Heart Mobile Valentine's Day Card

This time of year hearts are a-flutter and heads are spinning. Let’s make a fun card that has movement. This little Valentine’s Day card incorporates two of my favorite things: machine embroidery and paper art. Create this fun card with your embroidery machine and a digital cutter. If you don’t have a digital cutter you could use a template and a craft knife. Download printable instructions.

Materials:

• Digital cutting machine or craft knife
• Solid cotton fabric for a 5”x7” machine embroidery hoop.
• Madeira Rayon Black thread #1000
• Medium weight tear-away stabilizer
• Fabric markers
• Cording such as rat-tail. (I created mine on a serger using a three-thread rolled hem with decorative Madeira Classic #12 cone Rayon #1110 lower looper Candlelight #007 and upper looper Madeira rayon # 1110)
• Heat-set or glue-on jewels
• 12”x12” card stock in your choice of color and pattern
• Double Stick tape
• Scrapbooking embellishments.

Tools:

• Baby Lock embroidery machine

Steps:

1. Press your cotton fabric then hoop it with medium weight tear-away stabilizer.

2. On the Baby Lock Solaris select the button for embroidery and in the designs section select the Delicate Embroidery category design number #011

   1. If you are working on a different embroidery machine choose a heart design that you like. Size the design so it’s approximately 3.44” x 2.93”

3. Duplicate and mirror the design. You will now have 2 designs to sandwich together creating a front and back of your spinning heart.

   1. Tip: If you plan on making multiple cards use a larger hoop and set it up to do multiples. You can also use the extra hearts to practice.

4. Stitch out your hearts.

5. When it is finished stitching cut them apart. Match up the fronts with the mirror-imaged back.

   1. With the rat-tail cord or one that you have created cut approximately 6”. You will trim it later.

6. Lay one of the stitched hearts with the stitched side face down and lay the cording on the center of the heart extending a few inches beyond the center top and bottom of the heart.

   1. Place the mirror-imaged heart with the stitched side facing out over the other heart and cording. Line up the hearts and pin together.

7. Set your machine to sewing. We used the “J” foot. Thread your bobbin and machine using Madeira rayon black #1000.

   1. Stitch around the heart close to the design keeping an eye on your alignment. Make sure you have stitched through the cording so that it will be anchored in the heart.

8. At this point using fabric markers color both sides of the heart remembering that each side is visible when the card is complete.

   1. You can also use decorative fills or other embroidery designs on your machine. Once you are happy with your artwork trim away excess fabric close to the stitching.

9. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the fabric markers to make your designs colorfast.

10. Add crystals and jewels as desired.

11. For the card itself if you own an electronic digital cutter create a heart a half-inch larger than your stitched heart.

    1. If you don’t create a template to trace around your stitched heart shape and increase the size by ½” either by hand or on a copier.

12. Create a 11.5” x 8.5” card on 2 pieces of 12” x 12” card stock. Create your heart on what will be the middle front of the card making this heart larger than your stitched heart.

    1. You will need to cut 2 of these

13. For the wording I used the pen tool on my digital cutter but you can also write something by hand or even stitch out a phrase on your embroidery machine.

14. Open the outside front card on a flat surface with the wrong side facing up. Place the stitched heart in the cut-out opening.

    1. Tightly pull the cord at the top leaving about ¼” of cord showing in the opening. Tape securely on the top and bottom of the heart.

    2. Test to see if the stitched heart will spin. If it works the way you want add a bit more tape and trim the excess cording.

15. Place the inside card together with the outside card wrong sides together nesting them so that they line up and then carefully tape to secure them together.

    1. I prefer double stick tape rather than glue because you can get some bumps and ripples with glue.

    2. You continue to add more elements to your card to personalize it. Your card is complete and just awaiting an envelope.

16. Send this to your special someone xxxooo. Enjoy!