Valentines: handmade with love

Hearts are the symbols of Valentine's Day. One shape, so many possibilities...

Sometimes, keeping it simple has more impact. It's really easy to make your own Valentine card. 

All you need to do is cut out a heart shape (template below) from whatever you want – fabric, wrapping paper, coloured card, corrugated cardboard, a picture in a magazine, an online print-out, your own photo/s – stick it to a blank card (decorating with a button, ribbon, petals, sequins).

Or stick on several smaller hearts of the same size, or layer smaller and smaller hearts on top of one another...

A good way to come up with your finished design is to cut some hearts from scrap paper and play around with layouts and sizes until you're satisfied. Then cut out the heart shapes you'll use on your card.

Add a heartfelt, handwritten message... what could be more meaningful for the one you love? (My own Valentine this year features a picture cut from a magazine, plus a paper heart; no previews here though.)

You can also cut heart shapes and string them horizontally, like these map hearts, or vertically.

And if you want to give a present too, how about a fabric heart? Filled with lavender, they can be moth-repellers, drawer scenters, keyrings, hanging decorations, and you can, of course, attach them to a card. Cut two hearts from fabric. Stitch them right sides together, leaving a gap for filling, and enclosing the ends of a ribbon (or string, or yarn) loop, then turn inside out. Fill with lavender, rose petals, cotton wool, cut-up old tights or soft toy filling, and stitch the opening closed. See the heart template below; enlarge to your chosen size.

Here's an example of instructions that I wrote for Hearst Magazines' Allaboutyou.com: a spotted heart card with gingham ribbon bow.

















And here's a variation on the fabric heart: sheer fabric machined together without being turned inside out, and filled with rose petals, and trimmed with a tiny heart and mother-of-pearl button.

The history of Valentine's Day

Yes, we know, February 14 means hearts, red roses and chocolates. But how did the celebration originate?
If you're lucky enough to hear the plop of a Valentine hitting the doormat, it may surprise you to know that our celebration on February 14 has more to do with a wolf than a saint. Although St Valentine is now known as the patron saint of lovers, this Roman priest was imprisoned and then martyred in 269 AD for helping persecuted Christians. (His ashes are in a church in Glasgow, and at least some of his bones are in a church in Madrid - neither of them called St Valentine's.)

The present-day practice of anonymously asking a member of the opposite sex to be your lover has its roots in a popular pagan ritual, where boys selected girls to be their partners by drawing their names out of an urn.

This Roman festival, called Lupercalia, celebrated the day when the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, founders of the city of Rome. The festival was borrowed by the early Christian church and moved back one day to coincide with an existing saint's day.

Another theory behind the custom of choosing a lover on this day, also originating from the animal kingdom, is the old belief that this was when birds chose their mates for the following year.

The earliest known Valentine's Day message was sent in the form of a letter from Margery Brews to John Paston, 'my right belovyd Valuntyn', in 1477, following a dispute about the size of her dowry.

Valentine's cards as we know and love them today, weren't introduced until around 1834, when Jonathan King of London perfected a method of manufacturing paper lace on a commercial scale. His wife had the bright idea of scattering feathers and pieces of coloured paper over the cards.

Also popular at this time and throughout the Victorian era were 'vinegar Valentines' or 'penny dreadfuls'. These were sent on Valentine's Day to unpopular people. To add insult to injury, in those days you had to pay to receive one, as postal costs were paid by the recipient, not the sender!

For those who left everything to the last minute, a special Valentine' Day telegram was issued in 1936. Fifty thousand were sent, including one with the message: 'And now I've asked you to be nine/By gosh! It's cost me eight and nine!' Bet that boosted the romance in that relationship.

And why hearts? They're perceived as the seat of our emotions. And red roses? In the language of flowers, these symbolise true love.

I love Valentine's Day, usually celebrating at home with my partner cooking. We don't spend much, just a card and a little something. I love to write about how to make Valentine cards and presents too.

I wrote the instructions for this quilled paper Valentine card above, for Prima.co.uk; the pic is from a photo library.
Spotty heart Valentine card, instructions written for Allaboutyou.com
Sheer rose-petal-filled heart, instructions written for Allaboutyou.com