How to make individual valentine seed packets
By Catalogs Editorial Staff
Forget the chocolates, learn how to make individual valentine seed packets
There is nothing like a homemade gift especially when it?s done well. Homemade gifts from children do not count because they are made with love and ultra-cuteness. I am talking about making something cool and practical with your own two little hands.
So, with Valentine?s Day coming up soon and springtime soon to follow it, I thought it would be fun to show you how to make individual valentine seed packets. They can be as involved as you want them to be or as simple as a fingerprint on a piece of paper, so do what you can and make it your own style.
The Ingredients
There are only a few things you need to make your valentines. First, check out your local office supply store for coin envelopes. They are about 3″ x 2? and come in white or kraft color. Choose your color keeping in mind there will be ink or other color going on top, so I suggest the white for your first try. Paint, stamper?s ink, markers even stickers will work on top.
Lastly, you will need seeds. My suggestion is something you would put in a bouquet such as sunflowers or carnations. You can even go with wildflower collections, but make it something easy to plant and take care of.
The Technique
Lay your envelope out flat on a hard surface. This will make it easier to decorate. If you are stamping, ink your stamp and stamp either one image or several all over your envelope. It will even work if you put one image in one place on the envelope such as directly in the center. An image closely related to the seeds you intend to use works best, such as a stamped image of a sunflower on the sunflower seeds, but any image will do.
~
Try a smiley face, a heart or even a big rectangle like Martha Stewart’s seed-starter valentine project. Take a permanent marker or something that will not fade or run and write the name of the seeds on the front of the envelope. Jot simple planting directions taken from the back of the seed packet on the back.
The Important Part
Now for the seeds. Check the packet carefully to see if the seeds you are using need to be planting in a group or on their own. For example, if you are using sunflower seeds, 3-5 will do since they are planted individually with no more than one or two seeds per planting. If you are using something really tiny such as columbines, you will want to use several. Just take a pinch and put them in the envelope.
Another idea
Faithfully Free has another, more advanced, idea to make individual valentines seed packets. She cuts out little pots from cardstock and adds a message. You can also use a shaper puncher to avoid having to cut endless shapes by hand. She uses, ?I dig your friendship! Happy Valentine?s Day!? as her saying and then cuts a slit at the top of her pots. She then inserts the entire seed packet in the slot and it is finished.
Try making individual valentine seed packets as an alternative to chocolate or candy for the health and waist-line conscious on your Valentine’s Day list.
Popular Savings Offers
The best part of this project? There is no real technique to doing this. All you need to do is decorate the envelopes and put seeds into them making sure the directions are on the envelope. That?s all there is to it! Your few minutes of craftiness will result in a lot of homemade goodness that will touch your valentine?s heart. Maybe you will even get a bouquet out of it when the flowers grow.