A vibrant pop-up heart card for your sweetie on Valentine's Day

A handmade card is a wonderful way to say “I love you” on Valentine’s Day. This classic pop-up design is embellished with vintage images of cupid and a loving couple, and some specialty papers. Easy enough for kids to make!

Materials

• Vintage images
• Message text - "My heart leaps for you Valentine."
• Heart template and cutting instructions.
• Card stock or a blank notecard, 7“ X 10 5/16”. Heavy matte photo paper is good for this. You’ll want a matching 5 1/4” X 7 1/4” envelope, too.
• One 8.5” X 11” sheet of deep red paper.
• One 8.5" X 11" sheet of pink paper.
• One 8.5” X 11” sheet of hand-made paper or parchment, for printing the text.
• Glue stick or other paper adhesive.
• Scissors or craft knife (or razor blade) and cutting mat. A paper cutter is best for cutting the notecard stock.
• Decorative edge scissors, in scallops or deckle-edge design.
• Glitter glue or dimensional paint for edging.

Instructions

1. Score and fold your blank notecard across the width, to 7” X 5 1/8”.
2. Using the template and instructions, fold and cut the red paper to create the heart pop-up. Save the remaining paper.
3. Open the card and lay it flat, with the crease vertical. Place the heart pop-up directly on the middle crease with the mountain folds (folds that point up) in line with the crease. Glue down the two hearts on the right and left. Do not glue the top and bottom hearts which fold up when the notecard is closed.
4. Cut a rectangle of pink paper with scallop scissors, about 1/2" smaller than the length and width of your front cover. Glue it in the center of the cover as a background
5. Print the text on the hand-made or parchment paper. Cut out each word with deckle-edge scissors, or rip them out carefully. Glue them to the Valentine cover and inside.
6. Cut out the vintage images in heart shapes. Make a small template first, about 2” high for the cupid image. Just cut along the heart outline for the image of the loving couple.
7. Using the leftover red paper, cut out a heart with your scallop scissors, a little bigger than your cupid image. Glue the cupid image in the center.
8. Glue your message pieces where you like them. Glue on the images. If you wish, outline your inside image with dimensional paint or glitter glue

Tips

• Try some different messages. The inside of the pop-up hearts looks like a star, so how about “You are my star” or maybe “Pop goes my heart” – need we go on?