paper Archives | TinkerLab

Handmade Valentine Cards: The Amazing All-in-one Envelope

If you like to make your own Valentines but you’re pressed for time (or have a small and impatient child like me), all-in-one Envelope Valentines could be the way to go. Turning a heart-shape into both a Valentine and an envelope is a delightful way to surprise the card’s recipient.

This handmade Valentine card is made from a giant cut-out heart that’s then folded into an envelope. Simply draw your message on the heart, fold it up, seal it, and your Valentine is ready to go!

Since we started making Valentines in January, we’ve had plenty of time to iterate on the Valentine theme and recently whipped up these easy all-in-one cards that would be perfect to make for a group of classmates.

Because 2-year old N couldn’t wait to give all of these out for Valentines Day, they became Chinese New Year/Valentine Cards. My child lives quite happily in a post-modern world.

Handmade Valentine Cards Supplies

Paper
Stickers
Scissors

Step 1

Cut out a heart, turn it upside down, and fold. If you’d like a tutorial on cutting hearts, this tutorial will make it easy.

Step 2

Fold the “top” (or bottom!) of the heart up so that the folded edges line up. Crease.

Step 3

Fold the “bottom” (top!) down, so that it looks like an envelope. I had to make a few of these before getting the location of the creases just right.

Step 4

Open it up and flip it over.

Write a message.

And seal it up!

While my daughter is thrilled to cut paper and build sculptures, she hasn’t been the least bit interested in writing or drawing lately. So you can imagine my surprise when she actually had the stamina to make more than one of these!

When we sat down, I cut and folded a bunch of hearts and we got to work!

And my daughter folded her own hearts…

We plowed through and made about ten of these before she had enough.

And when we were done, I recycled the cut-out Valentine scraps into window decor. Want more handmade Valentine cards ideas? Here you go…

More Valentine’s Day Inspiration

30 Valentine Activities for Kids

How to set up a self-serve card-making station

6 Valentine’s Day Activities for Preschoolers

Deconstructed Valentines

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Making paper with kids is a rewarding experience, and today I’m going to share how to make paper with kids. These steps work for anyone interested in how to make paper, and I give specific tips and advice on how to make paper with kids (even toddlers!)

Supplies: How to Make Paper

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Window Screen. This sliding window screen is economical and reusable.
Two Plastic Wash Tubs or similar
Washcloth/rag/burp cloth/large piece of felt
Water
Torn paper from newspaper, tissue paper, magazines, etc. Be sure that it’s staple and tape-free
Blender <<This is my favorite economical workhorse machine.
Small seeds (optional)

Instructions: How to Make Paper

Tear the paper into tiny strips, about 2″.
Place your window screen on top of one of the plastic tubs
Place your window screen on top of one of the plastic tubs
Add paper to the blender, cover it with water, and run the blender on a low speed. Since you will squeeze all the water out of the paper pulp, you can’t really have too much water. If the blender doesn’t move easily, add more water.
Run the blender a little bit faster until you get the paper mixture into a nice, smooth pulp. Ours is kind of chunky because my kids wanted it that way. Yours can be smoother.
Spread the pulp thinly and uniformly across the screen and then layer a cloth diaper or towel on top to absorb the extra water, while also pushing the water through the screen into the tub. Get the kids involved.
Place one hand firmly on top of the cloth while you flip the screen over onto a table or countertop that can handle water.
Remove the screen and put the cloth with paper pulp in a spot where it can dry, undisturbed, for about a day. The thicker the paper, the longer it will take to dry.

How to make paper with kids

Making paper with kids requires some patience and preparation, but it’s not tricky and the process is worth exploring with children or anyone who’s curious about how to make paper.

After my toddler created a sensory bin full of paper and water, I saw an opportunity to upcycle that mushy paper pulp into some new-to-us paper. We had most of the materials handy, but had to make a trip to the hardware store to buy a small window screen (affiliate)

To get into the spirit and expand our knowledge of paper making, we watched a Mr. Roger’s episode about paper making. You can watch it, too!

If you like this video you’ll also love learning about how crayons are made.

Let’s start with the materials…

Mix paper with water

2. Place the screen over tub

3. Put wet paper in the blender

4. Blend the paper

My toddler wanted to play with the pulp right away. She squeezed it, scooped it, and carried bowls full of pulp into the living room. Fun!

5. Spread the paper pulp over the screen

6. Press the pulp down and squeeze out the water

7. Allow the paper to dry. This could take a day or two depending on humidity and thickness of the paper.

8. Remove your paper and cut it into pieces, draw on it, or use it in art making.

Because our pulp was on the thick side, the paper doesn’t look like typical thin paper. As a result of this, your child may wonder if they really made paper! This is a great opportunity to discuss and question how paper manufacturers might get such thin paper.

What can you do with homemade paper?

We haven’t done much with it yet, but we’ll probably write on it with permanent markers or paint with watercolors. Because we embedded seeds in the pulp, we could cut these up and give them away to friends, with the invitation to plant them in their gardens.

Benefits of Making Paper

Making paper teaches children how one of our most ubiquitous materials — PAPER — is made, and it’s also a fun sensory project for kids of all ages.

More Handmade Paper Inspiration

Allison of No Time for Flashcards used and Immersion Blender to make Recycled Paper Hearts.

Kristi of Creative Connections for Kids made Wildflower Paper Ornaments (using the same screen as us!).

Melitza of Play Activities made Earth Day Seeded Paper.