Making "Snow Globe" Valentines

Every year I make valentines for my grandchildren that include photos of me and each of them. This year's pictures are cut from a photo taken of us making faces when I was with in Chicago at Christmas time.
They are old enough for me to finally make a "snow globe" type of card with lots of tiny stuff. The message written inside is "All Shook Up" in reference to tiny stuff shaking around ... and the presence of Elvis.
I printed four copies of the photo to get that many pictures of me, which made four pictures of each grandchild ... they're all used in his/her valentine. The pictures are glued to a heart shape that is cut from red card stock.

The message is written with a big fat silver Sharpie pen.

A fat chenille yarn was glued around the outside edge of the red heart. Then the fun began! Sprinkling sequined hearts, stars, circles, plus some featuring Elvis and granules of glitter. Too much glitter was put in the first valentine I constructed ... it obscures the background and photos. I also put about 8 beads in the mix to serve as spacers between the two layers of hearts.

A heart shape the same size as the card stock one was cut from firm clear plastic that I had saved from packaging of other "stuff". A line of glue was applied around the outside edge. It was positioned over the red heart with the glue side down on top of the chenille yarn "bumper".

After the glue had dried , I machine couched that same fat chenille around the outside edge to secure all the edges. Use a very wide zig-zag stitch that is not spaced too close together to avoid making a perforated line of holes that easily tears.

All that's left to do is write a special message to each child on the back of the valentines with that same silver Sharpie, put them into envelopes and get them into the mail.

PS: To see last years cards that I made for these kids, go here.

Now, to make valentines for some of my friends made from copies of this photo.
It's a crazy quilted heart valentine that I had given to my husband in 2001.