[Valentine] Chunky Love Post Cards

What exactly should I call these??  Awesome!  That's what I call them.  I had this idea to send some Valentine post cards to Grandma and Grandpa who live far away.  I wanted to make them really "pop" out, if you know what I mean.  Something to truly set them apart from the other letters and bills.  I settled on foam board.  It really worked out well.  The hardest part about this project, is deciding which photos of your little darling you want to use.  You could browse through your files and find an appropriate two or three or ten.  Or you could stage a special Valentine photo shoot just for the occasion.  Either way, it's super fun!  I threw these together in about half an hour. (Not counting photo developing time of course)

This is what you will need to make your own chunky love post cards:

4x6 photos of your little valentine
post card printables (see below)
foam board ( I got mine at Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks)
spray adhesive
exacto knife
cutting mat
ruler and/or straight edge

 1.  Place your foam board on a cutting mat and cut into "post card" sized boards.

I used an exacto knife.  Just place a ruler or straight edge where you want the cut to be.  Press down firmly on the ruler.  Carefully slide your knife down the ruler edge.  I liked to score mine first and then go back and press harder to make the final cut.

After a bit of trial and error, I decided that it was best to make the foam board just a little larger than the photo.  I cut my foam board 4 1/4 inches by 6 1/4 inches.

2.  Once you have your boards cut, you are ready to adhere the photo.

Paper your spraying surface really well.  I am not kidding--there is a lot of overspray!  (I didn't take a photo of my spraying surface--sorry).  Place your photo picture side down onto your paper.  Spray the adhesive onto the back of your photo according to the directions on the can.  Then carefully place your photo onto one side of the foam board.  You will want to center the photo as best you can.

3.  For the back of the post card, I decided to have the template printed at the photo lab as well.  I thought it would look nice on photo paper.  You could also print it out onto cardstock.  For some reason, my prints came back a little skeewhompus.

The borders around the template weren't even.  This made me slightly crazy.  So, I decided to trim them a bit to make the borders even all the way around.  You may or may not care.  To each his own.  Then repeat the step above to adhere the template to the back of the foam board.

4.  Now, you should be all set!  Write a little love note on the back.  Or draw a cute picture.  And guess what?  Although these are slightly too big to qualify as an actual post card, you can mail them for just the cost of one stamp!  That's awesome all right.  (UPDATE:  Take your cards to the post office and have them hand stamped just to be sure!  We've received some conflicting information on the cost of mailing these cards.)

I have a feeling Grandma and Grandpa are going to LOVE their chunky post cards.  And Grandma, if you are reading this...try to act surprised when you get one in the mail!

*****

If you would like to download the post card template for your chunky love valentines, just click on the appropriate button below.  There is a pink version and a red version.

I'm linking up with: 

Whipperberry 

Skip To My Lou
I Heart Nap Time 
Blue Cricket Design 
The Mommy Club