Looking for a sweet DIY Valentine’s day card idea you can make at home? These Valentine seed cards are easy to make, eco friendly, and you can make them into any shape you want. For this craft we made heart-shaped seed paper. We have an adorable printable for the kids to share with their friends.
I love clever projects that the kids can make for friends and family. It makes the project more special for your kids because they worked so hard to make it. This is a great way to use any old newspaper or used computer paper. You can make these for anything: party favors, gift tags, or even business cards! These take a bit of time to dry, so this is not a project to start the day before your child needs them for school!
When I placed them out to dry, I put the cooling rack on top of it to make sure that none of the hearts flew away and nothing accidentally hit them.
If you don’t have a heart-shaped cookie cutter, you can make one big sheet of paper and then cut the shapes with a die-cut or freehand. I just wanted to make sure that they were all the same shape and I used every bit of the mixture. It’s not like cookie dough that can be rolled back out and cut again. Well, you could, but you’d have to soak it again and then let it dry. No thanks!
You can download the printable HERE. (This printable is copyright protected and can only be used for personal use, as in no selling my stuff yo!)
Isn’t this such a cute idea for a Valentine? Please share and Pin.
DIY Recycled Seed Paper Hearts
Equipment
- Screen
- Fan or hairdryer
Materials
- Paper or Colored Paper
- Food Coloring if you don’t have colored paper
- Thin Seeds we used Black-Eyed Susan’s
- Valentine Printable
Instructions
- Tear Paper – Let your kids go to town tearing paper into little pieces and place them into a bowl. After you have all of your paper torn up, it's time to add your warm water.Add Warm Water (and food coloring)- If you used colored paper you won't need food coloring and can just add your warm water. If you used white paper mix your warm water with the food coloring before adding to the paper. I used the McCormick neon pink one.Let soak – Let your paper sit in the water for a couple of hours, maybe even overnight.
- Blend paper into pulp – Then use a hand mixer to blend the paper into a pulp. You can see that my mixture had a sheet of paper that had some kind of coating on one side so it didn't blend into the pulp mixture. In the long run, though it looked really good in the project so I left it in there.Drain water – Drain any excess water off the mixture, but make sure you leave it moist. Don't squeeze any water out because you need it to make it spreadable.Sprinkle seeds into mix – Sprinkle your flower seeds into the pulp and blend well so that they are all throughout. Do not use the mixer or blender to do this because you could damage the seeds.
- Prep screen – I used a splatter screen for this project but you can use a window screen or buy some screen from your local hardware store. Place your screen on top of a cooling rack with a paper towel underneath. As you mold the shapes it will start to leak through the screen.
- Shape mixture – Hold your cookie-cutter tightly against the screen. Put a spoonful of paper pulp mixture into the shape and use the spoon to push and move it to the sides. Get it as even as you can. Make sure your shape isn't too thin because when it dries it will get smaller, making it very brittle and hard to remove from your screen.
- Let dry – After you have a few placed on your screen you can place them out in the sun to dry. I made these in winter so I didn’t have much sun, I ended up placing a box fan over them to speed up the process.
- Carefully remove from the screen – Once they were dry I had to bend the screen just to get them off. I suggest peeling them off yourself, just to make sure none of them get torn.
- Attach to Valentine’s card – After we were done with our hearts, I created the valentines that we would give to her friends. You can download the printable HERE. (This printable is copyright protected and can only be used for personal use, as in no selling my stuff yo!) Underneath the heart is instructions for the child to place the heart in a pot adding water and placing it in the sun.
Oh my goodness, those are just too cute for words.
When do we add the seeds? 🙂 Is it at the first stage or do we arrange and press them into the hearts after we have cut them out? Thanks for sharing this.
You mix the seeds in after you use the mixer. Mix with a spoon or spatula so you don’t hurt the seeds. Do this before you press them into to cookie cutter shape!
Hello!
I’m looking to try this, this weekend! But how much water did you use and how many sheets of paper? You also used one packet of seeds for that amount, correct? Thank you so much for such a unique Valentine idea!! 🙂
I used about 5 sheets of paper (one of them has a coating on it that didn’t dissolve like the rest), and once I had all the paper torn up in my bowl, I added just enough water to cover it. Once the paper soaks it up, you may discover you need more to be able to blend into a pulp. It all depends on the type of paper you use. Mine was all kinds of scraps. You can always press out excess water.
Such a fun idea! I might make these up for AJ to give out at school =)
Wow this is so cool!! What a great craft project.This looks like so much fun.
Your hearts came out so pretty! I’ll be sharing this on The Crafty Crow soon 🙂
OMG i love this!! This is a great idea for kids for valentines! i think we just might do it!
How did you “attach” the hearts to the card? Tape, glue, magic?
Just tape
This is such a cute idea! It would make the perfect valentine and my daughter would love helping 🙂
Thanks for the great idea.
So, my boys and I made these for Valentine’s Day next week. Thank you for the awesome tutorial.
But it occurs to me that you don’t show any pics of the flowers that grew… please tell me that you tried one out and they do actually sprout?
Thanks!
— Beki
Great point. It’s been so cold here that I haven’t started any seeds yet but I’m going to on this weekend! I’ve never had a problem with any seed paper I’ve received. But I’m sure it depends on the seeds for sure. Thanks
These are so freakin’ CUTE I can hardly stand it. I larger bits of paper give the seed hearts more chaaracter, I think. I’m definitely making these.
About how much paper did you use to make the 13 you did here? I need to make enough for 22 kiddos and figure I would just double what you did to make sure I have enough to make them thick like you noted in your tutorial. Thanks!! 🙂
I doubled my batch to make enough for my daughters class. I would say we tore up around ten sheets maybe. I also made them thin when I shaped them with the cookie cutters. Just make sure they aren’t too thin because they will tear when you go to pull them off. Good luck, I hope your kiddos class loves them!
Hi Meghan
I absolutely love this idea and I’m looking to make them for my favors for guest at our wedding . I need to make approx 150 – do you think it’s
Doable . I don’t want to be making them the day before our wedding . I have plenty of time to get organized and make them, however just wanted to check what my time frame is from when I make them to when they will start seeding . Also I want to attach a little instructions with them with directions on how to make them grow can you help me with that as I’ve never made them before?
Thanks <3 Jade
Oh yeah, I would just do them in batches! Congrats on your wedding.
This idea is AMAZING! My sister got married over the summer and we made tissue paper flowers. I kept a lot of the scraps, thinking of making handmade paper out of it… this is an even better idea!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Crystal
Hi there! These are so cute! About how long did they take to dry? Do you think if I used a fan that they could possibly dry within an hour? Thanks in advance! 🙂
I don’t think it would work in an hour. I used a fan on mine and it still took a few hours to dry them out enough.
Hi,
how long did you need to wait until they were dry enough to handle?
Thanks
I didn’t touch ours for 24 hours just to make sure they were good and dry. I wouldn’t wait if you need them for Valentines or a wedding. Especially if you you need to make more. I had to make a second batch in order to fill the school list!
Looks too cute, but I prefer to replace with smaller stars.
hiya can i ask if you place them ina pot of soil or just a pot and add water? thanks in advance
I would put them in soil to last longer.
Maybe use beet juice or blueberry juice instead of artificial coloring since you will be planting these.
That’s a great idea as well! There is also a line of great natural food dyes that are made from plants as well I use them to bake!
I’m currently making mine now. Is it possible to put them in the oven on low heat to dry faster? I’m using them as gifts for tomorrow?..
I think you could, as long as you check them often and your stove doesn’t get above 200 degrees. It’s just like dehydrating food.
How many seeds would you add to the hearts?
Hey Angela, We used one packet of seeds for our mix and added them after creating the pulp and draining the water. I think you can do it either way if you want to make sure each shape gets a certain number of seeds. I think if you can also judge by dumping your seeds out onto a paper plate to see about how many you have. It might be a fun project for the kids to do, though! This could also be beneficial if you’re mixing multiple seed varieties together.
Made these yesterday, and they turned out great! A little thicker than I would have pictured, but they dried completely overnight. I’m excited to give an earth friendly valentine out for my kids’ classes this year. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you so much for sharing! I hope the kids love them. It’s such a great eco-friendly craft!
We (just turned 5 year old and Mom) made these in a few stages over the course of 4 days, and they turned out fantastic. Thank you so much for the amazing idea and easy steps, this is the first year my daughter has been interested in each step of the process in making Valentines’ for her preschool class.
I’m so happy to hear it! Thank you for sharing with me.