Valentines Day Cards

I made it through surgery and have been taking it easy. (you can follow my post surgery process over at my other blog) http://theaspiringequestrian.blogspot.com/ 

I did have a project all lined up to work on as soon as I could get back into my sewing room. However I decided instead to work on some Valentines Day cards. I figured with the amount of pain killers that I am taking if I screwed up a card or 2 who cares! If I screwed up on my daughters birthday gift I will be mad at myself.

I also took the opportunity to play with my new camera while doing this project and took pictures of all the steps along the way. Which means you get a Valentines Day Card tutorial (of sorts!) This was a good project for me because I could do stuff in 15minute increments. What normally would have taken me a couple hours took me 4 days!

All of the materials used were from my giant stash of stuff in my sewing room.

I cut card stock into Postcard size pieces to fit into my small envelopes



I next used some of my stamps to make all over background designs on the cards



To add some extra visual interest I added some areas of embossing

embossing powder being applied

I then hold the cards over an iron set  on highest setting with no steam, this melts the powder together giving the raised embossed effect.

The cards with the embossed details.

I then pulled out some trims from my giant box of trims to play with.

I used an old remnant piece of grey fabric with a sheen to it, ironed on some heavy duty interfacing on the back to make it stiff and then started by layering pieces of cut trims over it until I was happy with the layered effect.

Trims sewn on in rows.

I used a clear foot on my machine so I could see where I was sewing on some of the smaller pieces of trim.

With all the trims sewn on, I them flipped the piece over and applied some leftover pieces of heat 'n bond. I traced the heart shapes onto the paper backing and cutout 4 heart shapes.

I then peeled off the paper backing and with the iron set to a low heat with no steam I ironed the hearts onto the cards. I ironed them from the back. The dry heat kept the cards from curling.

The cards with the different hearts applied using Heat'n Bond

I then added various trims to the edges using Tacky glue applied with a toothpick as well as a couple extra paper cutouts.

When the glue was dried I trimmed off the edges, wrote my notes on the cards and stuffed them into the little envelopes which I decorated with small punch hearts.

All set and ready to mail! I even stamped the back with my monogram.

As you can see these cards are an adorable way to use up some trims as well as to say 'I love you' to some very special people! I only have 4 cards...  It will be a surprise to see who gets them in the mail :)