How to make a papercut Valentine's Day card

Love is in the air and Valentine's Day is just around the corner. We know that finding the perfect card is not an easy task, so why not brush up your craft skills and surprise your sweetheart by making your own – after all, there’s nothing quite like a handmade Valentine’s.

We asked Heather Mills, our store manager at Cass Art Kingston and expert papercut artist, to share her top tips for creating an easy and adorable Valentine's Day card. Be warned, these cards are guaranteed to make hearts melt!

Over to you Heather...

You will need:

• Cutting mat
• Cutting knife and blades
• Pencil
• White and coloured card
•  Writing materials of your choice (such as brush pens or pigment liners)

Step 1. Draw out your butterfly design with a hard pencil (I used 4H) so that your line is nice and clean and not too smudgy. This is so that you don’t see the pencil lines on your final cut out.

Step 2. Using a clean, sharp cutting knife (I used Swann Morton No 3 with 10A blades) start by cutting out the small interior pieces. This keeps the structure of the paper and stops it from tearing.  Use your fingertips to hold down the paper as you make your cut, and turn the paper around as you need to reach corners. Don’t put yourself into contortions!

Step 3. Cut the outline of each wing, remembering to leave a gap in between the wings where the body of the butterfly would be. Carefully lift up the wing and fold it over the body. Do this for both wings on each butterfly.

Step 4. When all the butterfly wings have been cut and raised, insert a coloured piece of card behind the paper, to provide some contrast. Stick the paper to the card with a small line of glue down the spine. I added the lettering using a transfer but you could write it by hand or use stickers or whatever you like.

Step 5. Admire your finished card and give it to someone special!

Have you tried this tutorial? Show us your creation with the hashtag #cassart!

Feeling inspired? Ask our staff artists for expert advice in-store. 

See more of Heather's papercut artwork on her website and Instagram.