$5 V-Day Cards? I don't think so.

So on this cold Sunday, I actually convinced my love to make some Valentine's Day Cards for his parents. They live in France, so I figured it would be a great package for them to open around the 14th. Now, I know you usually make or buy Valentine's cards for your significant other and not your parents (unless your still in grade school, of course). However, on this particular day, my creativity was going crazy after being stuck in a small apartment most of the week due to the weather with nothing to do, and I couldn't make his Valentine's card with him around!

So....after gathering all the paper, ribbon, chipboard pieces, stickers, glitter, scissors, and stamps I could find, we began. Since I had already made V-day cards for his family (because I intended on mailing them last week, but again the weather never gave me the chance) I assisted him in creating some masterpieces for his parents.

Since they do live in France, of course they speak French. So the language your not going to understand, but If your needing some creative ideas, I don't think the words will play a big part. I mean honestly, if your having trouble coming up with "Happy Valentines Day, I love you", then maybe you should go spend $5 at the store.

For his mom, we created a lovely, Chantal Thomass inspired, horizontal card with a pop up inside. The front of the card is very simple to make and is really eye-catching. We used some black lace that I had, you can purchase it at any fabric store of course but craft stores such as Hobby Lobby and even Walmart carry similar lace. The good thing about making lace cards is that the lace takes up a lot of space and its about 50 cents for half a yard. We folded the card horizontal and put one simply string of lace across the front. In my opinion, If your going to incorporate lace into the card, less is more. On the inside we created a pop-up design so that when you open the card the main message is 3-D. You can do this by cutting strips of card stock a half an inch wide and about 3 inches long. you then fold the strips so they create a sort of rectangle shape when you look at them from the side. Then attach one end of the strip to the top inside of the card, and the other end to the bottom inside. Then attach your message (that you've created on separate paper) to the sides of the strip that are vertical when you open the card. To give the card a little more support its better to use card stock for the entire card. If you don't have card stock, just glue two sheets of regular paper back to back.

For his dad we created a simple card (folded like you see most cards). We used some recycled paper that was red on one side and on the other side. white with red hearts. We then put some fun, inflated stickers on the front and inside. We also put some golf ball stickers, because his dad likes golf (I wonder why...ha). Incorporating hobbies into Valentines Cards that your making for people besides your lover, is a good way to show you care about them.

The last card we made was for his brother, its the little pig you see in the picture. The pig is sort of an inside joke between all of us, but nonetheless, it was a perfect valentine to make for his brother. Valentines for siblings isn't the norm, but in this case (and with the pig) it was a must. I got this idea from cards I used to make as a kid, but at that time I would make a little dog. You take a piece of paper and fold one of the top corners to the edge of the opposing side and crease it. You then have a sailboat looking figure. Cut off the bottom of the sail boat so you have a perfectly symmetrical square. Leave the square folded so you have a triangle. Put it so you have the longest side of the triangle facing the up. Then take each of the top corners of the triangle and fold them over the from, creating the ears. Then take the top layer of bottom angle of the triangle and fold it up about an inch and fold the very tip of that point back down about a half inch. this little triangle you have just created makes the nose. You then draw in the eyes, and tongue, color the nose and if your creating a dog you can even add spots. The open the mouth and on the inside you can write your message.

After creating your Valentine(s), instead of creating an envelope create a heart sleeve. Get a piece of paper, fold in the corners of one side so that they meet in the middle, and then attach them using tape, staples, or like I did using ribbon. Now that you have the bottom point of the heart you just have to cut the heart shape out of the top and voila!