Valentine's Day Picture Frame

Is it a Valentine's Day card or a picture frame? It's both! If you'd like to give your loved one a special card, make it yourself.

This is a simple project that can be finished in less than an hour with only a few supplies. Most of them, or maybe even all of them, are things that you might even have around your house already. It makes a perfect Saturday project for kids of all ages. Use bigger puzzle pieces for littler kids and smaller pieces for the older kids.

• Puzzle pieces from a puzzle that has lots of colors that you would want to use for your frame
• Tacky glue. I used school glue but tacky glue would last longer.
• A clear CD case. The only one I had at home had a yellow back but for best results, use clear.
• Construction paper that matches your project.
• A CD full of pictures or a Valentine's Day poem or some nice sayings.
• Markers, a pen, or crayons for decorating the inside.

Pick out the pieces that have the most color that you are looking for. I used the brightest pinks and purples that I could find. Make sure your colors go with your project but be creative and see if different colors would work too.

Start by putting glue around the edges of the CD case. Press the pieces on. If you are using glue that dries clear, don't worry about the extra glue. You won't see it anyway.

Next, put a second layer of puzzle pieces on top of the bottom layer. Make sure they are spread around so that you can see the bottom layer underneath. You can put as many layers on as you would like but I think two is enough.

I glued my picture onto the pink construction paper that was cut to fit the CD case. Make sure that before you glue the picture onto the paper, you have it in the proper place. It will need to be more to the left because of the way the cases are made.

Once you have the picture ready, put it into the CD case so you can see it through the frame! It looks like a great gift already but we still have the inside to finish!

There's lots of different things that you can do on the inside of the case. I decorated mine with felt hearts but you could write a poem or put some more cute sayings inside.

Another really great idea for this project would be to make a CD full of pictures for that special someone. Far away grandparents would absolutely love to get pictures of their grandkids.

I can't shut my case but if you put in a CD or maybe just cut your paper to fit into the circle it should shut.

Your card can be put on a desk or dresser and it will stand on it's own. Just make sure that the puzzle pieces don't hang down too far when you glue them on.

Photo credit: JenwithFlash

I suggest using an old puzzle - one that you're not even sure if you have all the pieces too. Another great place to get them from is a thrift store. They sell them super cheap because they don't know if all the pieces are there or not. I think that the puzzles were all 50 cents at my local thrift store making this is a super affordable project.

I used school glue and it worked okay but it would be better to use a tacky glue or a craft glue that's specially made for different materials.

They're super easy to make and you can be as creative or as simple as you want! Have you ever tried making one? Would you make another one?