Valentine's Day Craft: How to Make a Homemade Valentine

If you need to get a Valentine's Day gift for a special person but don't have money to spare, you should consider this easy valentine craft. This craft can be made from materials that are lying around the house or are inexpensive to obtain. Here is how to make this easy valentine craft.

For this valentine craft, you will need:

Red or pink cloth or felt

Scissors

Glue

Seashells, sequins, buttons, or similar border ornaments.

Cardboard or cereal box

Card Stock

Valentine craft step #1: Trace out the shape of a heart on the cardboard or cereal box. You can use pen, pencil or marker; if you need to adjust lines it's OK because this part of the valentine craft will be covered up. Cut the heart shape from the cardboard.

Valentine craft step #2: Spread out the cloth on a flat surface and with pencil or chalk, trace a line half an inch out from the edge of the cardboard heart. Cut the cloth heart from the piece of cloth. Sources of cloth include old T-shirts or sweatshirts, sewing scraps, other old clothes, and crafting felt. You can also make a good T-shirt into a sleeveless t-shirt or a good sweatshirt into a sweatshirt vest or short sleeve sweatshirt to obtain the sleeve cloth for the craft. I provided the hypertext links above for instructions on these crafts.

Valentine craft step #3: Lay the cloth heart on top of the cardboard. Fold the cloth underneath the cardboard and glue the cloth to the cardboard. If the cloth bunches too much, you can cut away excess folds being careful not to let it show along the side of the valentine.

Valentine craft step #4: Glue the seashells or sequins along the border of the valentine. The common seashell that resembles a rowboat is an excellent border for this valentine craft, but as chances are you weren't thinking about Valentine's Day last summer while at the beach, so any sequins, fake gems, pasta, pennies, glass flat "stones," or similar craft material will work well. Glue a line of the craft objects or a sequence of different objects around the border of the valentine.

Valentine craft step #5: If you want to put a message on the front of the valentine craft, there are several ways to add a message to the valentine. You can glue black or dark string or yarn to make letters on the valentine. You can make letters by gluing beads or pieces of plastic to the cloth. You can write the message on a piece of fancy paper or cardstock that you can glue to the cloth or fasten to the cloth using a piece of tape folded over itself. Or you can write on the cloth with a pen or permanent marker. The valentine craft should be let to dry first before writing on it. It is wise to trace in pencil first and then fill in with the pen or marker. This message can be kept very simple or even omitted.

Valentine Craft step #6: Cut out a heart from the cardstock that is about an eighth of an inch smaller than the valentine craft. Write your romantic Valentine's Day message on the nicest side of the cardstock. The cardstock can then be glued to the back of the valentine craft to cover up the ends of the cloth.

Let the valentine craft dry overnight. You now have a unique Valentine's Day gift without breaking the bank that your loved one will cherish.