Add the retro look of basket weaving to your Valentine's Day card creations by weaving together paper strips or by using one of Aunt Annie's free Woven Strips digital downloads to achieve the woven-look. The card ideas presented here can easily be adapted for other holidays or occasions by changing the colors or using different cutout shapes. The card ideas also work well with hand-woven and commercial fabrics.
This craft project features aperture cards with heart-shaped windows cut out of the card front and a heart-shaped card. It is easy to cut your own aperture cards or you can purchase commercial ones available in a variety of colors and window cutout shapes.
See the Paper Weaving Cards tutorial for detailed weaving instructions, and if you are new to card making, review the Greeting Card Class tutorials for ideas and basic techniques. For how to make card blanks and envelopes, see the Four Patch Cards tutorial or see the Envelopes to Make craft project for envelope templates and instructions.
Scroll down to see the instructions for the four card options. The card options can be made with Woven Strips digital paper (ideas #1 , #3, and #4 ), that you download and print on white paper, or by weaving together strips of paper (idea #2) as described in the Paper Weaving Cards tutorial. Tip: Card ideas #1 and #3 can also be made with rectangles of woven paper strips.
Prep work: Cut a large heart from paper to use as a template. The pictured heart is about 4 3/8" by 3 1/2". Cut a rectangle from the Red and White Plain Weave digital paper that is 4" by 5¼" (or weave a rectangle of red and white paper strips). Punch three or more tiny hearts from red paper or cardstock using the ¼" heart punch.
Cut heart opening: Trace around the heart template on the card front. Using a craft knife or scissors, cut out the heart opening.
To assemble card: Place the rectangle of Red and White Plain Weave digital paper behind the heart opening and glue in place. Glue the tiny hearts on the card front. Use the red marker to draw an outline around the heart opening, leaving a ¼" margin of white around the heart.
Prep work: Cut a large heart from paper to use as a template. The pictured heart is about 3½" by 3½". Cut a 3¾" square of red paper or cardstock. Cut seven ¼" by 3¾" strips of yellow paper or cardstock and two ¼" by 4" strips of red. On the 3¾" square of red, mark a line ¼" from the top, then cut the square into ¼" strips from the bottom to this line, leaving the square intact! Weave the yellow strips into the red square as pictured, then glue the yellow strips in place. See the Paper Weaving Cards card tutorial for detailed weaving instructions.
Cut heart opening: Trace around the heart template on the card front. Using a craft knife or scissors, cut out the heart opening. Use the craft knife to cut 14 slits across the top and the bottom of the card. Make the slits a bit wider than the red strips and space them evenly.
To assemble card: Place the woven square behind the heart opening and glue in place. Weave the red strips into the slits and glue in place. Outline the heart opening with the red marker.
Prep work: Cut a heart from paper to use as a template. The pictured heart is about 3¼" by 2½". Cut a rectangle from the Red and White Basket Weave digital paper that is 4" by 3" (or weave a rectangle of red and white paper strips). Punch three hearts from red paper or cardstock using the 1" heart punch. Cut two 1/8" strips of red that are about 4½" long.
Cut heart opening: Trace around the heart template on the card front. Using a craft knife or scissors, cut out the heart opening.
To assemble card: Place the rectangle of Red and White Basket Weave digital paper behind the heart opening and glue in place. Glue the punched hearts in a row under the larger heart and glue the red strips above and below the hearts. Use the red marker to draw an outline around the heart opening, leaving a ¼" margin of yellow around the heart.
Prep work: Cut two hearts from paper to use as templates. Cut one that is about 5" by 4½" to use as the template for the heart-shaped card. Cut a second heart template that is the same shape and about ½" smaller in both dimensions. Trace the smaller heart template on the back of the Red and White Chevron Basket Weave digital paper and cut out the heart. Punch red and yellow hearts using the 1" heart punch. Glue the punched hearts on black paper or cardstock. Cut around the hearts, leaving a small black margin.
Cut heart-shaped card: Cut off the left edge of the larger heart template so it has a 1" to 1½" straight edge. Place the heart template on the card front with the straight edge aligned on the fold. Trace around the heart template and cut out the heart-shaped card.
To assemble card: Glue the Red and White Chevron Basket Weave digital paper heart on the card front. Glue the punched hearts to the card front.
Related craft: For detailed instructions in how to weave paper strips, see the Paper Weaving Cards tutorial.
Tip: A quick way to get the look of weaving is to use decorative paper with a fabric pattern. Use the Woven Strips digital papers or one of Aunt Annie's Gingham Check digital papers in Yellow, Orange or Red-orange.
