Monday, February 2, 2009

Valentines Craft Ideas - Making Your Own Valentine Cards


Valentines Craft Ideas - Making Your Own Valentine Cards


Valentine's Day is a time to show our partners how much we love them. It's a time of flowers, chocolates, and special dates. And last but not least, it's a time for Valentine cards.


Greeting card companies make lots of money in the weeks before Valentine's Day. After all, no one wants to be the one who neglected to give the love of their life a special greeting! But you don't have to buy the same cards everyone else is giving. Creating your own is so much more special.


You don't have to be a celebrated artist to make a great Valentine card. Even if you can't draw, paint or even cut out shapes, you can still create a memorable greeting for your love. Here are some ideas:


1. Use greeting card software to design a card and print it out on card stock. You could use a ready-made design and verse, but most programs will also allow you to create a card from scratch. You can include clip art, photos, and your own special message.


2. Are you a scrapbooker? Use your scrapping skills to create a beautiful Valentine. Find some pretty card stock, add photos and embellishments, and write a thoughtful message. You could use photos of you and your partner throughout the years, pictures from your honeymoon, or favorite candid snapshots.


3. Hearts made out of construction paper add a whimsical touch to a handmade Valentine card, and they're really easy to make. Just fold a piece of construction paper in half, draw half a heart with the center at the fold, cut out, and unfold. Glue the hearts onto paper doilies before adding to the card for an endearing look with very little effort.


4. Are you brimming with design ideas but unsure what words to use on the card? Quote a poem or some song lyrics. You might even want to include a CD single of the song or a recording of someone (perhaps you) reciting the poem.


5. Include some coupons. Not grocery or car wash coupons, but coupons that are good for favors and special nights out when presented to you. You could make coupons for backrubs, dinner and a movie on you, a trip to an event of your significant other's choosing, a walk in the park, and all sorts of other things.


Creating a special Valentine card for the one you love is a sweet and inexpensive way to let him or her know you care. Whether you simply add a special message to a pre-designed card made with greeting card software or break out the craft supplies and make something totally unique, the thought you put into it will make your Valentine feel truly special.


Creative Cards: 40 Projects for Handmade Invitations, Greeting Cards, Gift Wrap and More


People just love handcrafted gifts. There is something about them that just says that they are quality products made by caring hands. Even handmade cards and gift products are better than Hallmark any day of the week.


Creative Cards is a how-to guide to turning plain paper into personalized and unique gift cards, boxes, bags, tags, and wrapping paper. With this book you will learn how to transform plain paper into something special. It even shows you how to wrap a gift for a beautiful presentation.


You will learn all the basics, such as using a bone folder, embellishing edges, choosing the right adhesive, working with 3-D decorations, stamping, gilding, die-cutting, and folding, with lots of how-to photographs. So you can be making quality handmade gift giving products in no time.


Projects are suited to making a single card or large quantities, and are coded to indicate how long they may take to complete. Tip boxes offer handy pointers and there are ready-to-use templates at the back of the book plus a section on choosing and laying out text on a computer. Creative Cards takes you step-by-step through each project. There are even templates for a couple of the projects.


The step-by-step projects include:


  1. Baby shower invitation
  2. Birth announcement
  3. Children's party invitation
  4. Birthday card for a man
  5. Wedding folder
  6. 50th anniversary card
  7. New home
  8. Valentine
  9. Halloween
  10. Christmas card

For the occasional crafter or the experienced hobbyist, Creative Cards is loaded with expert advice and vibrant inspiration.


Tell the recipient of your gift that he's special. Use Creative Cards to help you make the gift really say what you feel

No comments: