52 Reasons I Love You

I wanted to make something special and homemade for Valentines Day this year. I ran across this idea and ran with it, I really liked how it turned out, although it was a ton of work. I think it will be neat to look at this years from now and remember the things I loved about him :)

First I started with a deck of cards, {remember to use both of the jokers, you will need these for the front and back cover} I wanted to give them an "antique" look.

I used sandpaper on all of the cards to scratch them up.

I rubbed a white ink pad on most of them. I love how this technique turned out!

On others I put brown marker directly on the card and smudged with my finger, totally got the old dirty look I was going for
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On a few of them I burnt the edges with a lighter. *Please be extremely careful if you try this, the cards burn fast!*

Antiquing the cards was the most time consuming part, but absolutely worth it! Let the cards dry for a few hours before moving on, the ink pad and brown marker were still a little wet.

Next, I made a template to make two hole punches {for the metal rings, or twine in my case}. I wish I would have made the holes a little further apart.

The most challenging part was coming up with the 52 reasons!! Ha. I thought this would be easy, but around number 20 you start drawing a blank. Here are some of my favorites...

Next I found a picture to put on the back of the front cover. It will be the first thing you see when you open the deck. It was hard finding a small enough picture that would fit, I used a picture we had on our wedding announcements. {What else do you do with all those leftovers?!} *Apparently I forgot to take a photo of this*

I did not have any metal rings, so I found some twine and strung it through the holes to make a bow.

Next, I put the date on the back...

I decorated the cover and TADA! The finished product...

I am SOOO happy how this ended up turning out. This just might be the cutest craft project I have ever done {Although the Christmas wreath was pretty good too!} I dipped the ends of the twine in wax to prevent fraying.

*Side note: He totally LOVED this! I gave it to him last night, he couldn't stop picking it up and re reading all the things I love about him!*

Happy Valentines Day!!