No, I didn’t make this up on my own, but we’ve done it for almost every Valentine’s Day for the past 5 years, so I thought I’d share this year’s version with you in case you’ve never seen it before! So, if you want to make your own DIY Photo Valentines, read on!
Here is what you need:
- Camera phone or camera of some kind
- Hole punch (but scissors will work)
- A way to get photos printed (I use CVS!)
- Lollipops, pencils, cute straws or something similar
First things first– this works best with a horizontal image. You’ll want your child to stand with their arm straight out and slightly up and with their hand in a fist. Their arm should roughly point at the 10 o’clock hour (0R 2 o’clock). You can also bring their arm slightly forward if you’re able to focus on both their hand and their face. This can get tricky though when my camera only wants to focus on their hand! This makes it look like the lollipop is coming out of the photo though, so that’s super cute.
Now, we’ve done this with no writing on the photo and we’ve done it with writing. I have access to Photoshop now, so that makes writing on the photo super easy. You can also use Canva or one of the many free options available for smartphones. We’ve also had kids write on the back of them.
A word on printing. I live a half of a mile from a CVS Pharmacy and they offer same day printing. It’s awesome and I can easily upload my photos to the CVS website and they’re available in a very short amount of time. I got 40% off my order today so it’s definitely cheaper than buying a box of valentines for each child!
When you pick them up, you’ll put a hole above and below your child’s fist so you can thread the item you’re giving away through it. This is why you want your child’s hand near the edge of the photo- my handheld hole punch can only reach so far! (The picture of little Ginny above was hard to hole punch because of her hand placement. I’ve learned my lesson!)
I hope you enjoy these. They really are easy and the kids LOVE making them. Here are a few more from this year and the past few years. (My husband and I enjoyed seeing these!) One of my girls had a year where she only wore zip-up pajamas…all day, every day. So, that’s her picture on her valentine too. She’s also the same girl who does an awesome Wednesday Addams impersonation! I highly recommend going with whatever happens and not trying for the perfect photo. Looking back, I wish I had done valentines in the costumes a few of them insisted on wearing all of the time. Being dressed up like a koala or a monkey would have made me laugh and laugh!
I hope you enjoyed these! I enjoy making them and we all love giving them out to grandparents and friends. Don’t you think the new Jo Sweatshirt makes a cute pattern for this??
I looked forward to these all day! So stinking cute! Wish mine were still little. Girl 29 and boy almost 27. But when I get grands, I am stealing this idea! Thanks!! And yes I want the Josephine
Oh! I wish I’d seen this yesterday.. Love, love 😍💞💗 I’m forwarding the link to my daughter for the grands! I better get one in the mail.
Your babies are growing so fast. They are precious! Love the jo too!
Lovely idea. My Granddaughter is 5 and I will have her tomorrow so this will be a fun thing to do!
How did you do the words? I want to do this with the grandkids next year.
thanks
Jessica used Canva to add the words, I believe.