It's doable... DIY Valentine scratch off

We are just a few short weeks away from Valentine's Day.  And here is a fun and easy DIY scratch off card for your Valentine!

 

This project was inspired by this one from Better Homes & Gardens.  They have a nice template too, I just chose to make mine a little more custom.

What you'll need:

Con-Tact paper: $7.99 Michael's You really only need about 8x8 inch square so see if someone can let you have some if you can!

Scrapbook paper of your choice

Sticky letters $0.99 for the pink ones at Wal-Mart

Tape

Metallic acrylic paint $2 Wal-Mart

Paint brush

Disposable mixing bowl

Dish washing detergent

Piece of scrap paper

STEPS:

1) Choose the size of card you'd like to make.  I chose 7.5x5 inch to fit into the envelope of the Valentine's Day card I have.  

2) Cut your scrapbook paper slightly smaller than your size and mat it on a larger sheet of scrapbook paper.  Then cut this to your size.  (When matting, I suggest taping or gluing your smaller paper on to a larger paper and then cutting it so that you get an even boarder).

3) Fold your piece of scrap paper in half, using the folded edge as the 'center' of the heart, cut half of a heart shape.  Your size for this will depend on your card size and how many scratch offs you want.  Mine was about 1.5 inches tall.

4) Tape your piece of Con-Tact paper down, paper side up and trace around your heart.  Although I was only doing 3 scratch off hearts, I made an extra... just in case!  (This picture is the first time I traced them, in which they were too large, please do not look at this picture for scale reference).

5) Flip your Con-Tact paper over and tape it down so the clear side is now face up.

6) Mix 1 part dish washing detergent to 2 parts paint.  I would suggest 2 tsp. dish washing detergent, 4 tsp. paint.  (I did this in Tablespoons and it was way too much).

7) Paint this mixture over the clear Con-Tact paper as evenly as possible and let dry. (Takes about 3 hours).

8) While this is drying, create your card.  Take that heart template you cut out and LIGHTLY trace where you want your scratch offs and then design the rest of your card around it.  Inside of each soon to be scratch off, write what your Valentine will 'win'.  After it is all done, erase the hearts.

9) Once it is completely dry, do a second coat.  Remember that point in a craft you never want to do, but you always regret skipping, this is it.  Just do the second coat so you don't see through the hearts when you put them over the words.

10) Carefully cut out the hearts and place them on top of your card where you want them.  Remove one and peel off the paper and stick it down, repeat with the rest.

Finito! Please let me know how yours turns out!!