handmade valentine's day cards

For our valentines this year I knew I wanted to do two things, first on the list: pretty lined envelopes. I have always loved the look of envelope liners, but I have never attempted them before because I thought they would be too time consuming or difficult. But then I found this happy floral paper (the design kind of reminds me of Anna Bond's florals for Rifle Paper Co.) and I knew I had to at least give it a try. Luckily, once you create the template (I cut mine out of an old plastic folder) the cutting, folding, and gluing go pretty quickly (especially if you have a bag of Dove's dark chocolate cherry hearts + Netflicks). I'm really happy with how they turned out and I can't wait to try these fabric-lined versions that Chelsea from {frolic!} made for Project Wedding.

The second thing I wanted an excuse to buy to try was Japanese masking tape. I can't believe I've waited so long to buy some! It's super pretty and versatile - I've already used it on a bunch of projects and can't wait to order more colors + patterns. The tape was originally going to play a bigger part in my whole valentine vision, but after finishing the card design I decided to just use a bit to secure the photo (the tape comes off easily + doesn't damage photos, so grandparents can remove + use the photo long after Valentine's Day).

I'm really excited to send these off to our friends and family (Mom, Mary, and Aunt Faye, act really surprised when these arrive on Monday, okay?) tomorrow. I love sending little messages of love to the people who do so much to make my life happy + full. I am truly a lucky girl to be surrounded by such wonderful, generous, and lovely people day in and day out.

Are you making/sending valentines this year? Do you have any special v-day plans? Brian and I are going to this awesome dinner party on Saturday night that my parents are hosting. I'm really looking forward to lots of delicious food and spending the evening with Brian sans kidlets. Yay!