Puppy Love D2D Card Tutorial

I've been making so many Valentine's Cards for the veterans in the nursing home, that I almost forgot to make some for my kids...again!  Since my youngest & her hubby train, board & groom dogs, I thought a dog card would be in order.  I was real pleased when I saw that the progressive challenge image over at Designed 2 Delight was no other than 2 dogs called Puppy Love.  I had my image, now I needed to do something different.  I decided to make a shaped card, but I didn't really think this one totally out before I started it.

Since I have tons of stencils, I chose a size that I liked and made a pattern on scrap paper.  I wanted it to open in the center to show the image, so I made another heart and cut it down the center.  Now, how was I going to put it together without piecing it?  I laid the cut pieces to each side, but it didn't fit exactly when I folded it together.  I tried again, but this time I did it all in one piece, laying the cut pieces on each side of the main image.   I folded the pieces up and it worked, even though some of the bottom sides were cut down some in size.

Next, I picked my design paper for the front.  Place the card, open side down on the backside of the design paper so it will fit properly.  After cutting the heart out of the design paper, make a cut down the center of the design paper with a straight edge and Exacto, or you could even line it up and cut it in your paper cutter.

I decided to go a bit more complicated on this card, so everything had to line up at a diagonal.  After deciding what direction I wanted the paper to go, I pushed a pin at the top and bottom center to mark my starting spots.  The first side was then cut out.  Line the right sides of the paper up so that the patterns will match.  Mark the paper again with a pin at the top and bottom.  Turn the paper with the wrong side down and then draw the other side of the heart.  Cut this side out and then you can cut out the sides with deckle edge scissors like I did.  I also inked all the edges with Memories brown ink.

For the inside center of the card, you can draw the pattern on the right side of the paper if you want design paper on the inside.  I wanted two different papers, so the sides of the card had to be drawn on the back side of the paper again.  You want to outline the card with the cut side facing down.  After this heart is cut out, line it up to one of the sides before you cut out the center just in case the cut isn't perfectly down the center.

Now all that is left to do is decorate the card!  I've had these 2 dog ribbons from Hobby Lobby for awhile, so I used this instead of some newer ribbon (I'm still working on downsizing my stash!).  I also haven't used many rubons, so I used 2 different sets of American Crafts rubons on the front of the card.  The inside of the card has a sticker from EK Success on the left and a stamped and embossed the PSX sentiment on the right with Memento Tuxedo black ink & Mark Ent. EP.  The paw prints and dog bones came from Hobby Lobby and the rhinestones were from my stash.  The image from Designed 2 Delight was colored with colored pencils and attached with a tape runner.  I thought I was done until I tried to set the card up. 

Ooops!  That was a little technical item I forgot about!  It doesn't stand up on it's own! :o(  Oh well, I just stuck it on a 6" card base and glued a 2" strip of matching paper in the center of the card base so it wouldn't fall flat.  I added some more American Craft rubons to the sides of the card and now it was done.  Phew!  That was a long post!  As you can see, not all of my experiments work, but I was lucky this time that it could be fixed without any major problems.  If anyone out there has a better idea on how to make this card so it will stand on its' own, email me at:  grandma_lee_t@yahoo.com   ~  Lee  ~

Challenges:

Puppy Love digi image at Designed 2 Delight

Use Pink! at Crazy 4 Challenges

Paper Folding at Crafty Angels