Making Valentines

Leigh asked about making my valentines. She thought perhaps I was sewing a bunch of them to send. No. I send valentines instead of Christmas cards, so I am sending something like 60 of them.  I used to make Christmas cards. Every year  I made a block print or little silk-screen print. It got to be too much, especially when I was working in retail and Christmas was crazy already. So I started making valentines instead and have continued. They used to be prints, like the Christmas cards, then I made a few using Illustrator to create a digital graphic. For the past several years I have made a fabric valentine that I photograph and print multiples of. I usually combine the little print with pretty paper. This year I have a dandy new tool that has streamlined my operation.

The green machine is a Xyron machine—a simple hand-crank device that will apply adhesive and a paper backing to a sheet of paper. You can see my sheets of hearts on the right. I run each one through the Xyron and it turns it into a big sticker. I cut a heart out, then peel the paper off the back and stick it to one of those little rectangles of goldy-green paper. That is then applied to a slightly larger piece of lime green card stock.

I added a bunch of little hearts to the sheets, just because there was wasted space between those large hearts. I can use them as stickers to seal the envelopes or for something else. The Xyron machine was a Christmas present and you can switch out the sticker adhesive cartridge for one that will laminate paper. It is made for scrapbook enthusiasts, but I think I will find a lot of uses for it.