There’s certainly no shame in purchasing store-bought cards to give to your valentine or to have the kids hand out at school. If you prefer to take the Hallmark out of this Hallmark holiday, however, you can whip together these custom cards for your favorite geek.
1. STAR WARS
Star Wars never went out of style, but with the recent release of The Force Awakens, the franchise is more relevant than ever. With just a couple of Pixy Stix and two cleverly placed slits, you can make a card that will please both Jedi and Sith alike.
2. SCRABBLE
It's not often that you can combine a snack food, a board game, and a valentine—but Positively Splendid blogger Amy does with this edible Scrabble-themed love note. The card is the perfect way to tell your favorite word nerd that you love them. Amy provides the printables, but you'll have to find the Scrabble Cheez-Its on your own.
3. NERDS
Why hone in on a specific type of nerd when you can give a sweet shout-out to them all? Just buy a few packages of Nerds candy, then head over to No Biggie and print the blogger's adorably dorky templates for free.
4. PERIODIC TABLE
For a double dose of geek-chic, pour Nerds candy into a tube, then top the tube with a message that's spelled out with the periodic table of elements. You can write your own, or you can print these free tags from Plentytude.
5. DINOSAURS
What's better than dinosaurs? Dinosaurs telling bad jokes, of course. This candy-free valentine from Wine & Glue will appeal to both the amateur paleontologists and the pun enthusiasts in your life.
6. MINECRAFT
Know a Minecraft fan or two? They'll surely get a kick out of these creeper gum wrappers and printable cards. Get the free templates from Simple As That.
7. CIRCUITS
Anne at Left Brain Craft Brain will teach you how to create an impressive yet surprisingly simple circuit using an electric paint pen, LED lights, and coin cell batteries.
8. GOLDEN SNITCHES
If you have a friend who's crazy about Harry Potter, she'll be thrilled to grab one of these Golden Snitch valentines. The basic formula is bouncy ball + gold candy foil + cardstock wings, but you can get the step-by-step (including a wing template) at Craftster.
9. TARDIS
Any Doctor Who fan will fall in love with this TARDIS card at first sight. But what's not immediately apparent from the picture is that it's a TARDIS card that's bigger on the inside. Visit TripleThreatLibrarian to get the tutorial on how to create this fold-out masterpiece. (Sonic screwdriver not required.)
10. OPTICAL ILLUSION
Two for one: These spinner valentines are easy to make—especially with the template provided by Babble Dabble Do. They also provide a great science lesson about how your eye processes rapidly moving visual information.