We have a really fun DIY Valentine tutorial for you courtesy of Kat French Design. Be sure to check out her smart, hilarious and spot-on stationery in her shop and follow her on Instagram for lots of fun posts. Thank you for letting us share your post with our readers, Kat! ...
As a lover of cards and all things handmade I decided that I wanted my son to make his own Valentine’s Day cards this year.
He is five years old and is at the stage where he loves coloring and cutting with scissors. He needed to be able to make 16 cards to give to his preschool classmates and, at first, I thought that would be way too many cards for a kid that age to make…until I realized that he could make 1 or 2 BIG CARDS and then cut them (which he loves doing) into smaller cards. BINGO.
So here's the process:
1. Print two of these Valentine’s Day card sheets (8.5″ x 11″). They are double-sided so make sure to print the fronts then run them back through the printer again to print the back sides. I printed on watercolor paper that I trimmed down to size, but it’s not necessary. You can use regular printer paper or card stock.
2. Gather watercolor supplies and let your child go to town. We talked about what colors typically symbolize love (reds, pinks, purples) and I encouraged him to use those…but any bright colors will be just fine. Let dry and flatten with by placing a heavy book on top of them overnight
3. Sign name on card backs.
4. GLITTER! (optional) Apply glue with a cotton swab then sprinkle on glitter. My son got to do the glue and I handled the glitter because that stuff is just a hot mess otherwise. Let dry.
5. Cut cards out along dashed lines.
6. (optional) If your child goes to a school that allows candy or gifts to be attached you can go ahead and use some washi tape to attach a small treat. My son’s class wasn’t allowed to do this (which I am totally thankful for).
This was a fun project that spanned several days for us which was great because it was basically three afternoons worth of crafting. Hallelujah! It also incorporated a ton of fine motor skill builders with painting, cutting and writing.
The only thing I might do differently next time would be to possibly skip the glitter step because I’m pretty sure his teachers and classmates’ parents might hate me after he brings the cards to school and gets glitter on everything. Oops…
Feel free to download the card sheets and make your own. Happy Valentine’s Day!
