I bought a wooden valentine cookie welcome sign a few years back, but it died a slow, painful death on my front door in the harsh midwest winters each February. So we added a storm door, and I made my own version which I ended up liking much better anyway! And it’s one of my easiest DIYs yet.
Materials
7 Wood Hearts – 3″ size
Foam Sheets – pink & white
Puffy Paint – red
1/4″ Ribbon – red
Any embellishments you like, such as ribbon roses
Supplies
Hot Glue Gun/Hot Glue Sticks
Scissors
Paper & Pen
Printer, Xacto knife+mat (optional)
Tips
At first I thought I wanted really large wood hearts, but you probably don’t want to go any larger than 3″ because the sign will get too big.
Please, do NOT make your sign vertical! This is called ‘stacked text’ in graphic design, and it is a big no-no because it’s difficult to read, and just looks amateur. The reason why you don’t see professional logos with stacked text is because it’s poor design.
Once when I was researching corsages (to learn more about floral arranging), I read on a blog to NOT use baby’s breath, because it’s dated. I had no idea, but it made sense, and I was thankful for the tip. So I hope you are too, without being offended.
HOW TO STEPS
Begin by tracing the wood heart to make a pattern. Draw about 3/8″ in from the edge and cut it away…this is your frosting pattern.
Place the pattern on top of your foam and cut out in the colors you like (I did 4 pink & 3 white).
For the letters, you can just freehand, or print out letters in the font you like. Since I did lowercase, I measured the foam heart for the tallest letter (L) first which was 2″.
I printed the letters, cut them out with an Xacto knife, then traced them onto the foam pieces for a painting guide. You can also hot glue the foam on top of the wood at this point. Then I puffy-painted the letters.
Allow to dry completely (according to specifications on the paint bottle), then turn over and hot glue a length of ribbon long enough to go across your door. I made loops and added smaller ribbon, but you can do what you like. I also added little ribbon roses to the ends for a little embellishment. Or sprinkles. Make it yours!
Lastly, I just taped to the sides of the door to hang. If you prefer you can buy adhesive plastic hooks in white or black if your door is the same color.
If you also like the rose wreath, I made it with some white sheer ribbon, a metal heart-shaped wreath frame (from Dollar Tree), and a wedding bouquet of silk flowers from the craft store (also hung with a hook from Dollar Tree).
This sign would also be cute as candy hearts, with the wood painted pastel colors and white with red letters in all caps. What does your sign look like? Let me know with a comment and enjoy your Valen-sign!
