How To Make Simple DIY Valentine’s Day Cards

Looking for a way to make simple DIY Valentine’s Day cards? Check out these easy watercolour hearts that are fun for the whole family!

I left buying Valentine’s Day cards to the last minute this year. Cards were sold out in stores (and Amazon prime wasn’t going to arrive on time!). I had a small moment of panic because I knew how much my kids were looking forward to handing out Valentine’s Day cards this year.

So off I went to my favourite source for inspiration – Pinterest! I hoped to find a simple idea that we could make with materials we have at home. By typing in “Simple Valentine’s Day cards”, I received a lot of great ideas. I was relieved that we would be able to make something special with simple materials we already had on hand.

Keep reading to see how to make simple DIY Valentine’s Day Cards!

Simple DIY Valentine’s Day Cards

We chose to make simple watercolour hearts on white cardstock for our Valentine’s Day cards. I love how my 3, 5 and 8 year old all loved this DIY. It was simple enough for them all to do without getting frustrated. They each did their own version which I loved! They turned out so cute.

If you are not a huge fan of messy and complicated crafts, this one is for you! As much as I love the idea of crafts, I will admit I’m not normally the biggest fan of them. This DIY? It can be done by the most craft-reluctant person. Minimal mess, maximum fun! 10/10 recommend for kids and adults alike!

A Note On Imperfections

Before we started our DIY Valentine’s, we talked about how art doesn’t need to be perfect. In fact, it is often the imperfections that make our art one-of-a-kind. We leaned into making quirky and unique hearts for our DIY project and had so much fun doing it. The lesson of doing away with perfectionism is important to remember in art and in life. It is one that I’m always working on as a #recoveringperfectionist!

Simple Materials For Valentine’s Day Cards

I love that this DIY needs very few materials. If you don’t already have these at home, they could easily be found at the Dollarstore or on Amazon (linked below). These Valentine’s Day cards are budget-friendly and family-friendly!

Here is what we used:

• Cardstock (we used white)
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Watercolours
• Paintbrush
• Water
• Paper towel
• Black fine-line drawing pens

How To Make Valentine’s Cards

1. To begin, I cut the cardstock into fourths using a paper cutter. No paper cutter, no problem! You can fold your cardstock in half and then half again to create four equal parts. Simply cut along the folded lines and voila!
2. Grab your watercolours, paintbrush, paper towel and water. I like to use the water and paper towel to wash off my paintbrush between strokes.
3. Start painting your hearts. You can paint lots of hearts or just one. You can mix colours or use the same colour. Totally up to you! My daughter decided to paint one heart for each of her cards.
4. Put your cards somewhere to dry (they dry quick!). Once they are dry, add your details using your black fine-line pen. My daughter wanted to add fun faces to her cards. They turned out so adorable!

Fun Details To Add To Your DIY Valentine’s Day Cards

Looking for other ways to jazz up your Valentine’s Day cards? Check out these ideas!

Add A Bracelet

My daughter wanted to add bracelets to her Valentine’s Day card. They made a wonderful addition! We grabbed her Rainbow Loom Kit (we love Rainbow Loom!) and made a bracelet for each of her classmates. It’s fun to add extra little touches like this to a Valentine’s Day card. I love that both the cards and bracelets were made by her!

Consider The Colour Wheel

I love the idea of using the colour wheel to create designs! Think complimentary like yellow and purple, green and red, blue and orange. Or make a bold choice and pair colours that are close to each other on the colour wheel like pink and red, orange and yellow, green and blue. No matter what colours you choose, they will be sure to pop!

Create Fun backgrounds

Be creative by adding different backgrounds to your watercolour hearts! Think dots, faces, lines, shapes and/or letters. Each card can have a personality of its own! It is a fun challenge to see how many different types of designs you can make using your watercolour hearts as the starting point!

When drawing faces, take a look online for inspiration. There are so many fun faces to draw. I’m a sucker for any face with eyelashes!

Write A Message

Use text to write a message like “Happy Valentine’s Day” or a sweet “I love you”. I found the quote, “I have so much love for you in my heart that it doesn’t fit” while scrolling on Pinterest and thought it was super cute!

Simple Valentine’s Day Cards DIY

This DIY is perfect for Valentine’s Day and is also great all year round. Who doesn’t love painting hearts? I love watercolours because they are easy to use and they always turn out awesome! These simple Valentine’s Day cards are fun for the whole family! There is plenty of room to be creative and use your imagination. I hope you enjoy trying these simple DIY Valentine’s Day cards for yourself!

Looking for another simple DIY project to try? Check out this rifle paper co dupe!