This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
You know what’s coming up really soon? Valentine’s Day!
I’m coming up on my second uncoupled Valentine’s Day of my entire adult life. Last year it was a little interesting because it was new. And I thought that it was going to be sad because I was, you know, ALONE. But the thing is it was really pretty great. I didn’t have to get somebody else a gift and I didn’t have to pretend like it didn’t hurt my feelings when they wanted their present but didn’t get me one :)
This year I’m all about the single life and I even told the cashier so and so at my local craft store as much. He overheard me telling my mom how all of the art they had said things like “I love US” and “My favorite place to be is with YOU” and I felt kind of left out. But after he giggled I also made sure to tell him that I EARNED my single status and that I’d make my own Lizzo inspired art that says things like “I LOVE ME”!
Actually, this year I’m really into the positive affirmations of self love. Lizzo is my queen who makes me feel like I’m one, too, and like RuPaul says, if you can’t love yourself how are you going to love someone else? Okay, so I paraphrased for a family friendly saying but if you’ve ever watched Drag Race, you know those words by HEART!
So today I’m sharing with you my little project to spread the love to EVERYONE. Well, I suppose, everyone that walks by a particular cork board and actually look at it :) We all love to hear nice things about ourselves and we all love surprises so today I’ve made a Valentine’s Day Compliments Flyer with Cricut so that passerby can take one and be surprised by the empowering saying they scratched to read.
I’m not going to lie… I completely love this project and I really hope you do, too. And if you put one of these lovely flyers up in your work lunch room or church entryway or favorite store, snap a pic and tag us so we can see the love!
Supplies You’ll Need:
- Cricut Maker Cutting Machine
- Cricut Deluxe Paper (I used this gorgeous Natalie Malan Belle Citron set)
- Cricut Cardstock (I used white)
- LightGrip (blue) Cutting Mat
- Clear Packing Tape
- Glue Stick or Other Adhesive
- Silver Craft Acrylic Paint
- Dish Soap
- Smooth Bristled Paintbrush
- Free Printable Flyer Base PDF
- Cheap Foam Core Board
- Cricut Design Space Cut File
You can use any scrapbooking paper for this project you’d like. You can even use glitter cardstock for a little more bling, if you know what I mean. You can also swap any metallic acrylic paint for the silver with amazing results. I mean, gold is totally in right now, right? If changing for a matte or satin paint over metallic, give your paint a test run before you get to the big show. Out of testing 5 different colors, only 2 non-metallic paints worked well enough for me.
How to Make a Scratch Off Valentine’s Day Compliment Flyer:
Readying the flyer’s base.
The base of our flyer is a PDF that already has 4 different inspirational compliments at the bottom along with directions to take one. On top of that sits a Valentine’s Day Heart that we will make out of different papers which we will work on next. But, first let’s get the base taken care of.
Print out your PDF, selecting “actual size” in the Adobe Reader printing options.
Once printed run a piece of clear packing tape across the compliments across the bottom.
Be sure the tape is smoothly applied with no wrinkles or bubbles. Set this piece of paper aside.
Cutting the Heart Design.
If you haven’t, yet, open up Cricut Design Space on your computer and grab the free cut file. For the decorative heart on this flyer we will need to cut out several pieces.
Firstly the blue cut is a large scalloped heart that will be on the bottom of our layered design. I chose to cut this out of floral paper from the Natalie Malan Belle Citron Deluxe Paper set.
Next, the red cut is a lacy piece that will be on the very top. Because it is so much like lace, I chose to cut this out of solid white Cricut Cardstock.
Lastly, you’ll print and then cut out your central heart shape. I decided that I didn’t want it to be a solid color because I fell in love with a lightly patterned pink sheet, again from the Natalie Malan Belle Citron Deluxe Paper set.
How to Print on 12 x 12″ Scrapbook Paper.
The deluxe paper from Cricut (and most scrap you’ll find) is 12 x 12″ and too big for home printers. Luckily it’s super easy to trim down the paper to size so that it’s the perfect letter size to run through any home printer.
Regular letter sized paper is 8.5″ by 11 inches. Using your trimmer cut it as closely to that as possible (slightly off won’t be a huge deal).
Take a look at your printer and make sure your paper is facing the correct way. (On my printer the paper needs to be face DOWN which sometimes I forget :) Load your cut paper into your printer.
Hit the green “Make It” button in Cricut Design Space and then Continue.
Design Space will now prompt you to print your Valentine’s Day Surprise Compliments wording to be cut. Click the green “Send to Printer” button.
Print your sheet with the “Add Bleed” on.
The black line around the wording is how your Cricut knows where to cut your heart shape out. Cool, right?
Cutting out your pieces.
Apply your printed scrap paper onto your mat printed side up. For this piece of paper make sure that the top left corner is placed on the top left corner of the mat (no gap).
Next, we will trim the printed base of the flyer and perforate a line so the individual Valentine Compliments can be easily removed. When applying to the mat this time, move the paper down and to the right from the corner 0.25″. It should look something like the photo above. Following along with Design Space should be this next cut on the white mat (on screen).
You’ll first need your Perforation Blade to make the perforated line followed by the regular cutting blade.
Continue cutting out your next 2 pieces, the lacy solid piece and then the largest/back patterned scalloped heart piece.
Piecing together your heart.
To adhere your pieces together the easiest option is a glue stick.
Firs, glue the printed heart onto the center of the large, scalloped heart. Next adhere the lace on top of both pieces (it will overlap the center heart just a bit). Set the heart to the side and give the glue some time to dry.
Making Scratch Off Paint at Home.
Homemade scratch off paint is really easy to make at home. Simply take every day dish soap from your kitchen and grab a bottle metallic craft acrylic paint. Neither the dish soap nor the paint need to be anything fancy. In fact, I used the cheapest bottle of acrylic paint from the craft store and it worked really well.
The ratio to make scratch off paint is 2 parts paint to 1 part dish soap and a little bit goes a long way. Gently stir so as not to bubble up the soap until it is smooth and runny.
With a very smooth bristled brush apply a thin coat of paint, brushing from top to bottom on each tear away compliment. Your first pass will make this seem like a fool’s errand, but I promise this thin paint will build up to make an amazing scratcher!
Three coats of paint in and since the words are still slightly visible, so one more to go!
Quick tips to ensure a good scratch off.
- Make sure that your coats are really, really thin. Thicker seems like it will make it go faster but when applied thickly it takes forever to dry. Like my first attempt was a thick swipe of paint and it didn’t even dry OVERNIGHT.
- Allow the paint to dry COMPLETELY between coats or the previous coats will gum up and pull away making a mess. A hair dryer can be used to speed up the drying process for the impatient (like me).
- Clean your brush between coats. If anything dries into the bristles it might scratch away the layers of paint beneath.
Finish Your Flyer.
Once the paint has dried you can now glue your finished heart shape onto your flyer base.
Cut a piece of inexpensive foam core board to a similar shape and size of your heart. Glue the heart to the foam core and then the foam core to the flyer and allow to dry.
The foam core is optional but awesome. I keep a piece from the dollar store (literally costs a buck!) for projects like this. With the addition of the foam behind the heart you get an amazing 3d effect that I think really makes your Valentine’s Day Compliments Flyer all the more impressive looking!
Spread the love with your world!
Brighten somebody else’s Valentine’s Day by putting a Valentine’s Day compliments flyer up on any community board! Because each compliment is a scratcher their affirmation will be a complete surprise until they reveal it!
Because everybody deserves to know that they make the world a better place! :)
