Love on deck
I ran across this idea on the Craftster web site last year, and instantly fell in love with it. (The artist of that “52 Reasons I Love You” card-deck book said the idea had been around a long time, but I’d never seen it before.)
What a great way to make someone feel loved and appreciated! It is, of course, perrfectly suited to Valentine’s Day gift giving. However, it would also be adaptable to other occasions: “52 Reasons We Appreciate You” … “52 Reasons to Enjoy Your Retirement” … “52 Reasons You are a Great Mom”, etc.
You can do this project as simply or elaborately as you wish. In its simplest form, it could be completed in one evening. If you want to get more elaborate (adding photos or making each card an individual masterpiece), it could take a week or more.
Here’s what you need:
- A deck of cards
- A hole puncher
- 2 Keyrings (or other binding hardware)
- Scissors
- Glue dots (school glue may not work if your cards are plastic-coated)
- 52 reasons — more on this, below
Step 1: Create the 52 reasons.
My first step was to jot down a list of reasons. It is good to have a few extras, so you’ll have choices about which to include.
I then typed mine into a computer, chose a pretty font and red text color, and printed them out. (Of course, you could just write them by hand instead, if you’d rather.) I used very narrow margins and set the computer to a 3-column layout, which made the text about the right width.
Size-wise, it is best to stay within 3/4 of the width and height of your card deck. You may need to adjust your font size in order to do this.
Once you have your 52 reasons on paper, cut them apart and trim them to the proper size.
Step 2: Punch holes in the cards.
Punch 2 holes near the left-hand edge of one card. Each hole should be about equidistant from the vertical and horizontal edges of the card. Measure if precision is important to you. Don’t place them too close to the edge.
Once you have one card done, use it as a template to punch the holes in the subsequent cards, so that all the holes line up perfectly.
You will notice that I stuck the title to the first card before punching the holes. But it is actually better to punch all the holes first, so that none of the content gets “punched out” when you punch the holes.
*The top card (a Joker) is your cover and faces the opposite direction from all the rest — it should be back-up; the rest should be face-up. Most cards are designed to look about the same whether they are right-side up or upside-down, but there are often a few in the deck (Ace of Spades, Jokers) that do have a true “right-side up”. Be sure that the image is right-side-up for those.
Step 3: Attach the reasons to the cards.
Place the reasons however you like, being careful not to block the holes you have punched. Because the “book cover” is different than the rest of the pages, put the title on the back of the Joker, but put the other reasons on the front (where the numbers and symbols are displayed).
You may want to match some of your reasons to the design on the card. For example, someone might be a “tennis ace” or the “king of [your] hearts”… or you might want to cite the recipient’s sense of humor on the first card (since the Joker will be visible on the opposite side, which serves as the inside-front-cover.)
Step 4: [optional] Add embellishments.
If you have time, you may want to add little pictures or stickers to your cards, but it isn’t necessary.
Step 5: Bind the deck into a book.
Take a few cards at a time, and bind them with the keyrings. I found it easiest to do one keyring at a time. Be sure to keep everything right-side up as you go along.
That’s all there is to it! Here are a couple of my card-pages, as inspiration. You can also search the web (Google “52 reasons”) for additional examples.
