart doily
  6. Bright pink small-medium heart cutout (from the printable outline)
  7. Soft pink 2" heart stamp
  8. Burgundy mini corner heart stamps
  9. Additional hearts in soft and bright pink cardstock (from the smallest heart stamps)

Soft pink card:

  1. Vertical orientation
  2. Heart doily
  3. Red small-medium heart cutout (from the printable outline)
  4. 2" large heart cutout from the stamp with soft pink paper
  5. Small hole punch in the 2" heart
  6. Pink bow tied into the heart stamp
  7. Lace sticker border (top and bottom of the front of the card)

Bright pink card:

  1. Vertical orientation
  2. Thin pink lace sticker border all the way around the front of the card
  3. Medium pale pink heart cutout (from the printable outline, trimmed if necessary to fit the front perfectly)
  4. Small-medium bright pink heart cutout (from the printable outline)
  5. 2" heart stamp in soft pink

Bright red card:

  1. Horizontal orientation
  2. 2 side by side small hole punches on the top corners of the card, to attach the buttons
  3. 2 "Handmade with love" buttons tied onto the front with red embroidery thread (tied in a knot on the inside of the card)
  4. White 4" heart doily
  5. Dark red small-medium heart cutout (from the printable outline)

Dark red (burgundy) card:

  1. Vertical orientation
  2. Thick brown lace border sticker down the binding of the card
  3. Medium pale pink heart cutout (from the printable outline)
  4. Small burgundy heart cutout (from the printable outline) with 2 small heart stamps cut out of it
  5. 2 holes punched into the top of the card, about 3" apart
  6. White ribbon strung from one hole to the next, tied in the front in a bow over the lace edging

Dark red (burgundy) heart with buttons:

  1. Vertical full-page orientation (do not cut the paper)
  2. Large heart cutout (from the printable outline)
  3. Small hole punches around the perimeter
  4. Pink embroidery thread sewn around the edges, with buttons threaded on at the corners

3 - Write your messages

  1. Once the basic design has been finished, you can write simple words or messages on the cover and interior of your cards.

4 - Enclose in envelopes (optional)

  1. If you're planning to mail your cards, get some standard invitation sized envelopes to fit the cut cards nicely, or a large manilla envelope to hold the full page card.