Making Homemade Valentines

You can help your child make thoughtful, homemade valentines and establish a fun family tradition at the same time.

Valentines from the past were ornate, feminine and lavish, featuring detailed drawings of cupid, roses, doves and lace in subdued shades of red and pink.

To make your own vintage-style valentines, choose quality supplies. Use good quality craft paper and glue or rubber cement.

Supplies

• Solid color paper and card stock in shades of red, pink, burgundy, white, cream and lavender, with accent colors in whatever you wish.
• Patterned paper sheets, which can be found in the craft store's scrapbooking department. Look for paper with old-fashioned patterns and an "aged" look.
• Lace, from the fabric and sewing department.
• Rickrack and other trim.
• Paper doilies.
• Adhesive letters.
• Rubber stamps, die-cut shapes, clip art and illustrations of your choosing.

Accordion-Style Folded Valentine
Fold a sheet of red 11-by-17-inch paper into fourths, accordion style. You'll have a cover and four inside pages to your valentine. Decorate the cover, and write a message that starts on the first inside page and continues to the last.

You may also want to make heart-shaped holes, using a heart die-cutter, in all but the last sheet. On the last sheet, attach a heart-shaped button or other three-dimensional decoration that can be seen through the front.

Cupid Valentine
Cut an 8½-by-11-inch sheet of pink card stock into quarters, leaving four rectangles, 4½-by-5½ inches each. Punch two holes at the top of each sheet, and thread a piece of ribbon through the holes, tying a bow in the front. Glue a die-cut or clip art drawing of cupid in the center and decorate the edges to your choosing, using lace, contrasting ribbon or other trim. You'll wind up with four valentines.

Other Ideas for Decorating Vintage Valentines
If you're using lace trim, glue a tiny white pearl bead in the center of some of the holes in the lace. Follow the pattern of the lace and place the bead in a repeating pattern for a uniform look.

You can also burn the edges of off-white paper by carefully holding the paper edge over a candle flame and blowing out the flame as soon as it catches the paper. Mount the burned-edge paper onto the front of a card stock rectangle, leaving an edge to frame it.