Heart Card with a Dozen Variations

 

A few days ago, I mentioned some free printable valentine illustrations offered by Mary Engelbreit on her website.  I am a big fan of her style and I particularly liked this heart filled with flowers.  Did you notice that the butterfly wings are made from hearts?

You can download these heart images for free (thanks Mary!) by visiting her website - Click HERE to go directly to the page.

I got to work in my Silhouette software and created some print and cut files.  To create a cut line for this heart I couldn't do a trace of the image because there was not a defined outline.

I needed to create the cut lines for the heart shape by drawing a heart that fit the image.  It took a little trial and error but I was able to get a nice shape.  I did an offset on some of the hearts, filled it with a coordinating color and placed the cut lines on the outer edge of the heart.

Here are my images printed and ready to cut.  I decided to fit in a few extra small hearts on the second page - no need to waste the space!

The hearts cut out beautifully.  I use both Cricut and Silhoutte mats in my Cameo - whatever is handy.  I have heard some people say that you have to use a Silhouette mat to get the print and cut to work but I have not found this to be true.

I decided to create a frame or mat for the heart shape and I played around with a lot of different color combinations in the software.

When I set up the file to cut the mats, I added some extra hearts in the center.  Once again, this is a way to maximize the use of the sheet of cardstock.  (The hearts are shown with the illustration and I offset each heart to create a mat for the tiny hearts).

Here are some of the frames and heart cutouts.  I also cut the frames and hearts from white and green cardstock.

I had lots of bits and pieces to work with.  I cut some A2 card bases (8.5 x 5.5 inches for cards 4.25 x 5.5 inches) from the same four colors and also some matting layers cut at 4 x 5.25 inches.  The mats I cut in the Cameo are sized at 3.75 x 5 inches and the heart shaped opening is cut as an offset to the printed hearts.

Once I had all of these pieces prepared, I had some fun mixing and matching the layers and cards.  I created 12 different cards and I have lots of pieces left - I just need to print and cut more hearts.

I call this "mix and match to make a batch" and while the preparation takes some time, the assembly is like a game.

Here are some of my tiny hearts - these could go on the card envelopes or be used for other projects (these are not glued together yet since I will want to choose the right color mat when I used them).

Here are six of the cards - the two in the center use the heart with the colorful offset that I printed and cut.  , I thought the top center card was a little out of alignment when I adhered it in the frame so I added some Stickles.  I like the extra sparkle and may add Stickles to some of the other cards too,

Here are the other six cards - the one in the top middle is the first color combination I planned in the software.  You will notice that some of the cards have a shimmer pink layer instead of the bright pink layer - just more mix and matching!

I think these would be nice for invitations to a Valentine Tea - now, do I have time to organize one?!

Have you tried printing and cutting designs if you have a Cameo or other machine with this capability.  The new Cricut Explore is supposed to have this as an option and I have heard that the Imagine cartridge patterns will be available in the Design Space once this option is added.  

Please let me know if you'd like a more detailed explanation or a video to show how I created the cut lines for the hearts.

I hope you are doing OK with all of these storms - there is yet another one on the way this weekend!

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