Retro Valentine's Day Cards

Retro Crafting

Valentine Cards

One of my favorite grade school activities was crafting Valentine cards for my classmates, friends, and family. To be fair, I wasn't overly fond of school and any excuse to spend a day with scissors and construction paper was fine by me, but there was always something special about Valentine crafts. There's something about poorly-fashioned paper hearts covered in glitter and doilies that says "I care" better than any store bought gift. 

Receiving a Valentine isn't something that happens much anymore in this day and age, could you imagine your surprise if you found a big red paper heart in your mailbox? I know people should show each other they care daily, we shouldn't need a specific day, but the truth is we lead busy, hectic lives and it's very easy to forget to show our appreciation for each other. 

So this year, instead of rushing to the store to buy something cheap and impersonal, why not sit down and craft something from the heart for that special someone in your life?

I could write a step-by step tutorial on how to do that, but that wouldn't be very personal, right? So instead here are some tips and suggestions.

Materials

You can use anything your little heart desires, but here are a few suggestions:

• red and pink paper
• glitter
• glue 
• paper doilies
• retro card printouts
• candy hearts
• dried flowers
• paint and markers
• ribbons

Crafting

Be creative! Cut out hearts, pictures from magazines, card printouts, and glue them all together. Cover them in glitter, flowers, doilies, ribbon, and sweet sayings. 

Make them as big or as small, as simple or extravagant, as personal or platonic as you'd like. 

If you have kids, cut out a bunch of different sized hearts and allow them to put them together how they'd like. 

Giving Them Out

Valentines can be handed directly to the recipients or hidden somewhere they'll find them. Mailing one to a friend you don't see very often is a great way to show them you're thinking about them,