DIY Felt Valentine’s Day Cards

PS – Before I go any further, there are 25 more great Valentine’s Ideas after this post as part of our Canadian Blogger Valentine’s Day Hop! Scroll down to the end to see them!

I was going to do a food craft for Valentine’s Day this year – yes I said food, possibly a beverage – but our kitchen is in shambles right now. So I went to do what I do best. Cards.

As I went through my Project Gallery of card crafts I was really surprised that I had not yet made any Valentine’s Cards with felt, because I love felt. LOVE. So much craft potential. With felt you get fun stuff like this:

Twig Wreath with Felt Leaves

Felt Christmas Cards

Felt Gift Card Bags 

Felt Chain Garland

Felt Rosette Tea Bags

That DIY rosette tea bag is one of my favourite felt projects. It actually was done for our previous Valentine’s Day hop. It was a gift for one of my daughter’s teachers. Yes I went through a very heavy phase of using white backdrops for every single photo. That’s changing because I feel like I am competing with a GAP ad.

Onto the cards. Materials I used:

• Felt (I got mine from Michael’s)
• Sharp fine detail scissors like these
• Glue gun
• Wood coffee stir sticks
• Heart paper punches in a big size and a smaller one
• Card stock
• Gift tags

I don’t have any official tutorials for these because I tend to just make them up as I go, so I hope at the very least they can serve as an inspiration for your own crafts. But I do have a big trick on how how to cut felt into shapes and words more easily. This was inspired by Marisa at Omiyage Blogs who runs a site that is a crafter’s paradise (go visit it!) as she does a lot cut out shapes and projects with washi tape. So one day I asked her how she makes her washi tape shapes and she said she uses wax paper or parchment paper, puts the washi tape over it, then cuts out the shapes and pulls off the shape in it’s entirety. Pretty genius right?

Here is an example of a washi tape heart I made using that trick:

So I thought maybe we can apply this technique to felt and fabric.

The catch is felt and fabric unlike washi tape is obviously not sticky at the back and I haven’t had very good experiences with temporary adhesive sprays. But what is sticky and temporary? Self Adhesive Laminate. I’ve used this to make my daughter’s Darth Vader chest panel for her Halloween costume. It’s also called Self Adhesive Vinyl. Basically clear plastic sheets with sticky adhesive on the back of it.

So all you do in order to cut out letters, shapes or anything you’d like, is to take your felt (or fabric) place it on the sticky side like this below.

And you instantly have yourself felt that feels like card stock paper and is way easier to cut. I personally leave the plastic part on the felt and just glue it straight onto the cards. Otherwise if you try to pull it off of the felt, it will stretch the shape or letter out and you don’t want that. If you want to not have the plastic on the back you *must* buy thicker stiffer felt and/or ensure your fabric is a heavier material.

One other thing that’s important to remember, if you are leaving the plastic on the back of your felt you need to cut out your letters backwards as you will be flipping them over the other way when you’re gluing them onto your surface. I am wondering if they make this type of laminate in double sided sticky tape because then that would be even better. You wouldn’t need a glue gun to adhere the letters to your card stock and just stick them on like stickers.

This is what I came up with this year.

Do you want more Valentine’s ideas? Well every day this week there are 5 different Valentine’s Projects in our Canadian Bloggers Valentine’s Week Hop. Check out all of the amazing projects in the links below as they happen. You can also follow the hashtag #CBValentinesDay across social and discover some great Canadian bloggers!

Monday

Heart Shaped Pizzas for Valentine’s Day by Jo-Anna of A Pretty Life
Blood Orange Limoncello Cocktail for Valentine’s Day by Tara of Suburble
Ombre Cake Makeover from a Grocery Store Cake by Colleen of Lemon Thistle
Valentine’s Popcorn by Janella of Ma Belle Vie
“Warm Heart” Hand Warmers by Sarah of Flourish & Knot

Tuesday

Valentine’s Day Embroidery Projects by Heather of Home to Heather
Valentine’s Candy Inspired Table Setting by Andrea of Personally Andrea
Valentine Heart Strawberry Pop Tarts by Jen of Kitchen Counter Chronicles
Valentine’s Day Date Night In Gift Basket Idea by Christina of The DIY Mommy
Valentine’s Day Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookies by Shauna of Satori Design for Living

Wednesday

Felt Valentine’s Day Cards by Alex of Northstory
Lovey Dovey Vegan Chocolate Bark by Joann of Woman in Real Life
Valentine’s Day Wall Hanging by Thalita of The Learner Observer
DIY Valentine String Art by Tash of The Dreamhouse Project
Fluffy Valentine Sugar Cookies by Kendra of Joy In Our Home

Thursday

Easy DIY Valentine’s Wreath by Laurie of VinYet ETC
Raspberry Pie Mousse Cups by Daniela of Lifeovereasy
Valentine’s Day Breakfast by Dannyelle of Life is a Party
Valentine’s Mantel by Jen of Rambling Renovators
Boyfriend Bouquet | Floating Heart Terrarium by Cynthia of Cynthia Zamaria

Friday

Embroidery Hoop Valentine Art by Christine of The DIY Dreamer
“You & Me” Wood Sign by Lindi of Love Create Celebrate
Chocolate and Coconut Coated Heart Mini-Cakes by Jane and Sonja of Sustain My Craft Habit
DIY String Heart Wall Hanging by Melissa of The Sweet Escape
Heart Shaped Marshmallows for Valentine’s Day by Christine of Amidst the Chaos