12 DIY Valentine's Day Cards You'll Love Making (and They'll Love Receiving) (2024)

27 Heart-Shaped Treats to Share with Your Valentine

Mitten Cards

Give a helping hand to your loved one on February 14 with these easy DIY valentines. Fold a piece of patterned wrapping paper in two, and use our template to cut out two opposing shapes. Turn the bottom inch of each "mitten" up into a contrasting cuff, then use double-sided tape to tack them down and stick the sides and bottoms of each mitten half together, wrong-sides in, leaving an opening up top. Fill with small candies, stickers, or heart notes, and commence the high-fives.

Honeycomb Pop-Up Cards

Take Valentine's Day to a new dimension with paper honeycomb pop-up cards. Just fold plain cardstock in half and glue on embellishments like cutout petals and pipe-cleaner stems. Then, draw on extra details (like the eyelashes), pen a cheeky note, and adhere a honeycomb ball or other fitting shape in the crease to complete your heart-swelling message.

Envelope Hearts

Hearts are perhaps one of Valentine's Day's biggest motifs—so why not work them into your card? Here, paper is folded into the symbol of love with a sweet message and sealed in floral-print envelopes—resulting in a heartfelt experience from open to close.

1. Cut a fat heart from paper that has a plain side and a patterned side—wrapping paper works well.
2. Lay the heart with the patterned side down. Fold in sides as shown.
3. Fold the top down just above the middle.
4. Turn the envelope so the flap is at the top, and seal with a sticker.

Garland Cards

An airplane chased by a lovey-dovey contrail, a heart-shaped lock with skeleton key, two little lovebirds sitting on a wire—these garland-style cards rely on ribbon, cord, or twine. Mixing patterned and solid-color papers helps create contrast and adds visual interest.

These cards require cutting along a fold, or making doubles to sandwich the cord between. For lovebirds, position the template so that the beak's point is right at the paper's folded edge. For heart lock, cut two lock bases, one lock front, and two keys. Sandwich the cord's ends between the duplicates and secure with double-sided tape. For the airplane, cut two fuselages and six heart clouds. Sandwich ribbon between the duplicates, and tape.

Pipe-Cleaner Kiss Cards

Make cute smooches out of bumpy pipe cleaners to adorn Valentine's Day cards. First, cut two bumps' worth of pipe cleaner. Fold the piece in half, between the bumps. Pinch the center of one bump to form the top lip. Close the mouth by twisting the open ends together, then attach the lips to cardstock with craft glue. Using a pen marker, write a heartfelt message to your valentine.

3D Cards

When you have a valentine who makes your heart go pitter-patter, return the favor. These pop-up cards are fun for both kids and beginner crafters since they call for basic scissor skills to send balloons bobbing, flowers blooming, and lips smooching.

Cut short pieces of construction paper and crimp them; glue one end to the card and the other end to a cutout shape, as we did for the lips. For the tulip and balloon designs, cut shapes with small tabs and fold the tabs to the card, letting the shapes stand out in 3D. For the heart balloons, add a strand of string.

Illustrated Cards

A crush can be more powerful than a locomotive. It can also be as sweet as a hand-delivered note or as cheerily optimistic as an upturned mailbox flag. These clip-art illustrations require a few simple cuts and a couple of pieces of tape. The little envelope acts as a card within a card, containing a secret love note or special gift card.

Print the desired illustration on cardstock. For the hand, cut with scissors, making sure to snip between the thumb and index finger. For the mailbox, print the flag on red cardstock and cut it out. With a craft knife, cut along the "U" of the door and three sides of the flag base on the mailbox. Punch a hole and secure the flag with a paper fastener. For the train, snip flaps off the envelopes and tape the envelopes to the flat beds.

Sign of Love Card

Declare your love by adding our stylish clip-art to cardstock and embellishing with stamps, glitter, decorative tape, and craft punches. Don't forget to pen a loving note on the inside for further personalization!

Accordion Cards

What better way to communicate your love to your main squeeze than with an accordion-fold card? A quick print, cut, and crease is all it takes to make a card with a trio of hearts, a big "LOVE," or sweet old XOXOs.

To make one, print a template on cardstock, cut, and trace onto the paper for the folded piece. If you're making one card, print directly on desired paper. Fold along score marks, then unfold, cut out, and refold. Position the folded piece inside the base card so it pops. Secure with double-sided tape.

Concentric Hearts Card

Here's a simply elegant idea: Customize our heart template with glitter and paper to make a card filled with love.

Playing-Card Valentines

The cards pictured here are already dressed for the occasion. Write greetings on glassine envelopes with a no-smudge marker or use an ink-jet printer.

Folded Hearts

Show your affection with every pleat of these hearts. The trick to our ruffled valentines is to cut the paper into a capsule shape first. Then fold them accordion-style, pinch them in half, and secure with tape. We made this blushing array from vellum, crepe paper, and pages from a drawing pad. Add a few strokes and splatters of paint, and seal each one with a kiss. Then, set your love notes aflutter.