DIY Scratch-Off Valentine's Day Cards

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Because it's Valentine's Day, I wanted to share with you one of my New Year's Resolutions with you.  (Yeah, yeah, I know I'm late with posting about my New Year's Resolutions, but better late than never!)

Anyway, two of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012 are to:

1. Hang out with my girlfriends more often, and
2. Be more creative.

And because I'm a wanna-be multi-tasker, I decided to start a Creative Girls' Night Out once a month. I'd get my girls together once a month, we'd bring treats to share and do something creative--easy peasy!

For January, I decided to host the first shindig at my place.  And because Valentine's Day was just around the corner, we decided to make do-it-yourself scratch-off Valentine's Day cards.  I've been wanting to make my own scratch-off cards ever since I read about it here and here.

We had a grand ol' time--great friends, lots of food and tons of creativity! 

I think it was a hit! 

Anyway, here's a quick tutorial on how to make your own:

• Card printed on cardstock:  Get creative with your design. It's a Valentine's Day card--get Hallmark-y!  I made a quick card --not too fancy where you could fill in the last heart yourself.  I ended up making a couple of other styles later.



This was the one we used for for Creative Girls Night Out--Lee is hairy like Chewbacca, hence the "My Chewy".

  

These are a couple others I made up for kicks and giggles! Gotta love The Doors and Phil Collins!

• Clear contact paper (clear laminate):  FYI - You will not find this at Michael's. You will not find this at Barnes and Noble.  You will find this at an office supply store, like Office Depot or Staples.  It took me forever to find this stuff!



Works like a charm!



• Metallic Paint: Gold or silver metallic paint work nicely.  I tried a glittery variety and it didn't really scratch off--it just came off in big chunks.
• Dish Soap: Yeah, the cheap stuff works fine.
• Paint Brushes
• Scissors
• Paper plates
• Any other cute paper or stickers or ribbons for some finishing touches



All the supplies ready to go!


Instructions:

1.  On the paper plate, add 2 parts metallic paint to 1 part dish soap.  You can eyeball it or you can pull out your 1-teaspoon and 1/2-teaspoon and measure them out.  I've done it both ways.

It's a weird looking paint/soap Mickey Mouse blob!

2. Mix the paint and soap gently--try not to make too many bubbles.  (After it's dried, the bubbles can pop and make your scratch-off feel greasy--yuck!)

My silver paint had bubbles in it! Bummer!

3. Cut out a piece of contact paper to fit the shape over which you will be covering with the scratch off section.  We were doing hearts, so we cut out hearts!  For my other cards, I was doing circles, so I cut out circles!  If you are not that particular, you can cut out a square or rectangle to cover your shape.

I wanted to cover up the hearts completely.  Surprise!





4. Then paint a thin layer of the paint/soap mixture over the design you're covering.

First layer

5.  Let it dry--about 20 minutes to an hour depending on your definition of a thin layer.  You will likely still see your design showing from underneath the paint.

6.  When dry, paint another layer.  Let dry again.   If you need another layer because the writing underneath is showing, go for it.

Second layer

7.  Give the card to your beloved (or to the person who you'd like to be your beloved) and he/she will surely get a kick out of it!



A finished card ready to given



I gave both cards I made for Lee this morning.

Waiting to scratch it off!

He was excited.

Came off rather nicely!

I know it's maybe a little late to do for Valentine's Day, but maybe you should try these scratch-off cards for St. Patty's Day!  Make a card about getting lucky or something!

Anyway, I had a blast at the first Creative Girls Night Out and am super excited for future evenings out!  Here's a slideshow of all my cute girls--enjoy!