Scrappy Homemade Valentine’s Day Cards

Like my birthday, I am just not really into Valentine’s Day either, but I’m trying to get better. Especially with kids and having a sister who does like to celebrate, I’m attempting to make those around me feel a bit more special. Ever since joining the blogging world, I have found myself getting a bit more excited for the change of seasons and holidays in between.

I made these cards last Saturday, and Peter had the great idea to send one to each of our grandmothers. I have a goal of using every last usable scrap from my fabric bin, and these were made in an attempt to achieve that goal.

Each of these cards is made with an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of card stock cut in half and folded.

How to make a patchwork Valentine’s Day card:

1. Cut twelve 1 1/2 inch squares of coordinating fabric.

2. Draw four lines in light pencil a quarter of an inch in from each side on the front of the card. These are guidelines to ensure your patchwork stays centered on the front of the card.

3. Using small pieces of double stick tape, arrange your squares in the center of the front of your card.

4. Using your sewing machine, quilt your blocks to secure them to the card stock. You can see I sewed my lines about an eighth of an inch inside each line. Then I sewed around the perimeter of the squares.

How to make a solid front panel homemade Valentine’s Day card:

1. Draw the same size guidelines on your card as instructed above (a quarter of an inch in on every side). These will ensure your front panel is centered on your card.

2. Cut a rectangle of fabric 5 inches by 3 1/4 inches. This should fit right on those lines you drew.

3. Secure the front panel first with a bit of double stick tape and then sew a quarter of an inch inside the perimeter of the block.

Be sure to back stitch once you make it the whole way around.

How to make a homemade Valentine’s Day card with scrappy hearts.

1. Cut out a single heart template or a variety of sizes. You can simply draw your own and choose your own size.

2. Trace the heart as many times as you need on the back side of the fabric.

3. Carefully cut out the hearts you traced onto the fabric. (These small scissors work well for small cutting.)

4. Using double stick tape, arrange your hearts on the front of the card stock.

5. Here’s the tricky part. This is an excellent project for practicing your free motion quilting!

If you have a free motion quilting foot (or darning foot) for your sewing machine, put that on. Slowly, ever so slowly, (depending on your skill level) sew around those hearts and secure them to your card stock.

If you don’t have a free motion quilting foot, use your normal presser foot and use the same recommendations I have for sewing curves that I talked about when making my homemade bibs.

Sew a few stitches. Lift the presser foot up. Rotate your card stock ever so slightly. Sew a few more stitches. Keep repeating this pattern until your have sewn all the way around your heart.

You can see in the picture below that I have a lot of work to do until my hands are steady with my free motion quilter, but I will keep practicing!

How to make a Valentine’s Day card with triangle bunting.

1. Cut a 2 1/2 inch strip of fabric. It doesn’t need to be long. From that strip, cut three triangles. I used my Kaleidoscope triangle ruler from JoAnn’s.

2. Using your double stick tape, arrange the three triangles in a bunting type pattern. These were the perfect size for lining up with the edge of the card stock.

3. Stitch about an eighth of an inch from the top of each triangle to create the bunting (or garland) type look.

This one would be great for adding a message on the front below the triangles.

These will be heading out in the mail soon to each of my grandmothers and my husband’s grandmothers. Peter and I have made a goal this year of trying to honor our grandparents, and this is one simple way we decided to accomplish that.

We linked this post to all these link-ups! Thanks to all the bloggers who host every week! Monday: Creatively Living, Skip to My Lou, Your Home Based Mom, Sugar Bee Crafts, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Lou Lou Girls Tuesday: Ladybug Blessings Wednesday: Ducks n a Row, The Melrose Family, Moonlight and Mason Jars Thursday: Happy Scraps, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Zevy Joy Friday: Remodelaholic, The Crafted Sparrow, Tatertots and Jello Saturday: Whipperberry Sunday: Nifty Thrifty Things, DIY Showoff, Making it in the Mountains