Homemade Valentines

Buying Valentine's Day cards can be expensive if you want something really nice.

If you're five years old and trying to buy Valentine's cards for your whole pre-school class of 25 kids, perhaps the boxed set will suffice. If you're a bit older and trying to impress the recipient of your Valentine, then you'll need to try a bit harder.

Hallmark and the other big names create some beautiful cards, but they have gotten expensive. A recent trip to Target made me realize that greeting cards have really gotten expensive. A single card with a few embellishments on it was $6.97!

Money is too tight for most to spend that kind of money on a single card. That money could be better spent on the actual gift. I'm going to share with you a few ways you can make a relatively inexpensive Valentine's Day card that is sure to impress.

Several years ago a co-worker showed me an origami heart that an old boyfriend had given her for Valentine's Day one year. I was so impressed with the intricacy and detail. I thought it would make a great gift for my new husband for our first Valentine's Day.

The friend found how to make them on YouTube and shared the information with me. I'm going to share it with you too. There are several videos on how to do it. If this one is confusing then you may want to try going to YouTube to look for others. Some seem to gloss over the most intricate part.

Practice a couple of times for a polished look.

You can make some really unique Valentine's Day cards using pre-folded card stock with matching envelopes, scrapbook card stock, ribbon, scrapbook papers, craft scissors, punches and stickers. You can also cut out heart-shapes from just about anything. You can use old photos, magazines, scraps of material, ribbon, lace, etc. Look around, you'll be surprised how much stuff you actually have on hand that you can use.

I'm especially fond of self-adhesive card stock, self-adhesive ribbon, and 3d stickers. I'm not fond of gluing. They also make double-sided tape in a nice dispenser that makes this easier too. They also have glue dots. Play around with whatever works best for you. You made find it easier to keep a variety of kinds on hand if you really start to enjoy making your own cards and gift tags.

For the lettering you use on your Valentine's cards, you can try your hand at printing, calligraphy, cut out letters from magazines, or even buy stick-on letters. Make sure you have enough vowels to spell everything you want to say. You can also use a mixture of these for a very unique look.

Use your imagination. Think about the things you think of when you think about the person you're making the card for. What are their likes or dislikes? What are their hobbies or favorite past-times? Do they collect anything? Is there something or some place special to you both? If you can incorporate this element into your work of art, you're sure to elicit an emotional response when they open it.

I invite you to watch the video for some simple 3 inch Valentines you can easily make.

Beautiful ribbon roses are easier to make than they seem. I learned to make ribbon roses just from watching the video you see below. I find her fingernails distracting, but if you can get past that you'll learn how to make beautiful ribbon roses.

The photo you see is of my first four attempts at making ribbon roses. I used a deep red ribbon that looks almost black. It's 1 1/2 inches wide and has a wire trim on both sides. I think the wire allows you to shape them better. I used about 18 inches of ribbon for each rose. You can attach your roses to wire floral stems using floral tape, you can whip-stitch them at the end (the part you hold) and sew them on to almost anything for decoration, or you can pin them to a package as an added embellishment to your gifts.

Thank you for stopping by. Did you enjoy this article? Do you have something to add? If so, please leave me a comment below. I love feedback.

For more information about the me, KCC Big Country, please visit my profile page here on HubPages.

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