I love a good interactive greeting card and scratch-off cards are amongst my favourites. It’s so much fun watching the suspense and surprise on your loved one’s face when they get a card that asks them to scratch off key parts to reveal a gift; I think it speaks to the little kid in all of us don’t you? 🙂
And best of all, this kind of card comes in super handy if you’re giving your Valentine an experience (like breakfast in bed) rather than a physical present; you can still make the gift exciting and keep them guessing up until the very last minute!
Materials
- White letter-sized card
- Printable Valentine’s Day card file (measures 5 x 7 inches once trimmed)
- Heart template
- Metallic acrylic paint
- Dishwashing liquid
- Clear contact paper
- Paintbrush
- Scissors
Step 1
In a small container, combine two parts acrylic paint with one part dishwashing liquid. This mixture will become the ‘scratch-off’ paint for your Valentine’s card.
Step 2
Cut a strip of clear contact paper and, using a paintbrush, cover the contact with your metallic paint and dishwashing liquid mixture.
Leave the contact paper to dry, then repeat this process with more coats until the area you’ve painted is completely opaque. Wait for the paint to dry completely before moving onto Step 3.
Step 3
Download the heart template, print it out onto a sheet of cardboard and cut out one of the hearts with a pair of scissors.
Turn your contact paper strip over so that the painted side is face-down. Using your cardboard heart as a guide, trace heart shapes onto the backing of the contact paper strip.
Cut each of the hearts out with a pair of scissors. When you flip them over again, you’ll see you have silver scratch off heart stickers!
Step 4
Download the printable Valentine’s Day card file. This file has sections where you can enter in the gifts you’ll be giving to your loved one this Valentine’s Day – simply open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader or a similar program and type in the highlighted sections.
Once you’ve finished filling in your gifts, print the card onto a sheet of white letter-sized cardboard and cut it out with a pair of scissors.
Step 5
Remove the backing paper from the silver hearts you cut out in Step 3 and stick them on top of the three hearts at the bottom of the printed card (this will hide your gifts and make them a surprise for your Valentine to scratch off!).
Then all that’s left to do is package your card in a nice envelope! Don’t forget to include a couple of coins so your loved one can scratch off the hearts to reveal their surprise gifts. 🙂
I love this idea! My question is how to write on the hearts before you apply the scratch off topping? Do you handwrite it in? or is there a way to print it in?
Hey Suzanna! You should be able to type in the heart message before you print it.