Card Swap: Valentine XO Card

I am in my very first official Card Swap Group. I have done cards swaps before, but never on a scheduled basis. I will being swapping with a group of ladies from church.

With some help, from my friend Kathi, I came up with a general idea of what and how for the year. She suggested a "Shoebox Card Swap". Basically, each member brings a card that she made and then kits for each member. You give a brief explanation of your card and then we spend the rest of the time making each card. She suggested it because she loved to make her cards. I was right there with her! I want to be the one putting it together, learning new techniques and ways of paper crafting.

Since I have never done this before, I had tons of questions of how to get this organized. I wasn't even sure how many women even want to participate! I decided to start with a meeting, one where we could get together and decide what would work for all us. I decided to make a card, and take kits for everyone. This would be the example of how we were going to do this. Since Valentine's Day is just a couple of weeks away, I decided to make a Valentine card. There are one of my fav cards to make. They are just so much fun. This one was really quick and easy. It took me about 10-15 minutes to design and put together. Here's what I did:

OUTSIDE OF CARD:

• Cut black card stock to 5.5" x 5.5'
• Cut white card stock strip 4" x 5.5"
• Used my Fiskars scallop edge to cut top and bottom edges of strip
• Adhered down white strip to the middle of the card (mine opens from the bottom)
• Cut dark pink card stock 5.5" x 2.75", adhered down on center of white strip
• Cut black strip 5.5" x 2", adhered down on the center of pink strip
• Cut (1) 2.75" country heart with Cricut (George and Basic Shapes Cart), using light pink cardstock
• Adhered down to center of card with 3D pop dots
• Cut (2) 1.75" country hearts with Cricut (George... Cart), using light pink carstock
• Adhered down on each side of large heart with 3D pop dots
• Tied a bow with 9" of sheer polka dot ribbon, and glue dotted to center of large heart
• Cut (1) 1.5" tag with Cricut (George...Cart), using dark pink cardstock
• Ran a jump ring through the pre-cut hole in tag
• Safety pinned tag to the ribbon, by running safety pin through the knot in your bow

INSIDE OF CARD:

• Cut 5.25" x 5.25" square of out light pink cardstock
• Rounded the corners
• Cut 5.5" x 1" strip of white cardstock.
• Cut one edge with Fiskars Scalloped edge punch
• Rounded the the 2 straight corners that were left
• Adhered white strip to the bottom of pink square
• Cut a 1" country heart with Cricut (George...Cart) and adhered down
• Tied a 2" piece of polka ribbon in a knot, glue dotted to center of heart

BACK OF CARD:

• Cut a 2" decorative frame with my Cricut (Home Accents Cart)
• Adhered down.
• Just need to write in my name and date!

That's it! Tonight was a lot of fun. Everyone made their cards, we visited and came up with all the info about this years Swap dates and themes. It is going to be a lot of fun! So glad I am doing it and very much looking forward to a creative year!