Make your own Valentines for Kids

This is our first year having our oldest in preschool and I have to admit I'm having lots of fun coming up with crafts for the various holidays.

Instead of buying a box of regular old valentines for him to give out this year, I wanted to make my own.

Schools nowadays are pretty hesitant about candy and food due to allergies and dietary restrictions. So I wanted to come up with a non-food treat.

What little kids don't love stickers?! I know us parents have different feelings on the subject since the get stuck everywhere and anywhere, especially in places you don't want!

Here is a quick and inexpensive project you can make in about an hour or so.

The Supplies:

• graphics (I used the Valentines design bundle)
• sticker paper
• cardstock paper
• Silhouette Cameo
• Printer

Most of this tutorial is showing you how to design the Valentines in Silhouette Studio, be prepared for lots of screenshots!! I like to try to include every step for the newbies to the Silhouette world.

Let's begin by making the stickers:

Start by using the merge tool to import your sticker design graphics. I'm using the Valentine's day clipart and patterns from the Valentine's design bundle

Repeat that process until you have enough stickers to make a rectangle roughly about 3" x 5" (or any size you want)

To turn the graphics into stickers, you need to trace the shapes to create cut lines for the outer edges.

I increased the threshold to 100% to fill the shapes completely, that way it's a nice clean cut. Click the "trace outer edge" and hit enter.

Now you will see there is a red line along the outer edge of the shapes, that's where the machine will cut to create your stickers.

This is a print and cut project so you'll need to add the registration marks, that's now in the page setup tool.

I also drew a rectangle shape around the edge so I could keep my stickers together as a grouping for the cards.

Group everything together (right click for the shortcut menu) so you can make a few copies of the design to maximize how many you can cut per sheet.

I was able to fit 3 sets onto the paper.

Send the design to the printer. Don't forget to load your sticker paper and make sure the print settings are on a high-quality setting.

I love all the colors! So bright and fun for the little ones. I did have my 4-year-oldhelp with the sticker selections :)Always cater to your target audience!!

Now attach that paper to your cutting mat and send the design to be cut.

I honestly LOVE the print and cut feature so much! I use it all the time.

Now let's design the front of the cards!

Start with a fresh page and merge a new graphic. I'm using one of the predesigned options from Valentine's day vectors. I'm just going to modify the saying to match with the sticker theme.

I like this design because it sort of looks like my son! LOL

I'm making the cards 4"x6" so I drew a rectangle and used the scale tool to make it the exact size.

I used the knife tool to cut off the word portion.

Here's a tip: hold down the shift key as you draw to get a straight line.

I decided to rotate the rectangle to make this a vertical design so there was room to write a new phrase below.

I used the font Lovable Hearts from the Valentines design bundle.

Use the align tool to make sure it's all perfectly centered.

Add some color fill to the words so they print properly. I used the eyedropper tool to perfectly match the graphic colors.

Group the design together once you're done.

Then center the complete design in the 4x6 rectangle.

Add the registration marks to the page.

I was able to fit two cards onto a page.

Print the design out.

Go to the send page but make sure to change the cut settings to only cut the edge.

Go ahead and load the paper onto the cutting mat and cut.

I used some double stick tape to attach the sticker sheet to the back of the card.

Now you have some fun custom made Valentines for your kids to pass out at their school Valentine's day parties!!

You know no one else will have the same ones.

Happy Valentine's Day!!