A Valentine For Grandma

Gracious!  It's been several days since I posted here.  Sorry about that!  I've been busy over at Aunt B on a Budget.  I'm back now though, and I thought I'd spend some time talking about paper crafts.

Time spent working with paper is happy time for me.  I have a huge stock of it and I'm always happy to go play.

Valentines Day is made for people like me.  It's all about the cards and about bold reds and pinks and rich, voluptuous chocolate browns.  Who would not be cheered by those colours?  I mean, really.

The original design for this card was taught to me by a local Stampin' Up demonstrator, Sharon Annis.  She teaches monthly "stamp camp" classes, where a group of women get together and make cards.  I love stamp camp.  I get to learn new crafting techniques and to spend time with a fabulous group of interesting and intelligent women.

Sharon has kindly consented to let me show some of my adaptations of designs she's taught in class.  This is one of them. Sharon made this design for Thanksgiving.  I've adapted it for Valentine's Day by changing the paper and by using a photo instead of a stamped image.  (I didn't use traditional Valentine's colours, I know, but I'm kind of a rebel that way.  ;)

The captions for the card are easily made in "Word."  You can size them as you wish and use whatever font you prefer.  I used 24 point "Dear Teacher" font.

This would make a wonderful card to send to Grandma.  If you subbed in a photo of yourself playing peekaboo, you could give it to your sweetheart.

To make the card, you'll need:

• 1 piece of 11 x 4-1/4 inch card stock
• If the card stock has a different pattern on each side, you'll need a second piece of card stock that measures 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inches
• 2 pieces of contrasting card stock, each measuring 3-3/4 x 4 inches
• A portrait photo measuring not larger than 3-1/2 x 3-3/4 inches
• A caption piece that says "Peekaboo!" printed on white card stock
• A second piece of white cardstock, 3-1/2 x 3-3/4 inches, printed with "I Love You!"
• A small piece of craft foam
• A glue stick or some double sided tape
• A bone folder or a sharp tipped device you can use for scoring paper (I use a metal knitting needle)
• Scissors
• A pencil
• An eraser

Place the paper so that it is oriented with the 11 inch edges at the top and bottom and the 4-1/4 inch edges at either side.  Score the paper vertically 2-1/4 inches from the left edge and again at 5-1/2 inches from the left edge.  Fold it as shown below.

If your card stock has a different pattern on the back, turn it over and set the smaller piece of card stock in place as shown below.  The pattern facing up on the smaller piece of card stock should match the pattern on the front of the card.  Check to make sure the larger piece of card stock can still be folded with the smaller piece in place.  You may need to trim the smaller piece.  I ended up taking off about 1/16 of an inch.  Once you're sure it fits, glue the smaller piece of card stock in place.

Turn the card back over and fold it closed to check that you've placed the second piece of card stock correctly.  It should look something like this.

Set the card aside.

Place the two rectangles of contrasting card stock on your board. Glue the photo to one rectangle and the inside caption to the second.  My photo was square and I chose to set it off center.  You can center it if you think it looks better that way.

Turn the piece with the photo over so that the photo is face down.  Mark a line 2 inches from the left edge of the card.  Apply glue or tape to the area on the right side of the line.

Attach the photo piece to the card, lining up the pencil line with the first fold line.  No glue or tape should be showing.  When the card is folded closed, it should look like this:

When the card is opened at the center but has the first fold folded back, it should look like this:

You, of course, will not have writing on the back of the photo piece.  :)

Fold the card tightly shut and hold it in place.  Use a sharp pencil to mark the placement of the top right and bottom right corners of the photo piece.  The pencil marks don't show up well in the picture, I outlined them in black and added arrow pointers so you'll know where to mark.

Open the card.  Check to ensure that the pencil marks are dark enough for you to work with.  Glue the inside caption piece in place, aligning it inside the pencil marks

Close the card again, to ensure that the outside photo covers the inside caption when the card is closed.

Set the card aside again.

Trim around the "Peekaboo" caption to make a small rectangle.  Lay the caption piece face down on a piece of craft foam and trace around it with your pencil.

I used a scrap piece of foam.  Sheets of craft foam are usually available very inexpensively at dollar or discount stores. I use it often when making cards so I always have it on hand.

Cut the traced piece out, cutting inside the lines so that the foam rectangle is slightly smaller than the caption piece.

Glue the foam piece onto the caption piece.

Apply glue to the back of the foam, turn the caption piece over and place it on the front of the card.  I placed mine in the top corner so that the child in the photo would appear to be looking up at it.  Use your judgement about where it looks best on your card.

Erase any visible pencil marks.

You're done.  Pretty cute, isn't it?  The opened card will look something like this:

Have fun with this project.  I'm sure that whoever receives it will be delighted to get such a personal memento.

Thanks again, Sharon, for the inspiration.  :)
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card stock:  K&Company, Kimberly Hodges collection


This project appears on the Think Pink Sundays link party at Flamingo Toes, Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party,  Made by You Monday on Skip to My Lou, and Things We Love for Valentines Day by Family Fresh Cooking.