DIY - Valentine Swap

I am participating once again in the Valentine Swap sponsored by the blog, the stationery place. My challenge each year is to come up with an idea that is simple to put together (busy schedule you know) and that utilizes as much as possible my craft supplies that I have been hoarding for 30 years.  


This year, I was inspired by the pennant banner craze.  It seems that most holiday and party decorations as well as every day wall decor these days always include some form of a pennant banner.  If you don't know what that is, a pennant banner is a bunch of elongated triangles hanging from a ribbon or string. 


The foundation for my cards were some glossy, egg shell colored, zig-zagged edged,4x6 flat cards from Paper Source that I bought like four years ago.  For the string that the pennants hang from, I used embroidery thread. In the 80's, I was an avid counted cross-stitcher.  I have a slew of embroidery thread in every imaginable shade stored away. To secure the thread line, I used some pink mini brads that I had leftover from another paper project.  I did have to go to Hobby Lobby and purchase four coordinating scrapbook papers to make the pennant flags.  While I was there, I spied an adorable rubber stamp with a valentine greeting.  My penmanship leaves a lot to be desired these days, so having a stamp insured that my recipients would not only be able to decipher my message, but read it in a cute font too.  Rubber stamps do need ink, so I had to purchase one more thing: a coordinating ink pad. All of these materials were on sale at 40% off.  I spent less than $5.00 on my supplies.


The first preparation I had to do was make the triangle pennants. I drew a diamond on a piece of paper first to make sure the size was right, then traced that pattern on to a piece of craft cardboard so that it would be a cinch to replicate over and over again. On the back of the different scrapbook papers, I traced the diamond shapes and then cut them out. Folding them in half made the perfect triangle pennant.

Next, I measured and cut the appropriate length of embroidery thread for each card. I tied a double knot at each end so that the thread would not unravel and so that I could secure the thread under the pink brads.  


To assemble the banners, I opened each triangle and used a glue stick on one half of the diamond shape. I then placed the string in the middle of the wrong side of the diamond and folded the top half over the string,having it stick to the bottom half.  I repeated this step with the other three triangles, fitting each triangle tip to tip along the string. When the banner was complete, I slipped one side of the string's knot in between the prongs of a brad, pinched the prongs back together, and pushed them through the card.  (To make this step easier, I used the head of a sharp nail to make a tiny hole in the card.  The brad easily slipped through the pre-made hole and didn't crease the card). When one side was secure, I did the same thing to the other side. The last step was to center and stamp my greeting under the banner.  Here is the finished project.  They came out pretty darn cute if I say so myself.  Total time to make six valentines: one hour from start to finish.  

Sending a valentine is so thoughtful and receiving a valentine is so uplifting.  Even more so when it is handmade.  Will you be sending out valentines this year?