Valentine's D.I.Y

Hey guys! It’s almost Valentine’s day so I thought I would do a little Valentine D.I.Y. - I created a couple of valentine’s cards and a box envelope which is actually pretty simple to make, but may take a little while. I personally think homemade cards are much cuter than just going and buying one because it comes from the heart and you can personalize it your own way. 

These are the two I made. They are both pretty different. The first one is more fancy with a heart and design while the other one is a more fun version of a valentine card. 

I also made a box envelope because not only can your card fit in it, but you can also fit in a little something extra like candy! I threw in some hershey’s kisses and hugs and some classic heart chocolates. I just threw them in there but if you prefer a more organized look then you could also do up little treat bags or just buy something that fits in there nicely. 

If you want to know how to make these then just continue reading… :D

To make these I just used card stock paper because it’s just perfect for making cards. I cut it in half, and then folded one half into a card. So each sheet could make two cards. 

I’ll start with the heart one. This one is pretty fun and easy to make. I literally just went to my kitchen and took a sheet of aluminium foil and folded it in half to make it a little thicker. There’s a type of tin paper you can get for this which is much thicker but I forget what it’s called and therefore I don’t know where to find it. So, aluminium foil will do. :) Also, you’ll want a sheet of foam paper to place in under this because we need it to be soft to create the pop-out effect in the design in the heart. 

Using a mechanical pencil (with no lead), I just simply outlined a heart into the foil making sure not to press to hard (or it will tear through) but yet, not too lightly (so it pops out on the other side.) Once you have a heart in the size that you want you just continue with making your design inside. I just started drawing random doodles and ended up with this. 

I drew another heart outside of this one to cut along. Once I finished cutting out that heart, I flipped it over and I used that side for my card. Once you figure out where you want to place your heart, then you can add your font. I just googled some fancy fonts and probably chose the worst one because it was a little annoying to draw. I went with the simple, “Happy Valentine’s Day” . I filled it in with a fine point permanent maker. If you are using a cheaper version of card stock paper, I find that colouring it in with a black pencil lead first helps it come out more smooth and prevents any bleeding through so the inside still looks clean. You can leave it like that or you can just fill in the bottom with a little design like I did if you feel it’s too plain. And then you’re finished. You can just add your own personal message on the inside. 

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For the second one, I decided I wanted something cute so I chose penguins. I quickly sketched out my idea first on tracing paper to see how it would fit. Then I got out a few reference pictures to get a little idea on how to draw them (or you can always just find a picture and trace it if you prefer. :) ) I drew it on tracing paper as well just incase I made any mistakes. 

To transfer the picture to my card, I turned it over and traced it through the back and then flipped it back over and placed it where I want it to be on my card (as you can see below.) Then, all you have to do is trace over the lines that you drew and it will transfer onto the card! How easy is that. 

(Trace the back, then retrace the front onto the card ^)

Penguins are, of course, very awkward and adorable so I thought “Let’s be awkward together” was well fitting to both the penguins and a cute slogan for valentine’s. I just wrote out that in my own hand writing, which is so much simpler than any fancy font. I coloured in the penguins with water colour pencils because it’s easier than using water colour paints. But you can really colour your picture with whatever you want. And that’s it. Again, you can just personalize the inside with your own words to a friend or family member, or loved one. :)

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Man, these are a lot of words. But moving on, To make the envelope is also pretty easy. Honestly, this was me just wingin’ it through this whole project. I thought of the idea in my head and thought, how am I going to make a boxed envelope. And this was the result of that. That also means that I was taking these pictures after I was making each part, even though I had no idea what I was doing or how it would turn out. I’m glad I didn’t screw it up. 

To make the envelope, I traced that card but left a tiny edge around it so the card will fit in nicely. At the top of these rectangles I drew in an extra segment as you can see in the photo. This is for the sides of the box. Therefore the width should be as wide as you want the box. If you want a more narrow box, make it small, if you want a roomier box, draw them bigger. At the end of these extra segments I drew a tab so that it will make it easy to glue the box together. It doesn’t matter what size you make it, as long as it’s big enough for some glue. You can just cut these two large shapes out and fold that tabs. Next, just glue the tabs to the inside of the box, like so.

For the bottom, you’ll need another rectangle the same size as the other two you used for the sides. Along with that, I drew a triangle to fold up over the front. You just need to make it long enough to fit up over half of your envelope. You can just add some tabs and the sides of the rectangle which I had forgotten to do and just added them later. I did the same for the top. Make sure both triangles are long enough to connect. For the top part, you won’t really need and side tabs, just the main one to connect it to the box. 

This part is optional. Once you have these glued to your box, you’ll want a hole puncher to punch some holes along the top back of your box and along the top like so. If you’re like me, then just poke some holes through with a pencil or something. I actually prefer it that way because the holes are smaller. From there, take a piece of string and start weaving through however you like. 

You can decorate the look however you want. I just decorated with little hearts all over the part not covered by the folds and also the sides and then just added a cute little sticker to seal it. 

And Wala! You're finished! It's a lengthily blog post, but this is actually really simple to make once you start. Just fill it up with a few chocolates or a little gift and that's it.

 I hope you guys like this.