Say I Love You the DIY Way! February 7, 2013

With Valentine’s Day LOOMING right around the corner, I created this last card for this series of DIY projects: The Peek-a-Boo Love Valentine.  It is quick and inexpensive, both very important (!), and is super cute.

You will need the following supplies:

• Card stock – one piece for card and one piece to print LOVE, the heart die-cut and graphics on
• Plain, colored or patterned copy paper for envelope (template here)
• glue stick
• scissors
• X-Acto or utility knife
• vinyl coated paper clip
• strips of colored or white copy paper cut to 1/8 inch or quilling strips (3 pieces)
• fish line
• access to the internet and copier, graphics software or lettering templates or your own great handwriting and skill
• foam core cut into little tiny squares or foam mounting pieces for use in scrapbooking
• mounting squares (full or half cut sized)
• quilling tool (you can make one or buy one)
• a ruler

You will need to get your LOVE insert printed first.  Print your graphic design onto one side of the paper. Then you will print the LOVE template (found here) onto the other side. Cut the template out and set aside. You can use a heart die cutter to make the heart insert or cut one out of the left over cardstock. Print the envelope template onto the copy paper and set aside.

To start assembling the card, you are going to cut your plain cardstock in half with your X-Acto knife and ruler.

Next you are going to score your card to make it easy to fold – score it in half so the card folds equally on both sides.

Use your X-Acto knife to cut LOVE out of the insert you made, then mount it onto your card.

To assemble the hanging heart, you will insert one of your thin quilling paper strips into your quilling tool and twirl it right to the end.  Glue the ends, as shown, then pinch it to make a tear drop shape.  You will do this with all three strips – remember that one of the strips should only be 3 to 4 inches long before quilling it.  Assemble heart as shown.

Cut a length of fishing line (about 10 inches to make it easier to work with) and draw it through the center tear drop then tie it with the loop going through the heart about an inch long.  Trim the ends and draw it through the paperclip.  Clip onto one of the letters of your LOVE cut-out.

Next take your envelope and cut it out with either scissors or X-Acto knife.  Fold short edges at lines and the long flap up.  Run some glue along the side edges of the long flap and press into place.  Let dry for a couple of minutes and you are ready to insert your card.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

OMG! It’s a SUPER EASY Valentine Pop-Up Card DIY! February 1, 2013

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, we are taking advantage of all of the great DIY’s ideas out there!  This week’s DIY, the SUPER EASY Valentine pop-up card comes to us from MinieCo.UK.  It requires very little in the way of supplies and there is very little out of pocket cost involved, so it is perfect for us!  It only takes about a half hour to make too, so for all of us who have busy social lives, this is fab.

You will need the following supplies:

• Cardstock – plain or patterned (1 sheet) – will make two card templates
• Copy paper – white or colored (2 sheets) – for envelopes
• Glue – scrapbooking or a glue stick
• X-acto or utility knife
• Ruler
• Cutting mat or surface to cut on
• Heart die cutter (optional)
• Envelope (here) and card (here) templates
• Access to the internet and a printer

Print the card template onto the cardstock and the envelope onto the plain paper. Starting with the card, you will need to score the horizontal lines as shone – scoring is LIGHTLY running your blade over the line in order to make it easier to fold. You will cut the vertical lines and the horizontal lines at the top of the card, with the exception of the top two horizontal lines which you have already scored.

Now, carefully fold your card along the scored lines. Voila!  You have a cool pop-up card!  You can embellish with hearts cut with the heart die cutter, or with stickers, glitter, whatever your heart desires!

The envelope simply needs to be cut around the outlines – you can use you X-acto like I did, or cut it out with scissors –  and then folded along the light dotted lines. You will run a line of glue around the edge of the bottom fold of the envelope and press it into place.  That’s it!