Valentine’s Day is only a couple of days away, and there’s still time to make something special for the special people in your life!
The Daily Artisan encourages finding ways to be more creative in our daily lives, and there’s no better occasion than Valentine’s Day. Sure, you can purchase cards and flowers, and while they’ll be appreciated, there’s just something extra special with a gift that says you cared enough to create something unique.
It can be big or small, complicated or simple, silly or serious – just something that says you care about the special people in your life on Valentine’s Day!
Last month on my birthday, two of my friends each made a gift for me. They were thoughtful, personally-made gifts, and it meant a lot to know they cared enough to create something just for me. That’s the way Valentine’s Day can be for the people you care about — romantic, friend, co-worker, whoever!
I remember as a child having boxes of valentines with tiny little envelopes, and writing out my classmates’ names on the envelopes, and the “to” and “from” on the back of each valentine. Those were much simpler times, and we’ve lost something with the over-commercialization that happens with holidays like Valentine’s Day.
Make this your year to step back a bit in time to when the sentiment of the occasion really was what it was all about.
You could make cards, or bake treats, or buy loose flowers and arrange them into a bouquet, or write a little poem, or do anything at all that says you care on Valentine’s Day!
I’m including in this blog post photographs of some Valentine’s Day cards I’ve made. This group was made by (some or all, as applicable):
- stamping images;
- heat embossing them with gold (dry) embossing powder;
- painting the gold-embossed images with watercolors;
- die-cutting hearts and other Valentine’s Day symbols in a variety of patterned and textured papers, including red and pink velvet (an example is the gold-embossed wagon which I filled with individually-cut hearts);
- finding applicable quotes and printing them – or selecting rub-on, adhesive words and affixing them (an example of the rub-on words is “I’m yours”);
- selecting Valentine’s Day “jewels” (bling!) and satin and velvet ribbons;
- putting it all together; and
- after making the cards, making envelopes in matching papers.
All of these cards are 5″ x 7″ (with both vertical and horizontal orientations).
It doesn’t really matter what the cards say or how they look – what’s important is that you took a minute to think about the recipients and what they might like, and then you made something accordingly that no one else will receive because it’s your one-of-a-kind gift!
On Valentine’s Day, my post for The Daily Artisan will feature holiday baking and treats I’m making as gifts for some people. In the meantime, get busy creating your own valentines – you still have a couple more days!
What ideas do you have for special, handmade gifts to give on Valentine’s Day? Be sure to comment below!
