Vintage Paper Crafting: Victorian Valentine’s Day Cards and Paper Garland
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for more information.
Dear Reader,
Valentine's Day in the Victorian Era was exactly how you might expect - over-the-top! With lace, bits of glass and mirrors, glitter, silk flowers, seashells, seeds, ribbons, bows, and silver-foil appliqués the Victorians created Valentine’s Day cards that were fanciful and fun. In this post, learn how to make your own homemade Victorian Valentine's Day Cards as well as a beautiful Valentine’s Day Paper Garland. This post includes adorable Victorian and Victorian inspired royalty free art, printable cards, envelopes, and paper crafting ideas.
valentine’s day in the victorian era:
By the Victorian Era, Valentine’s Day had a resurgence as many holidays did. The Victorians certainly loved their celebrations! As courting was much more formal at the time, this particular holiday left an opening for people to exchange love notes, tokens, and gifts. Cards, in particular, became a popular choice to send as manufactured cards were available to the average person. That did not stop people from being creative and crafting their own artful cards!
printable artwork for valentine’s cards:
To begin creating Valentine’s Day Cards that are inspired by the Victorian Era, you will need some Victorian artwork! There are many sources online for royalty free art that you can download and print at home. You can also help support independent artists, like ourselves, and purchase their digital artwork as well!
FREE Downloadable Victorian Valentine Art (we love the images on The Graphics Fairy!)
Strawberry Valentine Themed Cards, Enevelopes, and Ephemera (this is our original artwork and we appreciate the support!)
victorian valentine making supplies:
Making Victorian Valentine’s Day Cards creates quite a beautiful mess! I had a lovely Reader refer to these photos as “girl mess” and I could not love that more! To create your own gaudy girl mess with ruffles, lace, ribbons, and buttons you will need to gather some supplies:
Buttons. Buttons create such lovely texture! We love collecting various types of buttons. I think antique-looking white buttons look beautiful paired with pink and red papers. We typically look for buttons at thrift stores or secondhand shops!
Ribbons and Lace. This is another lovely way to add texture to your card. Thrift shops often have ribbon, but we also really love the selections from May Arts Ribbon.
Paper Doilies. Paper doilies, especially in the shape of a heart, can create a beautiful layer that pops!
Fabric. If you have any scrap fabric, it can be turned into another layer for your card! We used some cuttings from recent sewing projects to create a background for the card, or it can be folded and presses into ruffles or fabric flowers. The Victorians would have made silk or satin flowers with ribbon!
Tissue or Crepe Paper. Crepe paper made its debut in 1897 and by 1906 was manufactured and sold by Dennison in 134 solid colors and 28 printed patterns. This was a cost effective way to decorate for special occasions!
Seashells. One of the more unique crafting supplies that I love from the Victorian Era is the use of seashells! In fact, they used many different pieces from nature to craft things, including seeds and dried flowers.
how to make a victorian valentine card:
Use Ephemera. To make an authentic inspired Victorian card, you will need to use some ephemera! What is ephemera? You might be wondering. This word refers to “collectible memorabilia” and are meant to have a short-term use. This simply refers to the printed images one might use to decorate a card, like a dove with a heart or a girl in a frilly bonnet. You can use our illustrated ephemera from our Valentine’s Day Tea Party Ebook to craft your cards!
Layer Your Papers. Victorian Valentine’s Cards were notable for their various layers and added details, like seashells and buttons. You can be as creative as you like, layering up various cut out images, hearts, and paper doilies. The more gaudy and over-the-top the better! The Victorians would have used animal hide or egg whites or even flour mixed with water as glue.
Use Glitter! We did not know this until we researched it, but the Victorians were avid users of glitter. How fun! At the time, glitter was mostly made of broken glass and mica.
Write a Hidden Love Note. It’s not a valentine without a love note! The Victorians would have used quippy one-liners or written a poem for their beloved. Here is an example from an 1890s card:
“This dainty couple,
Love, I send
To tell you I am more
than friend.
I’m deeply, dear,"
in love with you,
And want to be
you love true.”
crafting a valentine’s day garland:
Create Valentine’s Cards. First, create several Valentine’s cards! This will be the fun part. We noticed that many Victorian or Edwardian valentines were made in pink and blue. Blue was quite a popular color during this time period!
Attach them to a Ribbon. To attach the valentines to a ribbon, we created little paper handles that are glued to the backs of the valentines. The ribbon is then strung through the loops/handles. Be careful not to make your valentines too heavy, or they may fall forward or fall off of the ribbon.
Hang the Garland. Once your garland is finished, hang it somewhere it can be displayed proudly like a mantle, cabinet, buffet, or the edge of a serving table.
host a valentine’s day tea partY:
Now that you have some lovely Valentine’s Day Cards and a Valentine’s Day Garland, I suppose it’s time to host a Valentine’s Day Tea Party! Whether it’s a party of many or a party of one and your furry friends, it’s still fun to decorate and make things to enjoy. As a neurodivergent person, I personally do not love having parties, but I do love decorating for them.
I share some ideas for having a Valentine’s Day Tea Party, inspired by the Edwardian era (and the Victorians) in my new ebook, Valentine’s Day Tea Party. It’s now available in our online shop!
final thoughts:
Will you be making a Victorian Valentine’s Day Card of your own? I hope that this post inspired you to try making your own whimsical Victorian Valentine’s Day celebration. As for me, I’ll be sharing my valentines with my children! I have a creative little bunch at home, and we had a lot of fun cutting out pictures and gluing things together.
xoxo Kayla
shop the look:
Theodora Corset (gifted) from Of Witches and Bards
Meg 23 Dress from Little Women Atelier (use code UNDERATINROOF for 10% off your entire order!)
more posts you may enjoy!
The tradition of decorating for Christmas with garlands has been around for centuries.