Valentine's Day is all fine and dandy I guess, I've never been that into it. These days (hah, I sound old) I think of it more as a time to love your family and friends, not just your significant other!
So my work just moved a few doors down from a scrapbooking store (yikes!), and I wandered in there the other day. Right smack when you walk in was a huge display of Valentine's Day inspired items. Aka, the cutest papers you have ever seen. So right then and there I decided I wanted to make Valentines for not just Chris, but other people in my life that I love. So I went around and picked up various papers here and there.
I was making these tonight, took a few pictures, and decided I'd do a little blog tutorial. So hopefully I inspire a few of you to make some cute, cheap and easy cards :)
Supplies:
-A variety of cardstock. I picked up plain white, rose and chocolate.
-Some cute scrapbooking paper, valentine-ish.
-Scissors! Regular old scissors work fine. Bonus if you happen to have any funky ones.
-A good black pen. Other colors if you want, but black is my go-to. Silver pens are great to have as well (awesome for dark colored paper!).
-Some type of scrapbooking adhesive (see picture below). I like the rollers, but the little sticky square are fine too :) Notice I am very technical with my terms.
-Paper cutter. Not mandatory, but nice (and very handy) to have.
**Other ideas: this could be a very long list, but, any fabric, felt, stickers, vellum, etc. If you have it laying around and it'll work for v-day cards, go for it.
-A variety of cardstock. I picked up plain white, rose and chocolate.
-Some cute scrapbooking paper, valentine-ish.
-Scissors! Regular old scissors work fine. Bonus if you happen to have any funky ones.
-A good black pen. Other colors if you want, but black is my go-to. Silver pens are great to have as well (awesome for dark colored paper!).
-Some type of scrapbooking adhesive (see picture below). I like the rollers, but the little sticky square are fine too :) Notice I am very technical with my terms.
-Paper cutter. Not mandatory, but nice (and very handy) to have.
**Other ideas: this could be a very long list, but, any fabric, felt, stickers, vellum, etc. If you have it laying around and it'll work for v-day cards, go for it.
Step 1:
Take a sheet of cardstock (mine were 12"x12") and cut into quarters. These will be the "base" of your cards, if you will. Repeat for as many as you plan on making.
Note: I didn't only use the plain cardstock as the "base" of my cards, I used some patterned ones, too :)
Take a sheet of cardstock (mine were 12"x12") and cut into quarters. These will be the "base" of your cards, if you will. Repeat for as many as you plan on making.
Note: I didn't only use the plain cardstock as the "base" of my cards, I used some patterned ones, too :)Step 2:
Cut and semi-assemble (don't glue yet) your other "pretty" papers (and/or fabric!) with your squares. I mainly just cut squares and rectangles...kept it easy. If you happen to have more time, this is where you can get creative by cutting different shapes, layering, etc.
Once you kind of have an idea of some various designs, start laying them out like I have below. Again, you don't need to glue anything down yet.
Cut and semi-assemble (don't glue yet) your other "pretty" papers (and/or fabric!) with your squares. I mainly just cut squares and rectangles...kept it easy. If you happen to have more time, this is where you can get creative by cutting different shapes, layering, etc.
Once you kind of have an idea of some various designs, start laying them out like I have below. Again, you don't need to glue anything down yet.
Step 3:
Now that your designs are all laid out, you can use any of the special scissors you have to make any paper edges pretty. This is optional of course.
Now that your designs are all laid out, you can use any of the special scissors you have to make any paper edges pretty. This is optional of course.
Step 4:
Finish your assembling and glue, glue, glue!
Finish your assembling and glue, glue, glue!
Step 5:Now that everything is all adhered together, you can add stickers, stamps, and write your little love notes. And that's all, folks!
I realize that most of this is really simple, but I just wanted to show you guys that is IS actually easy. Especially making a bunch at once, plus it's cheaper than buying your standard $3, $4 cards :) Plus, who doesn't love a cute handmade card?
PS, it took me about an hour to do 10 cards.
