Homemade Valentines from the Heart

Homemade Valentine's cards have been a tradition in our family since I was six years old and my mother helped me make them for everybody in my classroom. My mother loved artsy-craftsy things of every variety so this was always a labor of love for her. I remember one Valentine's day in particular when she purchased cute little paper doilies and glitter to construct ours out of. They were a big hit in my classroom.

Maybe this is where I've developed my own passion for homemade Valentine gifts. With five sons, I've had a lot of opportunities to indulge myself in my love of this craft. Sunday afternoon after lunch, we cleared off the dining-room table and opened a brand new package of construction paper.

Materials:

A package of 9x12 construction paper.

Scissors

A sharpened pencil.

Bottle of Elmer's Glue or any generic variety.

A package of 8x10 white paper.

A shaker of silver glitter.

A shaker of red glitter.

Two foil pie pans.

Paper cutter (Optional)

Old newspapers

Cut construction paper in half.

Then fold these larger pieces in half to form your card.

Cut additional pieces of construction paper into four equal rectangles using a variety of construction paper colors.

Fold one of the rectangles in half.

Make a half-pattern heart shape on the fold.

Cut it out and use this pattern to trace additional heart shaped patterns.

Cut white typing paper into four equal rectangles.

Then make equal squares.

Using the snowflake fold, make paper snowflake shapes.

Experiment with arranging snowflake and heart shapes on a construction paper card until you find one you like.

Glue the snowflakes and hearts to your card.

Then trace the edges of your card pattern with a narrow bead of glue.

Set your foil pie pan on your unfolded newspaper.

Place your card in the foil pie pan.

Select a color of glitter and shake it on your card until the glue is covered.

Then shake your excess glitter off of your card and into your pan.

Any excess glitter will fall on your newspaper.

This can be shaken back into your foil pan at regular intervals.

Let dry.

Then use colored markers to write an appropriate verse on the inside of your Valentine.

Depending on whether you're making one card or you're mass producing cards for your child's elementary class, this activity can take from an hour to an afternoon to construct the card itself. It will have to dry over night before you write on it so plan a second afternoon for the writing activity. Then make a stack of your cards and sit something heavy on them over night. The glue can curl the construction paper slightly, and this will make them nice and flat again.

All of the materials for this project can be bought for $15.00 or less, and there will be materials remaining. It's possible you can find the majority of your materials already in your home craft supplies.

Hunter has some difficulty with gross and fine motor control after treatment for an inoperable brain tumor. In the past I've cut a lot of the hearts out myself, but this year, I made him and his half-sister, Nia, paper patterns, gave them a demonstration of how to fold a square piece of construction paper, trace the pattern on it with a pencil and cut it out with a small pair of children's scissors. Then they made them on their own.

For a half hour we were in mass production. I cut the construction paper into four equal rectangles. Nia and Hunter folded, traced and cut. One of my goals this year was to encourage them to think outside the box. Instead of using mostly red and pink hearts, we made yellow, green, purple, peach, brown and dark blue hearts.

At first both of them totally avoided the nontraditional colors. So I picked up some brown, peach and green paper, and made them an example of what I meant about thinking outside the box. I'm not sure they were duly impressed until we added glitter to one, but then they were ready to get on board.

Yes, glitter. It's messy. It sticks to everything, including their hair and eyelashes, but its fun and they love it. I'll have glitter on my dining-room carpet a year from now, but it always takes the cards to the next level. All the ragged edges on their hearts disappear.

The snowflakes are optional, but this too, can take a homemade card to the next level. The white lacy background can make the construction paper hearts pop.

Sometimes the kids come up with their own Valentine verses. Sometimes I give them a jump start with simple ideas. They always have a favorite card for their mom and their dad, for each other and for their teachers.