Hi there friends,
I'm stopping by today to share my newest projects I've created for the Paige Evans Design Team! Since Valentine's Day is creeping up on us, I thought I'd make some cards for the occasion. Not that we actually celebrate this day, but with the pandemic going on, I do mail cards to my parents more often than I normally would and my mom anyway has what we call name-day in Hungary on February 12, so 2 birds one stone, you know :). Since I made one for my parents, obviously I also made one for Martin's mom (and need to make one for his dad as well, but at the time I'm writing this post, that card is not ready yet).
I called these "cards with a twist" because the hearts reveal some photos when you open them. Both cut files I used are for mini albums, but I thought they would be perfect for my purposes.
- Folding Hearts Mini Album (Design ID: 300594)
- Heart Squash Mini Album (Design ID: 271643)
In retrospect, I should have used the Folding Hearts on both, because that one ended up being less thick (better for mailing) and fits bigger photos too. I like both though, and for mini albums, where you don't need to worry about thickness, they would be both just as adorable!
I used the Go the Scenic Route collection and went with a pink/orange/red color scheme. I love this combo so much, it's cheerful and fun! Once I selected my papers, I sat down to my PC and sized the cut files to the right size - for this I drew a 5x7" rectangle, which is my card size, and placed the hearts on it, to see what size I want. Then I scaled down the cut file (all pieces grouped together). I then die cut everything I needed for both cards and printed my photos in the right size and shape too (for my first card I used heart shaped photos).
Putting together the heart is self-explanatory, you just need to fold the paper along the lines, and you'll see it all come together. I did film the process though, you'll find the link to the video at the end of this post, if you're more the visual type!
Once I glued all the hearts together, I added my photos as well. I only added two card stock stickers to embellish the photos, because I didn't want to add more dimension to the card. I was somewhat sad because I love layering things up!
I then started working on the card bases. They are very simple, I started with a layer of white card stock, then a slightly smaller patterned paper panel. And because I love adding patterned paper strips at the bottom of everything, I did that here too.
To close the heart, I added some ribbon - which I glued in between the folded hearts and the front cover. I also adhered a piece of heavy weight card stock to my heart cover, so it is sturdier and added some machine stitching for interest. Then I glued the mini onto my card front.
Finally, I decorated the front of the mini - for this I used a few flower die cuts from the ephemera pack. For my sentiment I selected letters in matching colors from the Puffy Word Stickers pack. I like to mix and match letters from this pack instead of using the words that are in there. I stitched these down on a piece of white card stock, which I then tucked under one of the flowers.
The mini album is a bit different on the second card - I needed 3 sections to have enough space for 4 photos, on the other one 2 was enough.
I die cut the base of the album from white card stock and used patterned paper for other pieces that you need to glue on the base to make your mini fun and colorful. This album is pretty straightforward too, as you fold and glue the pieces together, you'll notice which way to fold each section so it all collapses the right way.
Again, I only added 2 card stock stickers to avoid adding more bulk to the card. It's quite boring this way, but I figured, these are cards in the first place, so the hidden photos are already a bonus haha!
Originally, I was planning to punch holes and use eyelets on the right side of the heart, to close it with a ribbon, but I realized that the heart would then open up on the left side. So, I ended up adding the ribbon the same way as on the first card, but this has a downside too - the album doesn't open up the way it was intended. You can still open it and see the photos, but the album won't unfold completely. I guess that's OK though, in this case. If it was a mini album, I would probably just wrap something around it, that is removable.
Because I love the paper I used for the cover so much and even made sure I die cut the heart from the part of the paper that had all these colorful little hearts on it, I obviously was not going to cover it all up with embellishments. That paper is just too special! So, I decided to only add a sentiment. To finish off this card, I placed a few glitter enamel hearts on the paper strip at the bottom. They are the perfect colors too!
That's it! I hope you like this idea and will give it a try sometime.
Oh I almost forgot to link in the Process video! Here it is:
I managed to finish the third card, that I mentioned earlier, too, but I don't want to re-write the whole blog post, so I'll just add some photos here. This is the same as the first card, only with different patterned papers. I love blue, so this one may actually be my favorite!
Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!
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