Plantable Flower Seed Paper Valentine’s Day Cards

Are you looking for a unique and eco-friendly way to spread some love this Valentine’s Day? These plantable flower seed paper hearts are perfect for the job! Not only are they handmade and one of a kind, but they are also completely biodegradable! Plus, they are absolutely beautiful:

Ready to get started? Here is what you will need to make them:

SUPPLIES REQUIRED:

• Paper (you can use coloured construction paper, computer paper, scrap paper – any kind of paper, really! I would just avoid paper with any sort of waxy coating or black ink. We used 5 pieces of construction paper – 2 red, 2 pink and 1 white – so our seed hearts would be Valentine’s Day colours!)
• Water
• Flower seeds (use something small and flat – we used mixed wildflower seeds)
• Strainer
• Blender/hand mixer
• Heart shaped cookie cutter, size of your choice
• Splatter screen or old piece of window screen
• Old cloth or wipe clean mat (to catch coloured water drops)
• Card stock and black pen (optional)

That’s it! Most of the listed items are things you probably already have on hand. I purchased the flower seeds and splatter screen (which I will re-use in my kitchen since we didn’t have one!), but otherwise used what we already had at home.

Now for how to make them…

INSTRUCTIONS:

For a short video tutorial on how to make these, be sure to check out my Instagram account: @life_of_a_mama_bear

1. Tear paper into small pieces and place in a bowl. The kids love this part so be sure to get them involved!
2. Add warm water. Ensure all paper pieces are submerged.
3. Let soak, stirring occasionally. I let mine soak for 3 hours.
4. Strain water.
5. Mince paper. This can be done in a blender or with a hand mixer, adding small amounts of the paper at a time and stirring as needed throughout. I have made recycled paper both ways and prefer the hand mixer, so if you have one on hand I would recommend using it instead of a blender. Also note that if this process is completely regularly, it could dull the blades on your devices.
6. Once all paper is minced, return to your bowl and stir in flower seeds.
7. Set up your splatter screen on top of an old cloth or wipe clean mat. Place your cookie cutter on top and fill with the seed mixture to desired thickness, packing down as you go. Note that the thicker you make your seed paper, the less seed hearts you will get out of the mixture and the longer they will take to dry. Seed paper will shrink slightly as it dries but I did not find it to make any significant difference in the size of our hearts.
8. Set aside to dry. Again, thicker hearts will require more drying time. I left ours out overnight next to our fireplace, but you could also place seed paper in the sunshine (either outdoors if it is warm where you live or in a window ledge indoors if not).
9. While seed hearts are drying, you can create your own cards if you want. I cut some rectangles out of cardstock paper, adding slits to some to slide the seed hearts into, and wrote cute messages on each. I added a note on the back of each card as well with instructions:
10. 
11. Once seed hearts are fully dry, gently remove them from the splatter screen and attach to cards. I slid the hearts into the ones I had created slits on and used a small drop of hot glue for the others.
12. Gift to friends and family!

I just love how these Plantable Seed Heart Valentine’s Day Cards turned out, and would love to hear from you if you decide to make them too! Be sure to leave a comment below if you do!