Easy Crafting Ideas For Old School Valentines (2024)

When I was a child I could not wait to make valentines with my mom every year in early February. We would put all our materials out on the dining room table and spend an entire afternoon with doilies, clip art and rubber cement. I'm calling these old school valentines because there's nothing digital involved with these fun love notes - just stickers, markers and a little creativity!**If you try these any of these valentine ideas at home, don't forget to tag OOLY and Lady Lucas on Instagram so we can check out your creations!**

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED FOR YOUR OLD SCHOOL VALENTINES:

IT STARTS WITH A HEART - AN EASY DIY VALENTINE'S CARD CRAFT

The best way to start any valentine card, is by cutting out some heart shapes. Simply fold a piece of paper in half and draw a 'half heart' on the fold. Cut around the line you have drawn and open your heart! A square piece of folded paper will produce a skinny long heart, and a regular rectangle piece will produce more of a rounded heart shape.

Finished old school Valentines card made with a heart shaped doily

For a basic cute valentine, simply fold a piece of white paper or cardstock in half to create a greeting card. Using a glue stick, apply a paper doily on top of the card, and then a smaller paper heart on top of that as shown. Get creative with some OOLY stickers to create a loving message!

"Love" written on a white paper doily with a Suatelier sticker sheet

A boy and girl rabbit drawn on a paper doily with Coquettish Eyes sticker sheet

This idea was my favorite as a kid. All you need is a large white or light colored doily. Add a drawing or message with markers and stickers. Highlighters are great for this idea, because you can add accent colors all over the front of the doily. Try to keep your art nice and simple for maximum impact like these two cute rabbits in love ;)*tip* - Glue a paper circle to the back of the doily before you write your message, that way the images from both sides will not bleed through!

CREATE A COLLAGE

Finished old school Valentines craft collage with hearts and "love"

Create a collage image for your valentine by cutting scraps of a doily out and adding it to paper hearts. Select stickers that look 'Victorian' - meaning floral and fancy. I used the OOLY Splendid Pen in red to add some extra details to the front. This pen also works wonderfully for writing a secret greeting inside!

STICKER STORY - A VALENTINE'S DAY CRAFT WITH A TALE

Heart eyes stickers on a valentines craft with a red OOLY fountain pen

Another idea is to create a story or image for your valentines using stickers. These simple hearts became balloons just by drawing a few black lines. The possibilities are endless - drawing stems on flowers, hearts around people, loving words using individual letters from the stickers, etc.

Dog nail sticker from Deco Love sticker sheet on a painted nail

Don't forget to add a few stickers to your nails to really get into the valentine spirit. These cuties in particular worked perfectly on my pink nails.The most important thing to remember when making valentines is just to have fun and to think about the person you're making them for. What foods, animals, words do they love? Are they silly or serious? Handmade greetings are always the most treasured!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d love to invite you to check out my artwork, blog and OOLY's awesome feed on Instagram for daily creative fun and inspiration! xo Lady Lucas