Augmented Reality Craft: Create DIY Valentine’s Day Cards That Come to Life!

Thank you to Lifeprint for partnering with us on this special craft tutorial!

Our featured pick for this year’s Valen-Tech Gift Guide would not only make a fantastic present, but is also the perfect item to help you knock out all those Valentine’s Day cards: The Lifeprint Ultra Slim Photo and Video Printer. This lightweight, handheld photo printer connects to your mobile device over Bluetooth and not only prints your memories, but quite literally makes them come to life! Lifeprint uses augmented reality to create a “Hyperphoto” using ZINK zero ink printing paper. After printing your Hyperphoto, you can actually hold your phone over the photo and watch it come to life as a video!

How to Make a DIY Augmented Reality Valentine’s Day Card

For this craft, you’ll need a Lifeprint Ultra Slim Photo and Video Printer, ZINK Photo Paper, a compatible smartphone, and the Lifeprint App, which is available on both Google Play and iTunes.

Using the Lifeprint Photos app, you can create your Hyperphoto in three different ways:

• Create a new video: Select the camera icon in the “My Media” screen and take a video using the app. It will automatically select the first frame as the still image that will print on the paper, or you can select a new frame to print.
• Select an existing video: Choose an existing video from the camera roll within the app to turn into a Hyperphoto.
• Turn an image into a video: Select your favorite still image, then tap the “…” icon on the Print Preview screen to view more options. This will allow you to choose an existing video to bundle with the image.

Once you’ve printed your Hyperphoto, select the Hyperphoto scanner within the Lifeprint App, hold it over your photo print, and watch it come alive:

How incredible is that?! Now anyone with the Lifeprint App can use the Hyperphoto scanner to watch your Valentine’s Day greeting come to life! Lifeprint is also a worldwide social printer network, meaning that you can follow each other in the Lifeprint App and actually share photos directly to any other Lifeprint printer anywhere in the world – think how much Grandma would love to get new photos of the family delivered straight to her printer anytime you snap them! And because Lifeprint is all about getting social, you can easily pull in media from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat to compile and share all in one spot.

So now that you know the basics of creating a Hyperphoto, it’s time to get crafty for Valentine’s Day! The Lifeprint App also contains a full photo editing suite, so you can dress up your photo with frames, fonts, emojis, filters and more to create a beautiful Valentine’s Day greeting. This is such an easy and fun way to create a custom card with no special Pinterest skills required! Plus, this portable printer can be taken anywhere, so you can work on your craft whenever and wherever you have time.

Lifeprint’s ZINK Photo Paper is available in two sizes, 2×3 and 3×4.5. This means that your photos will print out to be around the same size as the cards you get in those classic boxes of kid’s Valentines for the classroom. Even better, ZINK paper has a sticky back, so these amazing Hyperphotos are also awesome stickers. And thanks to ZINK’s zero ink printing technology, you don’t have to worry about the kids somehow making a mess with ink cartridges!

I can personally attest to the fact that kids have so much fun making these prints – they can select special photos and videos for each of their friends, record a special Valentine’s Day message, use the app to draw and add stickers, and then head to school with the coolest Valentine’s Day cards ever! Kids go crazy for stickers, so just imagine the reaction you’ll get when they see magical stickers that actually come to life. Keep them, trade them, stick them on a greeting card envelope, make them into a photo garland – with Lifeprint’s Hyperphotos, the options are endless.

The Lifeprint Ultra Slim Photo and Video Printer retails for $99.99 and is available at LifeprintPhotos.com and in Apple Stores worldwide. ZINK Photo Paper refills start at $29.95, so stock up and get working on a Valentine’s Day greeting they’ll never forget!