Love, Crafted: Your Guide to Heartfelt Valentine's Day Gifting
Five simple ways to make meaningful gifts. No shopping required.
While other kids set in my neighborhood were setting up lemonade stands on street corners, I sold handmade bookmarks. I inherently knew that there was something special about objects made with intention and care.
It’s one of the reason I was drawn to Uncommon Goods, where I worked for several years leading product development and building their virtual experiences division. There, I had the unique opportunity to deeply consider what makes a gift truly meaningful—to get inside the hearts and minds of both gift-givers and receivers—and offer items and experience they would love.
With Valentine's Day approaching, I'm excited to share five creative ways to express your love through handmade gifts. From quick crafts you can make in minutes to more ambitious projects, there's something here for every kind of creator.
1. Hearts on a String
Time: 15 minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Perfect for: Long-distance loves
This collection of hearts is simple but delightful. The bunting add lots of love to any wall, door, or desktop. To make them, I started with watercolor paper and painted using several different shades of red and once the paper was dry, I cut out five hearts that were all about the same size. From there, simply punch holes in the edges, decorate with googly eyes (or simply draw eyes) and string yarn through the holes.
Materials needed:
Red Construction Paper OR Watercolor paper and watercolor paint/brushes
Scissors
Hole punch
Yarn
Optional: googly eyes
This set of hearts is headed up to Rhode Island to bring joy to my step-daughter, Marianna, who is in college. They’re the perfect gift for a loved one who lives far away because they fit into a standard envelope.
2. Memory Drawing Collage
Time: 30-60 minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Perfect for: Capturing your favorite memories
The first year we were together, my husband made me a drawing for my birthday that illustrated moments from the year that passed. It captured the high’s and low’s and the little special moments that we shared together. I loved it so much that now he’s committed to making one for me every year!
This Valentine’s Day, I took inspiration from his birthday drawings to create an illustration for my daughter capturing my favorite things that we do together. These littles sketches take no artistic talent (do you see the stick figures?) yet create a grid of memories that celebrate what we love—bedtime stories, playing Sorry, ice skating, bus rides, and more.
Materials needed:
Paper
Pen or markers
Your memories!
My sketch is simple, but if you’re inspired to create something more intricate,
is the ultimate memory sketcher and she teaches you her techniques in her book, Draw Your Day.
3. Continuous Line Drawing Portraits
Time: 5 minutes per drawing | Difficulty: Easy | Perfect for: Interactive Valentine's fun
Continuous line drawings are what they sound like—drawing that are done without lifting your pen from the paper. Each one takes just a couple of minutes and the results are often hilariously imperfect—which is what makes them so special.
I drew the above using a photo of my husband, but this activity is far more fun if you do it together. It’s a great Valentine’s Day activity for a couple or family.
No artistic talent required. In fact, the less "professional" the result, the more personality it has. This is more about the shared experience.
Materials needed:
Paper
Pen
A sense of humor
4. Your Love Story Fantasy Map
Time: 4-6 hours | Difficulty: Medium | Perfect for: The adventurous romantic
At Uncommon Goods, one of my favorite projects was working with poet and fantasy cartographer, Brendan Lorber, to develop a romantic mapmaking class, where attendees created personalized fantasy maps that tell their love stories. Often, we had couples coming to class to create their maps together. Sometimes, individuals drew maps of their relationships with another as a gift for a milestone birthday or special anniversary. Here’s an example that an attendee made during class:
Looks great, right? It’s easier to make than it looks.
You start by making a list of the memories that you want to capture. This is actually the most important part of the process. Once that list is ready, the first thing you do is drop a handful of coffee beans (or dry beans) onto your paper to create your fantasy island. Move the beans around to create an island (or two) of your choosing and draw an outline around them. Start filling in your map checking off the memories from your list as you go. Do the map in pencil and then draw over it in pen when it’s complete.
If you look closely at this customer’s map, the individual elements are easy to draw. Simple mountains are open triangles half-filled with lines. A prairie is a series of lines and dots. And simple houses or castles dot the landscape.
Materials needed:
Large paper
Pencil and eraser
Pen
Coffee beans or dry beans
Your collection of memories
5. Poetry from the Heart
Time: 30 minutes | Difficulty: Medium | Perfect for: The romantic
There’s nothing more romantic than writing a poem for your love on Valentine’s Day. A couple of weeks ago, I shared a poem I wrote in “collaboration” with
—meaning, using a poem template from his book, The Magic Words.
Above is his prompt for love. If you follow his structure, filling in your own words and memories. The template provides just enough guidance while leaving room for your authentic voice to shine through.
Materials needed:
Paper and pen
Fasano's template (shown above)
The beauty of handmade Valentine's gifts lies not in their perfection but in the love that goes into making them. I hope this inspired you to make this Valentine’s Day a handmade one.
Words of the Week
“A life lived in love will never be dull.” —Leo Buscaglia
Photo of the Week
The view of the Washington Square arch looking south from Fifth Avenue. I love how the arch frames the Freedom Tower. I waited through a few light changes to get this photo without any cars on the street.
Very sweet!
Thank you for sharing.