Your Queen of Hearts Valentine Card
comes alive as a Victorian paper doll

(click here for a larger Queen of Hearts Valentine Card image)

Queen of Hearts Valentine illustrations appeared early in the 1800s, as parlor card-playing grew in popularity. Part of the Valentine imagery, it seems, was linking romance with a game of chance.

Our design for this whimsically updated Queen of Hearts Valentine card was inspired by another Victorian  passion - paper dolls.

We fashioned the Queen from several vintage image sources. This is a technique we unromantically call "Frankensteining." Her face and body are reproduced from an authentic Edwardian playing card. Her crown comes from an 1880 encyclopedia illustration. Arms from a German die-cut "scrap" of a young girl, and bloomers and legs from a similar "scrap" of a clown. Her heart-shaped dress bears the 18th Century nursery rhyme, "The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts..."

Brass grommets hold her together, but you might use brads, paper fasteners, or glue. All you need are our FREE vintage clip art images, red cardstock, and some basic tools!

Materials for this Queen of Hearts Valentine Card

• Vintage images and template (FREE PDF download).
• Cardstock, red, 8.5" x 11".
• Lightweight textured paper, like classic laid or linen finish, white, 8.5" x 11".
  
• Double-stick tape, glue stick or paper glue.
• Grommet setter and brass grommets, or small brads (paper fasteners).
• Foam mounting tape or squares (see Tips).
• Decorative-edge scissors or other decorative cutter (see Tips).
• Paper cutter or scissors.
• Detail scissors or manicure scissors.
  
• Ruler.
• Bone folder.

Instructions 

1. Trim red card stock to 10" x 7". Fold it to a 5" x 7" vertical card, scoring and burnishing with the bone folder.
2. Print the vintage images (just page 1) on matte or glossy photo paper or cardstock. Trim the playing card background and each of the figure elements carefully with detail scissors.
   
   
3. To round the corners of the playing card, align a penny at the corner edges, trace the curve lightly with a pencil, and trim with scissors. The photo here shows us tracing on the front of the card, but it is better to trace on the back so you don't have to erase the pencil marks. You can also use a corner-rounder paper punch.
   
4. Attach the crown to the top of the Queen's head with tape or paper glue.
5. Assemble the Queen in a reasonably anatomical fashion. Attach all of the body parts with grommets or brads in this order; legs behind the dress, arms over the torso, and torso over the dress.
   
6. Attach the playing card background to the front of the folded card, centered or at a little angle (as we did) with double-stick tape or paper glue. Attach the Queen of Hearts figure to the front of the card with several foam mounting squares, to give her some dimension.
   
7. Print the inside message pages (just page 2) on lightweight decorative paper. Trim away the guidelines with a paper cutter, and trim the bottom with decorative-edge scissors. Attach the message page of your choice inside the card with a strip of double-stick tape or glue across the top. By all means, come up with a message meaningful to you, and personalize it for your sweetie! "Play with me, Valentine," "From your Queen of Hearts," and "From your little tart on Valentine's Day" all come to mind.
   
8. That's the basic Queen of Hearts Valentine card. She can always benefit from some royal embellishing. Bright red glitter on the hearts. Silver glitter highlights for her crown, cuffs and shoes. Some tasteful distressing on the edges. Give her a glittery toothpick scepter topped with a heart. Anything goes!

Tips

• We attached the Queen of Hearts paper doll to the front of the card with a few squares of foam mounting tape to add some dimension. You may want to use glue or double stick tape, or add another grommet in her crown and the top of the card and tie her on with ribbon.
  
• For instant Victorian frill, you can't beat decorative-edge scissors. For the bottom edge of our message insert in the card, we used our Fiskars scissors design called "Sunflower." You might prefer using a rotary paper edger, or try creating a rougher deckle edge by tearing or sawing the paper.

Note: If you like this Queen of Hearts Valentine card, we have ten more exclusive Valentine card designs in our e-book, Ten Vintage Valentine Greetings to Make. Check it out!