Homemade Valentines Cards: Put Love Into Your Cards by Making Them

Put a lot of love and thought in your Valentine's Day gift for your special someone by making it by hand. Time and effort will mean a lot. These projects are perfect for children, or just for anyone who is strapped for cash this year.

Make a lovely flower heart card.

For this project you will need a piece of construction paper, markers, glue, scissors and a picture of flowers. The picture of flowers can come from anything from a tissue box to a magazine picture.

Fold a piece of construction paper in half the long way. Fold it in half again. Unfold it. In the lower right-hand corner of the paper cut out a heart shape. Fold the paper again. Cut the picture of the flowers to fit and slide it in between the layers of the front page of the card. Glue it into place, and glue the construction paper closed.

Use the markers to write a personalized message for Valentine's Day on the inside.

Make a cute heart-winged butterfly card.

To prepare for this project, find one piece of construction paper of nay color, one piece of red, one piece of pink and one piece of black. You will also need one pipe cleaner, glue and scissors.

Fold one piece of construction paper in half the short way to make a card with the fold at the top. Fold the red and pink pieces of paper in half and cut out two hearts of one color and three hearts in the other color in various sizes. The sizes should vary from largest to smallest and alternate between the colors. With the papers folded, you should end up with ten hearts total.

Cut out a long football-shape out of the black construction paper for a body, and a small black heart for the head. Cut two 1-inch pieces of pipe cleaner for antennae. Glue all of the pieces together to make a butterfly with heart wings.

Make a peanut Valentine card.

All you need for this project is brown construction paper, a marker and scissors. Fold the brown paper in half lengthwise. Draw a peanut shape along the top edge of the paper. The peanut should touch the fold of the paper in two spots.

Cut out the peanut. The peanut will unfold to make a card. On the inside write "Nuts about You." This project is cute, but very fast to do. It is perfect for last minute gifts.