Geeky Valentine's Day Cards

Do you have a kid who is obsessed with video games like Minecraft? Or are you with someone who misses old school Atari games? Why not make them a Valentine's Day card that'll be right up their alley! I found both of these cards on Instructables with easy step-by-step instructions but since my blog is about breaking down the how to, how much AND how hard to projects, I'll provide my own step-by-step instructions with photos and tips of what not to do!

Card #1 - The Pixelated Pop-Up Heart

Here's what you'll need:
1. Tape or glue
2. Scissors
3. Ruler
4. X-acto knife
5. Whatever colored paper you want for the card (I used red construction paper)
6. Whatever colored paper you want for the envelope (I used white card stock)
7. Something to protect your table while cutting (I used scrap cardboard)
8. A printer to print off the heart template and the envelope template


Once your templates have been printed, cut out the heart template and start cutting where the yellow lines are and scoring (i.e. - not cutting all the way through) on the gray lines. This will be the longest and the most detailed step so take your time and if you mess up, that's ok, that's what the second heart is for!



Next, you'll need to fold only parts of the paper, not the entire paper. See where the yellow lines are? That's where you'll want to fold.

Blue line = bad folding. Yellow lines = correct folding

Do NOT fold like the blue line because your heart will not pop up correctly.

Bad folding. Bad, bad folding.

Slowly start to pop out the heart (I recommend pushing from the back very gently). It pops up easier than you think. Then get another piece of paper and tape or glue it to the back.

Cut out your envelope template, fold on the dotted lines and tape it together to hold your card. Note that your card will not lie flat so don't force it!

And that's it! I gave mine to Batman... he was shocked I didn't cut myself once while making this.

TOTAL COSTS: $4.29 (still cheaper than buying a nice card from the store!)
20 cents for a piece of white card stock from Staples
$1.09 for a piece of red card stock from Staples
(though you could use printer paper and construction paper)
$3 for an x-acto knife at Blick's
Tape, scissors, cardboard, ruler, and a printer were all on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 15 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
It's not difficult to score and cut the lines, it's just time-consuming and you really have to pay attention or you could accidentally cut what should have been scored and then the heart won't pop-up!


Card #2 - Retro Valentine's Day Card


Here's what you'll need:
1. Packaging tape (though any clear tape would do)
2. Scissors
3. X-acto knife
4. White card stock (I only needed 1 piece, not 2)
5. Red construction paper (though card stock works too)
6. Something to protect your table while cutting (I used scrap cardboard)
7. A printer to print off the template


First, print out the template and cut out the pink and the white cards. After they're both cut out, trace one of them onto the red paper and cut out a sheet of the same size.

Next is the hardest part - cutting out the red hearts but leaving the black lines intact. This is not easy and will take forever, but it'll be worth it in the end. Just make sure you have something protecting your table and take your time!

Once the hearts are cut out, tape the pink card to the red card along the top, bottom, and left side, so as to create a pocket.

Draw a small square on the right side and cut it out.

Then make sure your "Happy Valentine's Day" white card can fit inside the pocket you made and draw a small arrow pointing out, so the recipient can "fill" in the hearts when they pull on the tab.

And you're done! Now be careful if you're going to write a note on the white card, because it could show through the heart.

That big white space makes it tempting to write something...

But you'll see it through the hearts!

Batman liked this one so much he ate it up. Literally.

TOTAL COSTS: About $7
20 cents for a piece of white card stock from Staples
$1.09 for a piece of red card stock from Staples
$3 for an x-acto knife from Blick's
$2.99 for packaging tape from Vons
Scissors, cardboard, and printer already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 30 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 4 out of 5
It's really difficult to cut out the hearts while leaving the black outline intact, especially around the middle point of the heart. With time and patience, though, you should be able to get it!

DIY Scratch Off Valentine

I saw Martha Stewart create a Save the Date scratch off on her website and thought it would be more timely to make a Valentine's Day one! After some poking around on the ol' Pinterest, I found this post by OopseyDaily and thought it was perfect. And just in case you're wondering, "Would my boyfriend/husband even want this?"...I can tell you, my own husband said, "This is really sweet. Any man who wouldn't want this wouldn't deserve your love." So there you go!

Here's what you'll need:

1. Dish soap (just two dollups worth)
2. Metallic paint
3. A design (I printed the original post's template on white cardstock)
4. Either clear shipping labels OR clear contact paper OR packaging tape and freezer paper
5. A paint brush
6. Scissors
7. Something to mix the paint/soap mixture on (I used a paper plate)

First, I took the original post's designs, added my own text to each heart, and printed it out.

Next, combine 1 part dish soap with 2 parts paint (you can eyeball it!)

Paint a thin layer on top of your clear shipping labels / clear contact paper / packaging tape and freezer paper. The point of this is so that you don't paint on top of the actual template because otherwise the paint would just soak into the paper. You want a clear barrier to go between the paint and the template.

Wait an hour for the paint to dry, then add another layer. I recommend using a thick brush so as to leave as few paint brush strokes as possible. Be sure to wait another hour for the paint to dry before doing anything else.

You can see the difference between the first and second coat in the photo below.

Top - 2 coats of paint
Bottom - 1 coat of paint

Next, using a heart as a template, trace 10 hearts on top of the paint, cut out the hearts, peel off the paper backing, and stick them on top of your design.

Add a coin for scratching and voila! Your Valentine is complete!

TOTAL COSTS: $1.75
$1.75 for Martha Stewart 2 oz. metallic paint on Amazon
Shipping labels on hand but they're $12 for 60/box at Staples. Otherwise, packaging paper and freezer paper works works the same!
Template, paint brush, scissors, and dish soap on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 2 1/2 hours
10 minutes to make template
2 hours to paint and let dry
15 minutes to cut out hearts and place on template

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
This isn't very difficult to make at all, you're simply painting, cutting, and sticking the hearts to paper and letting the recipient have all the fun!

DIY Smartphone Projector

Everywhere I turn I'm hearing about snow storms, schools closing, arctic blasts... and unfortunately, power outages. But if you and your family want to watch a movie to kill some time and you all don't want to crowd around your smartphone, there's a solution!

All you need is a phone (with a hand charger, I hope, so you don't waste your entire battery!), an empty shoe box, a marker, a magnifying glass, some tape and scissors, and you can make a homemade smartphone projector. I found this post on TheMetaPicture and had to test it out!



First, remove all cats from your shoebox. This will be the hardest step because they can be ridiculously adorable. Resist the urge to give in.

Next, take off the handle of the magnifying glass and trace the outline with your marker on a short side of the shoebox.

Take your scissors (or x-acto knife, if you have one) and cut out the circle.

Then take your magnifying glass and tape it to the box. I used electrical tape and it worked just fine.

Now the original post says to use a paperclip and somehow turn that into a phone stand. I must be an idiot because I tried for a good 10 minutes to figure out how the heck a paperclip could be a stand to no avail. So good luck with that, if that's what you choose to use.

And supposedly, that's all you have to do! But there are actually a few more steps I found to make this work. First and foremost, turn the brightness on your phone as high as it'll go. Otherwise, you won't be able to see a thing.

Now there are two ways you can get the image to project correctly. If you don't follow either of these steps, your images will be upside-down.

#1 - Using a mirror, hold your phone above the mirror, which will then project through the magnifying glass an image that's upright. However, I find this to be way too difficult and cumbersome.

#2 - What I recommend is:
     * Lock your phone's orientation so it doesn't change when you turn the phone
     * Turn your phone upside-down so the top is on the bottom of the box and the bottom is up in the air
     * Project the image while it's in portrait orientation (not landscape)

Note that the further back you are from the wall, the bigger the image but... the dimmer it'll be. The photo below was taken with the lens 38" away from the wall and the phone was 47 1/2" away from the wall. The photo of myself ended up being 8"x15". I could have made it bigger but then I couldn't have taken this photo well.

And I'm calling shenanigans on the original post's photo with David Bowie - my husband, a professional photographer, says they probably did a long exposure to get the shot so don't be surprised if you have the lights on and can't see what's on the wall!

However, I can say that it does work! You just need a little patience, figuring out the correct distance from the wall and from the lens but with a little tweaking, you should be able to do it!

TOTAL COSTS: About $4
$1.99 for magnifying glass from Ace Hardware
$1.99 for electrical tape from Staples
Scissors, shoe box, a marker, and phone on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 10 minutes
Note that this doesn't include the time to make the paperclip stand... which took way too much time...

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The only difficult thing will be figuring out how much distance there should be from the box to the wall and how much distance between the phone and the magnifier. Once you get it figured out, though, you'll be set!