Not so long ago in our country came to the tradition of celebrating the feast of St. Valentine's Day or, as it is otherwise called, Valentine's Day. On this day, it is customary to give loved ones not only gifts, but also original cards, small valentines. Usually these are simple little hearts that are in any stationery store. But after all, on such a day, you want something special, non-standard, to invest a piece of the soul as a gift to your loved one.
How to make a valentine with your own hands in different ways will be discussed later in the article, but first we recall what kind of tradition it is, where it came from and who Valentine is.
A bit of history
The holiday of all lovers, or Valentine's Day, is associated with a very beautiful legend, which tells about the cruelty of the Roman emperor Claudius II, who forbade lovers to marry, wanted men to be free from family, children and served in the emperor's troops. The modest and quiet priest Valentine, under cover of night, performed secret rituals, joining the bonds of marriage of lovers. The authorities learned about the actions of the clergyman and imprisoned him, where he fell in love with the guard's daughter. Before his death, he wrote her a note in which he talked about his feelings. The signature on the letter is Your Valentine.
Even before his execution, his miraculous abilities appeared. Going to execution, Valentine handed a farewell letter to his family through a blind girl, who, after touching a note, received her sight. The event took place on February 14, 269. Since then, many centuries have passed before the tradition of celebration came into the life of people. Only in the 14th century they introduced a holiday in England and gradually began to celebrate in many countries of the world.
On Valentine's Day, it is customary to give valentines to lovers. These are such small gifts, usually in the shape of a heart. The article presents the ideas of valentines, consider some interesting options for congratulating girls and boys, married and couples with children. We will tell you in detail how to make them yourself at home.
Craft from felt
How to make a valentine's DIY felt felt? Very easy. In stores of sewing accessories you need to buy one sheet of red felt. Still need kapron threads, a needle and a filler. You can use cotton wool or synthetic winterizer. On cardboard with a pencil you need to draw a heart template. So that its side details are symmetrical, you can draw only half and cut with scissors, folding the paper in half.
Then the template is transferred to the fabric and cut out along the contours. Do-it-yourself valentine’s hearts sew together, but not completely. A small incision is left to insert the filler inward. After the synthetic winterizer is beautifully straightened inside the craft, you can complete the seam to the end. The knot is tied and hidden with a needle between the layers of fabric. Such a valentine can be given to a girl on Valentine's Day by a guy in love. This gift, although small, is very hidden and warm to the touch. The girl will be able to carry it in her pocket, constantly remembering her friend. It is possible to present such a heart not by itself, but with a ring located on top of the fabric. After all, any girl in love wants to hear a marriage proposal on such a day.
Love tree
If the couple is married or lives together in a civil marriage, then for the holiday you can decorate a room or bedroom with twigs placed in a vase on a shelf or on a table. Paper valentines are attached to each twig . These are voluminous crafts that are hung on a tree on strings, like Christmas tree decorations. You can create them of any color, combining with the main shade of the holiday - red.
How to make valentine hearts with your own hands? For each craft, you will need to cut several identical hearts according to the template, they should be small in size. Then each part is folded in half and glue is applied to the half with a brush.
Then the parts are fastened together with the side plastered parts. In the middle of the top, they make a hole with an awl and thread a thread tied to a knot. When a sufficient number of volumetric valentines is made, you can start decorating tree branches. Hearts are hung evenly on all branches.
Valentine's card for a girl from a loving guy
Any guy can do this craft. You will need bright red thick threads, nails, a hammer, a piece of wood. The gift base can also be cut out in the shape of a heart, if there is a manual or electric jigsaw. How to make a valentine with your own hands? It is necessary to draw the contours of a large heart on a wooden surface. Then, on a line at a close distance from one another, small nails are hammered. It is advisable that their hats be smooth, uniform and beautiful.
Next, we will tell you how to knit a valentine-heart from threads. Here you need to act in a chaotic manner. First, the thread is tied to any of the pins. Then begins the movement of the threads from one nail to another, the opposite, pulling it through the middle. When the winding is dense enough, the end of the thread is tied to the nearest nail.
Door decoration
For the holiday of all lovers, you can make a beautiful and spectacular wreath on the front door. It can be placed in the office, a private house or on the door of the room. For the manufacture of such an original Valentine’s DIY, you will need newspapers. Yes, do not be surprised, everything is collected from newspaper tubes. They are made using spokes and PVA glue. Tight newsprint or a sheet from a glossy magazine is wound tightly on a thin knitting needle (you can take a wooden skewer). At the end, the last turn is smeared with PVA glue and attached to the rest.
How to make a valentine with your own hands from prepared newspaper tubes, read on in the article. From a thick cardboard of large size, you need to cut a ring in the shape of a heart. The width of the crafts should be 5-6 cm, so that when gluing with tubes the base was not visible.
Long tubes are cut into short pieces. Then, in turn, each part is smeared with glue and attached to the base. After the whole ring is framed, you can paint the craft in red using paint in a spray can. You can initially use beautiful paper in pink or red with a print pattern. But it will be quite expensive in monetary terms.
Additionally, you can decorate this piece of decor with an inner small cardboard heart of red color, suspended on a thread in the center. To surround the valentine hanging on the door, you need to tie a ribbon or strip of fabric to it and tie it on a beautiful bow.
Beautiful card
Do-it-yourself valentine cards can be created from paper flowers. For the background, select stationery paper with a printer drawing of small hearts. On the eve of the holiday they have an extensive assortment of such paper. It can be fixed on some solid base, for example, on cardboard. Looks beautiful on the perimeter of the square osnovaniya, made of paper of a different color. It is advisable to use contrasting shades, as in the photo below in the article. If the background is gray, then pink and red roses will look more spectacular.
Do-it-yourself flowers for Valentine's greeting cards need to be done by curling paper. For the manufacture of each rose, a thin long strip is cut, on which a wavy line is drawn on one side, which is cut after application with scissors. The decorative edge depicts rose petals, and a flat one is located below. To make a beautiful rose, paper is twisted around the stem. You can use a pencil or a wooden skewer.
Roses make different sizes and heights. They are located on paper in the shape of a heart. In the craft, small and large roses, flowers of different colors alternate. Valentines on Valentine's Day can be done in different ways. Flowers can be from satin ribbons or felt. It is not necessary to use roses, you can make other flowers. Instead of flowers, you can decorate the heart with bows or napkins.
Paper heart
To make such a valentine out of paper, you need to cut out two rectangles of white and pink. Then, in the middle of each, several cuts must be made. To do this, you first need to round the edges of the parts and fold the shapes in half. Then you need to draw several lines at an equal distance from the fold inward. But they must not be drawn to the end.
When the slices are completed, they begin to stack the rectangles between each other, alternating the stripes in a checkerboard pattern. Weaving begins as follows:
- Hold the pink part in your left hand and the white in your right.
- The first strip of the white rectangle is inserted into the first loop of the pink.
- Bind it through the second loop of the pink piece.
- So continue to the end of the row.
- The next strip is passed through the other way round; the pink edge is inserted into the white loop.
When all the strips are stitched together in a checkerboard pattern, then you get such a valentine's card for Valentine's Day, as in the photo above.
Valentine card to husband
A loving wife for the holiday of all lovers can make a very sweet and gentle gift. But this will only work if the couple has a common child. After all, a gift is an imprint of small palms on a salt dough. Such a medallion can be kept as a keepsake for many years, remembering your tender feelings for the child and spouse.
It is not difficult to make such a gift, it is enough to knead the salt dough according to the following recipe:
- one glass of wheat white flour;
- the same amount of Extra fine salt;
- half a glass of cold water.
Everything is thoroughly mixed and the finished dough is rolled out into a 2 cm thick sheet. First, be sure to check that there are no wounds and scratches on the baby's palms, as salt can cause a burning sensation. If the child felt unpleasant sensations, hands should be washed under water and greased with baby cream.
In the middle of the valentine’s husband, a hole for the ribbon is made for her husband. It remains to dry the imprint of the child. This can be done in the oven, near the fireplace or central heating battery. When everything is dry, you need to open the craft with acrylic varnish.
Gift pillow
Soft pillows can be presented to anyone: husband, wife, friend, and groom. The main thing is not the material, but the image on it. Funny valentines can be sewn with your own hands. If you do not find, look for such items in online stores. If you still decide to sew such funny pillows on your own, then making the pattern simple. It is enough to know the dimensions of the pillow and cut out two square pieces of fabric, adding to the dimensions an additional couple of centimeters at the seams. Also prepare a padding pad for filling.
Application can be made of felt sheets. They are often used in the sewing of soft toys, since the edges of the matter do not crumble, a huge selection of colors for sale. Thumbnails of pictures can be found on the Internet.
According to the pattern, the contours are outlined in chalk directly on the fabric, parts are cut out and stitched or glued together. If the pillow is decorative, then you can stick the picture. If it will be used for its intended purpose, it is better to sew the elements on your own.
Soft toy
Another variant of a funny Valentine is sewing a soft toy for a loved one. This craft can be presented more likely to a young girl than a guy. Remotely, this owl looks like a heart with handles. It is sewn from felt of red color. To decorate with small details, you will also need sheets of white, pink, black and orange.
On a sheet of cardboard, you need to draw the shape of the bird's body. This is easy enough to do. Two identical parts are cut according to the template, which are stitched, but not completely. A synthetic winterizer is inserted into the remaining hole and neatly straightened inside. Then everything is sewn to the end. If you decide to add hands, like an owl on a sample, then they also need to be sewn into the central part of the craft.
Then work begins on small details. Two pink hearts are cut on the owl’s stomach: one is large and the other is smaller. Round eyes of white color with black pupils are sewn on the bird’s head. To make the muzzle funny, place the black dots close to one another. A triangular orange beak is sewn in the middle.
Interesting ideas
Let's look at a few more options for valentines that are easy to make with your own hands. If you cook well, you can bake heart-shaped cookies for dinner. If you like tinkering with wood, you can make a casket in the traditional form for your girlfriend for this holiday. Beautiful crafts are obtained using the quilling technique. This is a curl of paper strips. You can cut out a heart from cardboard, and then decorate it with different quilling elements - flowers, leaflets, drops, curls and other elements.
A man can weave a woman a valentine from ropes or threads, leather straps and make a bracelet with a heart.
A picture for Valentine's Day can be made of plywood or thick cardboard. You can cover the craft with any materials: strips of paper, pebbles, shells, artificial flowers or satin ribbons, newspaper tubes, tree bark, eggshells or beads. You can make a border with rhinestones or small plastic figures.
If you are strong in weaving, then use your abilities to create valentines. And if a girl knits well, then for a holiday you can knit a valentine from yarn for a young man. It will be as pleasant to the touch as a felt craft. If you make a little Valentine, the guy will be able to carry it in his coat pocket and on cold days to warm his hands, remembering a caring girlfriend.
Conclusion
Valentine's ideas may be different, but whatever you make with your own hands for Valentine's Day, your soulmate will appreciate not so much a work of art as a manifestation of attention, a desire to show your feelings. If a guy spends time making valentines, then even if he doesn’t succeed, a girl who really loves a young man will certainly be very grateful for the gift.
So try, try, if you want, you will succeed!