Erin Fox
St Valentine’s Day is in a few days and it’s time to start signing those Valentine’s cards. Making your own card to send is much more thoughtful than buying one and you can write your own greeting inside. Sweep your crush off their feet with this love heart hot air balloon Valentine’s card. The heart balloons can also be made with plain pink, red and white paper.
For the card you will need: an assortment of patterned paper in pinks, whites and reds, glue stick, scissors, brown or white craft card.
Create a template on the back of some cereal card for the love heart balloons. Fold the card in half. From the crease to the centre, draw half a heart shape. Cut out and take care not to snip the crease. Unfold the card and now you have a heart with equal sides. Trace around this template on your coloured paper and cut out enough hearts to define the shape of your hot air balloon.
Cut the basket out of some plain coloured paper and stick this to the base of the card. Cut two strands of pink or red string and glue these on either side of the basket. Start making the hot air balloon from the top of the card and work your way down towards the basket so that each heart overlaps the one on top. When gluing down the hearts to the card, just dab some glue to the bottom of each heart so that the tops pop out. This will achieve that floating look. When the glue has dried, you can write your sweetheart’s name on the basket of the hot air balloon. Write your own personal message inside.
Collage
Whether you are sending a card or not on St Valentine’s Day, you can make this card as a large collage. Find the largest piece of paper you can get your hands on and make the heart template slightly bigger. See how many love hearts you can add to the hot air balloon.
For a super sweet card, use paper in pastel colours so the balloon looks as though it’s comprised of ‘love hearts’ sweets. Cut out circles and draw a heart inside with a colouring pencil. In the same colour write a ‘love hearts’ message in each heart. Instead of hearts, you could always craft the balloons out of rolled up tissue papers for roses.