DIY Vday Cards

As an avid fan of arts 'n crafts and as one who likes to upcycle...I present to you a do-it-yourself Valentine's Day card. The card is very basic and obviously most of the materials can be substituted for other items. The card takes about 30-60 minutes to complete depending on how elaborate you get. The imperfections of this card are what make it beautiful. For all you lovebirds out there, happy early Vday!

Skill level: Super easy

Materials I used:
- Old/stale red roses
- Cover of an of old phonebook (though you can use any semi-thin cardboard/paper like from food boxes or book sleeves)
- Spam snail mail
- A brush
- Scissors
- A cute/corny love quote
- Mod Podge, optional
- Paper baggage tag (I used one from some company that had been attached on a item shipped to  me), optional

Step-by-Step

1. Find a cool corny/lovey-dovey quote. I searched through lyrics of some of our (my boyfriend's and my) favorite musicians. I ended up going with Radiohead's lyrics, "I don't wanna be your friend, I just wanna be your lover."

A couple honorable mentions included:

To Athens shall the lovers wend. - The one and only Shakespeare
True love waits. - Another Radiohead song
Hallelujah, I just love him so. - Ray Charles
Backwards and forwards with my heart hanging out. -Feist

2. Dry out the petals of an old flower. I spotted a bouquet of dying roses at a friend's house and asked if I could steal the petals. She thought I was kinda weird, but said no problem. I brought the flowers home and hung them upside down for about a week. You can crunch up the petals or pull the layers apart as whole chunks. I ended up doing a combo of both.

3. Fold your main piece of cardboard. I carefully ripped the front cover of the phonebook from the binding, cut the edge off to smooth it and then folded it in half to form the outside of my card.

4. Glue spammy snail mail in the inside. To make the inside blank for a message to my lover, I took some snail mail I had received which was blank on one side. I then glued it facing down leaving a completely blank space for writing. Once you've glued yours down and it's dry, I recommend inserting a nice heartfelt message. One of those messages that will make him/her smile, and anyone else reading it queasy. Depending on how elaborate you get with the outside of the card, you may want to do this part before starting on the outside.

5. Determine the design of your card. You can get as extravagant as you desire. My art skills are limited (unfortunate for someone who loves arts and crafts, eh?), so I typically go the "less is more" route. I decided I wanted a simple quote and a heart on the outside.

6. Write the quote on the top of the outside of the card. Again, you'll want to do this part before you start the gluing, or else you'll make a big sticky mess, like I did. Or else wait until the all the glue is completely dry.

7. Start Petaling. I like the look of the exposed branded cardboard. You can cover this with recycled paper if you prefer a cleaner look. Decide what shape you want for your flower petals. I went with a heart, of course. Outline the shape, and fill it in by gluing down the crushed petals.

8. Sign the back of the card. Using the paper baggage tag, I put a little message on the blank side "Made with amor" (<--love in Spanish), signed it and attached it to the back of the card. And if you haven't yet written your inside message, now's the time!

9. Seal it. As a finishing touch, I covered the entire card in one light coat of Mod Podge.

10. Give it to your lovebird. On Valentine's Day. Badda boom badda bing.

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