Saturday, February 20, 2010

Will You Be Mine?

As you can probably imagine, I really love Valentine's Day b/c it's another card giving holiday (along with Christmas....and if you're me....Halloween or any other holiday). I found this really cute idea from Martha Stewart and decided to make something similar with paper that I already have.

You can really do any color combinations - I went two different combos: red cardstock with pink accents and pink cardstock with green/teal accents. Then for the little hearts I just used scraps of all different colors.

How to Make:
1. Cut one piece of your cardstock in half to make two pieces with dimensions of 5.5"x8.5".
2. Fold each piece over to make a basic looking, top folding card measuring 5.5"x4.25".
3. Cut two strips of your accent paper - this can be transparent paper, construction paper - anything! I went with that papyrus feathery looking paper (I don't know the name of it). Instead of cutting it with scissors, I tore the paper into the strips to give it a featherly border look. The strips should be 4" long and about 1" wide.
4. Glue with two strips onto the front of your card, one above the other.


5. Measure the distance between the fold of your card to the center of each strip. We will use these measurements to give us a guide for the upcoming sewing.
6. Turn the card over so that you are writing on the inside top flap of the card.
7. Measure from the flap and make a line for each of your strip measurements. Basically, you should be drawing a line directly on the flip side of the paper from your glued on strip.
8. Still on the back flip side, mark the center of your card. You will want to space each of the sewed on hearts one inch apart and centered. So, measure 1/2" from your center mark on each side. Then from each of those marks, measure 1" over. You should now have made 4 marks on your line (in addition to the center mark). You will be sewing one heart at each mark.
9. Repeat the marking on the second line for the second strip. I would also recommend making the marks 1 cm long and centered on the strip line.
10. Taking your heart punch, punch out 8 different colored hearts. Fold each heart in half.

11. Take your first heart and sew it in the top right position. Put the needle through the back of the card at the top of the 1cm line, go through the heart towards the top of the fold, back through the heart about 1 cm down, and back through the card.

12. Repeat the process sewing all 8 hearts in place.

13. "Fluff" the hearts by folding them together.
14. Using another piece of cardstock (preferrably another color), cut a piece that is 5"x8". Center it on the inside of the card, gluing it to the first piece of cardstock. This will give you an inner lining which will hide your sewing and give you a nice place to write your inside message.

15. Write your message and deliver it to your Valentine!


I got a GREAT book for Christmas from my brother and sister-in-laws and niece Sonya - it's a book of card making ideas with awesome templates. I'm really excited to try it out for my next batch of cards....St. Patrick's Day perhaps?