Lovely Congratulations

Today’s card is a very special one. Why? Because it’s the first one that I made using my Big Shot! Yes, that’s right – my die cutter finally arrived and I am so excited about it. I have actually recorded a video of me unboxing it and seeing what other goodies I got. The Big Shot I ordered was a special started back which came with a random selection of dies and embossing folders, so it was a surprise to me too! That video will be up on our Facebook page just as soon as I’ve managed to get it sorted.

But you’re here about the card, so I’ll start talking about that. Once I’d seen all my new goodies I knew I had to make something using them. I looked through the challenges that I have noted down to do and a couple seemed like they would work well with the idea I had in mind. As such, this card is a response to the layout from CAS(E) This Sketch and Inkspirational‘s anything goes plus red.

 

I did actually make a video showing the process of making this card too, but I’m having some trouble with the videos at the moment. Hopefully I can come back later and add it in here, but we’ll see how it goes.

I started by sketching out the layout on some grid paper and working out my layout. I used the smallest heart from the Sizzix Framelits hearts selection as a template to work out the strip going across the card, then used the next smallest as the template for my focal heart. Just before I started cutting I decided that actually I would use the heart from the Carta Bella Forever die set for my banner instead of the smallest Framelits.

I found some deep red paper and started the process of die cutting the hearts from it. This took a while as I only had the one little die and I ended up cutting eight hearts to make sure I had enough. I also cut the second smallest Framelits heart from the same red paper at the same time. Whilst I had my Big Shot out I went ahead and cut the little arrow from the Carta Bella set from a scrap of black paper. I then set the Big Shot aside.

Next I created my card base. I cut down a piece of white cardstock to make a top folding card. Somehow I measured wrong before scoring and ended up with one side longer than the other, but fixed that by just cutting the excess piece away.

I laid out the small hearts in a row across the card, alternating which way up they were, so that I could get an idea for how best to have them. I ended up only needing six of the hearts, so I have two left over for other projects. When I laid the bigger heart in place I realised it looked far too similar. Rather than cutting a new one out from a different paper I covered the larger heart with Wink of Stella (which I’d been considering using anyway) to add some shimmer.

Once I was happy with the layout I started gluing the hearts in place using Tombow Multi Mono Liquid glue. I started at one end, positioning the first heart to be half way on the card, then continued along the row alternating the directions of the hearts as I went. Once they were all in place I snipped off the overhanging parts of the end hearts.

Before attaching the largest heart I had to put the arrow on. I sliced it in two with my craft knife and worked out where to best position it before adhering it to the heart. I then added the large heart and its arrow to the card front with foam squares to give it some volume.

At this point I considered the card finished. But I did end up going back a little while later and adding in the sentiment. I just felt the card needed that little something extra. The sentiment comes from Avery Elle’s Pixie Dust set and seemed a good choice for finishing up the card.

I’m really happy with how this card turned out. It was a lot of fun to make (and I hope I’ll be able to get the video up to show you the process! If you’re interested in seeing it, be sure to follow our Facebook page to make sure you see when I upload it!) and turned out exactly how I hoped. This could work well either as a wedding or anniversary card.

Love,

Lady Joyful