Valentine Card Ideas

Now that Valentines Day is over for another year, you might think that the time for romantic paper crafts has past, at least for now. But think again! Now is the perfect time to scrap all those wonderful photos you took this Valentines Day – photos of you and your loved ones, photos of anywhere special you went or even just a nice photo of you and your special someone together.

This layout features a photo from a very special night out – dinner on the Nepean Belle (a floating restaurant) with my husband.

This layout was created using Three Bugs In A Rug papers (Delight Rhapsody paper, Frenzy Rhapsody paper, Rapture Rhapsody paper and Thrill Rhapsody paper), chocolate brown Bazzill cardstock for the background, purple cardstock, cream cardstock for the photo mat, brown ink, purple alphabet stickers, white alphabet stickers, a black pen, a silver pen, a purple ric rac sticker (you could use a piece of ric rac), Creative Imaginations Love Borders stickers (a pink ribbon would do) and Creative Imaginations Love stickers (for the butterfly).

Not all Valentines Day layouts have to be lovey dovey or done in red and white. As you can see, this layout is predominantly purple white a touch of brown, pink and green. And, it’s not covered in hearts and images of cupid. Instead, there is a subtle butterfly with heart-shaped wings. It’s a nice understated way of featuring a romantic theme without going overboard.

Of course, this is just one idea of how you might scrap a special night out. What you choose to do is completely up to you. Just have some fun and remember, the important thing is to preserve your memories and photos so when you look back on your layout in years to come, you’ll remember what a wonderful time you had!

February 14th is recognised by many people throughout the word, particularly Christians as Saint Valentines Day. But do you know anything about Valentines Day history? What are the origins of this special day? And how did this tradition become a part of our lives.

Traditionally, Valentines Day is the day when people send cards and gifts to the ones they love, especially their romantic partners (and even hoped-for partners) expressing their love and affection for that person.

More recently, Valentines Day has expanded, particularly in the US, to include not just lovers but also special friends. Cards for friends tend to express friendly affection and appreciation of the recipient’s friendship. This can be seen by the fact that many Valentines card these days are general greeting cards rather than declarations of love.

But why do we exchange cards and gifts at all? Let’s look at a little Valentines Day history.

Who was Saint Valentine? There were many Christian martyrs named Valentine but time has reduced their stories to one and embellished that with the tale that Saint Valentine himself sent the first “valentine.” According to this story, the night before he was executed her send a note to the jailer’s daughter whom he had healed of blindness. On this note he wrote, “From your Valentine.”

Another school of thought suggests a different Valentines Day history. It argues that Saint Valentines Day started as a Christian substitute for a pagan (i.e. pre-Christian) fertility celebration that occurred annually in mid-February.

So there we have it – like many legends, a mixture of fact and fiction that led by the Middle Ages to the establishment of Valentines Day and the sending of hand-written love notes.

Valentines Day had secured its place in history and by the nineteenth century, commercial Valentine cards began to appear. These typically featured images of love hearts, cupid and doves.

It has been estimated that at least one BILLION Valentine cards are sent each year, making this day second only to Christmas.

This, of course, makes Valentines Day very profitable for the major card-makers but with a little time and imaginations, you can make more unique and personal cards for the special people in your life and create a little Valentines Day history yourself!

This is so adorable…I just had to share. What a fabulous idea!

This cute little flip book was made by Katie Sokoler of Color Me Katie. Please visit her blog for her DIY tutorial – making a cute blow-a-kiss flipbook and give your loved one a kiss he or she can keep in their pocket at all times.

Today I have a very pretty handmade Valentines Day card to share with you. This sweet card was made by Sue Poile, another gifted crafter from Australia.

Here is her handmade Valentines Day card:

To make this handmade Valentines Day card, Sue has used a SU! Simply Scrappin’ Kit called “Love Sparkles.”

I love the femininity of Sue’s design. It’s so elegant and pretty. I love the combination of different pinks, the subtlety of the word patterns on the paper, the stylish borders and of course, the attractive pink bow!

Thanks so much for allowing me to share your handmade Valentines Day card Sue! If you would like to see more of Sue’s creations, please visit her blog, Sue’s Stampin’ Designs.

Making a Valentine card can be a lot of fun but it’s not always easy to find unique and inspiring ideas! That’s why today I am thrilled to share with you an absolutely beautiful Valentine card by Melissa Phillips. It’s just stunning!

If you’re thinking of making a Valentine card, you really need to see this:

To make this Valentine card, Melissa has used Fancy Pants Vintage Valentine paper, goodies from Maya Road and Prima, Glimmer Misted doilies, rub-ons and assorted trims and embellishments.

When making a Valentine card I always try to do something different. I love how Melissa has used a heart shape as her base card and then layered papers, embellishments and more hearts on top of it. The doilies and thread really give it a heart-warming feel too! And the buttons are so cute!

I really am in love with this card. But, it’s not the only one Melissa has made. If you are thinking of making a Valentine card and want to see more of her creations, please visit her blog, Lily Bean Paperie. Thanks so much for sharing Melissa!

Today I have another cute homemade Valentines card to share with you. Or should I say unforgettable! This ‘Unfrogettable Love’ card was made by Yvonne Harlum, another fellow card maker from Down Under.

Here is her cute homemade Valentines card:

To create this cute homemade Valentines, Yvonne has used rose red cardstock stamped with Hearts and Crosses from “A Happy Heart”, chocolate chip cardstock for the mat, pink cardstock for the scallop border, white cardstock, ribbon, Unfrogetteable stamps from Stampin’ Up, Whisper White Staz-On, markers and Crystal Effects.

This card is absolutely adorable! And I love the glisten Yvonne has created on the frogs by using Crystal Effects. And the background stamp is very effective.

Thanks Yvonne for letting me share your cute homemade Valentines card. To see more of Yvonne’s wonderful creations, please visit her blog, Yvonne Harlum Card Creations.

This has to be one of my favourite Valentines Day quotes:

If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.

– Attributed to Claudia Ghandi

It’s perfect to feature on the front of any of your Valentines Day cards or as a verse inside. You could also use it for Friendship cards, Anniversary cards and general ‘I’m Thinking Of You’ cards.

Happy Valentines Day! Today is the day – the most romantic day of the year. And I have another wonderful homemade Valentine idea to share with you. This card was created by Heidi Crans, an inspiring crafter from the Netherlands.

Here is her homemade Valentine idea:

To create this homemade Valentine, Heidi has used red cardstock, grey cardstock, silver cardstock, white cardstock, her Cuttlebug, Stampin’ Up stamps, Stampin’ Up punch, Stampin’ Up Heart Blister and ribbon.

The quote reads: For you see, each day I love you, more today, more than yesterday and less than tomorrow. It’s a beautiful quote and perfect for any homemade Valentine ideas. I believe it is originally attributed to Rosemonde Gerard.

My favourite element on this card is the heart Blister from Stampin’ Up. It’s an ingenious way to feature candies (or any other three-dimensional items) on the front of your card.

I also love the three-dimensional dots on the silver cardstock. So sweet!

Thank you so much Heidi for allowing me to share your homemade Valentine idea. If you would like to see more of Heidi’s creations, please visit her blog, Heidi’s Art And Crafts. Please also visit Inkerbell Stamps, her own line of stamps.

I’m always inspired by the creativity of others and today I wanted to share with you another beautiful handmade Valentines card. This card was made by Linda Langes, a fellow Australian card maker.

Here it is:

To create this handmade Valentines card, Linda has used a bright and cheerful colour scheme of red, pink and white – just perfect for Valentines Day! The symmetrical arrangement of squares and hearts makes her design particularly appealing. I also love the way three of the squares pop out at you and the three little buttons are so cute!

Thank you Linda for allowing me to share your handmade Valentines card. I can’t wait to make one of my own! If you would like to see more of Linda’s inspiring creations, please visit her blog, A Happy Scramper.

Today I wanted to share with you a creative homemade Valentine card by another talented crafter, Danielle Flanders from Upstate NY.

And here it is:

Danielle made this creative homemade Valentine using Websters Sweet As Cherry Pie-Little Nibbles paper and Postcards From Paris – La Boutique De Jardin paper, Tattered Angels embossed chipboard, Candy Apple Red spray, stamps from the Tattered Angels Timeless Romance stamp set and ribbon.

I can’t say enough about this homemade Valentine card. I just love it! The gorgeous colours are what attracted me to it at first but there’s more to it than that. The use of chipboard gives the card dimension, the ribbons give it texture and the tag shape makes it truly unique.

I also think it’s very clever how Danielle has curved the ‘Be My Valentine’ stamp around her circle. Very effective!

Thanks Danielle for allowing me to share your creative homemade Valentine card. It’s truly inspiring. If you would like to see more of Danielle’s designs, please visit her blog, Homespun With Heart.