~ Curious Charlie ~

Be Mine Valentines' Day Card - Blue Edition @ Saturday, February 07, 2015

We I don't believe in Valentines' Day, it's more like cha-ching day for florists, restaurants with their "special" set dinners that cost twice as much as any other day, The Stables Como I'm looking at you, picnic for two for $180. Less food than the usual $50pp high~~ly priced~~ tea. What makes this day so special anyway? What does it mean to you? It's not like it's your anniversary or anything. It's a marketing scam. Hence we don't celebrate it (other than the food side and the day after when chocolate is 50% :P).

Meanwhile le beau agrees that it's nothing special, but has always celebrated it with ex-girl friends (when they weren't exs) because it seems to be single awareness day. Also because of a theory I call "mine is bigger and better than yours" it's not what you do for me that's important on this one day, it's purely what evokes the most jealously in other girls. :P It's a bragging thing, though you don't always need to. Two dozens of roses and a box of hand-picked chocolate from a chocolate shop on your desk says it for you. But as I freelance and don't work in one office I don't need that. But one day I will expect that.

Another interesting thing is that this year V'Day falls on a Saturday, and yet all the flowers will be sent to the office, being based in the city there's crowded trains from 4-7pm, why would you send her a huge bouquet of flowers to survive the heat, and the ride home, when they could safely be delivered straight to your home? That never made any sense to me, but I suppose it's part of the bragging. Because we all knows that love is measure in roses, chocolates and a big shiny rock that has no function other than to look pretty, that costs more than a car, and yet does nothing.

But I love the food and arty craft side of V'Day and so today we'll walk you through a tutorial on how to create this easy but will still score you points for a handmade card. You don't need anything fancy, like a cuttlebug (a machine you roll the paper through with the pattern in a metal sheet pressing into it) that embosses cards, fancy stamps or a paper cutter. All the paper is basic cardboard, and you can even use nice patterns from catalogs.

You'll need...

a background (A5, black cardboard)
foreground (the red cardboard)
pattern paper (around the red card size is good)
tracing paper (we used baking paper)
twine (ours is from Whimsy Farm Twine)
glitter glue (pen, easier to use than bottle)
a heart template (see below or go DIY)

Measurements
Start with an A4, cut that in half to get your A5 background for the card. Here we've used black, this will be the card. (148mm x 210mm). To get the foreground (red) start with A5 then cut that in half to get A6, then trim 10mm off each side to get (128 x 85).

Note - The cardboard, cheapest way to get it is to buy it in A1 size from Officeworks and cut it yourself, you'll get x4 A4 sheets and one slightly bigger than A4 for under $2. Or you can go to a art shop and but then $1 a page pre-cut.

Materials

ruler
normal tape
double sided tape
pencil/paster + rubber
nail scissors + craft scissors + big scissors
heart puncher - optional

This is your template, right click to save as. Don't print screen as this is not at 100%, but if you click on it it will be. Print it out and cut around it - on the edge. If you're going with an A6 card (1/4 of A4) like us then this size is perfect - we experimented with different sizes.

And we're ready to start, after gathering all the materials. I like walk through tutorials with pictures and then each step, but le beau prefers everything at the end, so this is my blue version and we'll post a red version with all the steps at the end.

Step 1 - Start by tracing the heart template onto your foreground, mark a 'B' for back on it so you know which side is going to be the front. Also trace the heart onto your baking/tracing paper, no 'B' required. It is important to note here to use cardboard because paper is not strong enough for this project - we experimented.

Step 2 - Cut the patterned paper down to size to fit the baking paper. Notice how our baking paper is larger than the heart, that's because you need edges to stick onto the foreground. We're using transparent paper so we can position the pattern to our liking.

Step 3 - Cut out your heart on the foreground. I first used the craft scissors (medium sized) to cut it out roughly, then the nail scissors to cut it closely around the edges, which was much easier with the small scissors. You can get then from the $2 shop, and they're very handy in the craft room.

This is what you should have.

Step 4 - Double side the edges. You can go ahead and be stingy and only have a square of it here and there, but it wouldn't stick as well. No double-sided tape? You can also use a glue stick.

Step 5 - Stick on the pattern paper, but first peel of the white side of the tape, to make the tape double-side. Hover foreground over pattern to make sure you get it where you want it. Not important if say your pattern was solid glitter.

Step 6 - Trim the edges and flip it over. Using the normal tape stick the end of some twine on the back under the heart. Plan this carefully, as you'll write some text on the card too (see first picture, scroll up).

Step 7 - Here we've wrapped it around the card three times, and secured the ends under tape. We also added a bow, which is a separate piece. At the end dip the bow ends in PVA or ModPodge to stop it from fraying.

Step 8 - Fold the black card in half. Smooth out the edge using the ruler.

Step 9 - Using double sided tape stick your foreground onto the back.

Step 10 - Add glitter! Use the glitter glue. Note this one comes on 3D but dries flat.

And here's what it looks like when dried.

Step 11 - Add your text under the twine.

Hello beautiful rare 'Fable Castell Glitter Glue Pens' found only at Spotlight.

Riot Art also has single pens for $2.50 each, not the same brand.

The finished product. I much prefer the silver glitter boarder.

Oh and this pattern is from a 30pack of origami paper from Diaso.

Here's another card we made, no text as it's designed to be re-gifted.

Sending these off to my penpals, in a USA-Based V'Day Card Exchange.

Proud to say my beau is at a new school this year (he's a teacher) and he's running (with the assistance of the art teachers) a workshop for all the teachers to make these cards. :) He is not an arty crafty person, but because he helps/does a lot of stuff for me he's gained experience. Also he has a more relaxed approach so we have a good balance.

Will you be making a Valentine's Day Card?

Do you celebrate V'Day or agree it's just for show?

We'd love to hear your thought. :)

Unknown said... on February 12, 2015 1:47 PM

The flower delivery thing is a strange one. Don't florists work on Saturdays? Bizarre.
We don't celebrate it either, other than to drink a nice bottle of wine and have dinner together at home.