Stampin’ Up! Always In My Heart Bundle | “You Had Me At Hello” Card Tutorial

Hey there friends! Today I wanted to share with you a card that I have to say, I am quite in love with.

I’m not sure that it’s a card that I would have considered “my style” even a year ago. But ever since I stared my Confident Card Maker™ Membership in September, I’ve been finding my own card making design skills growing by leaps and bounds.

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that as I have been working on teaching my members how to develop their own card design skills, it’s forced me to really think about how I approach card design.

When I first started making cards 15+ years ago, I had no clue what I was doing. And although I loved what I created at the time, when I look back now, I can’t help but cringe a little LOL.

The thing is, even back then, I realized I had a lot of room to grow. And given that I’ve always been super into personal development – I took my need to learn and grow seriously.

How?

By taking lots and lots of different classes (mainly online). Initially I started off with card making classes, but eventually started adding in art classes as well. And not just classes either. I read lots and lots of books.

I had a particular interest in design. Basically, what makes a good design and why.

As I learned, and practiced applying the principles I learned, over time I started thinking less and less about why I was doing certain things. Instead, it became a very intuitive process for me.

Then when I started The Confident Card Maker™ – where the premise is to help my students develop their card design skills so that they feel comfortable and confident coming up with their own beautiful card designs – I all of a sudden had to start paying more attention to what I was doing and why.

And somehow, in having to do that, I feel like it’s pushed my card making to a whole new level.

Today’s card is a case in point.

There are so many little details that I would NEVER have thought of adding even a year ago.

This card is actually a spin off of two cards I created using this same set of products for my Confident Card Maker™ members.

I had bits and pieces left over on my desk after creating my January 2021 week 1 lesson, that I decided to incorporate them into a card to share with you all.

I’ve put together a simple step-by-step written tutorial for you.

Stampin’ Up! Always in My Heart | “You Had Me At Hello” Card

First off, let me share a close-up of my card.

As you can see, the heart is the primary focal element of my card – it’s the element that your eye is first drawn to. It’s set on a backdrop of textured blushing bride foil.

Now normally I don’t like to add big pieces of foil to my card (and for me this would be considered big), because I find that it just looks way too shiny and “in your face.” In order to tone down that shine, I decided to dry emboss it with my Ornate Flowers embossing folder. I chose a floral patterned embossing folder to complement the flowers that surround my heart.

For secondary focal element (the flowers and greenery), I used a combination of stamped, coloured and die cut elements, as well as some elements that I die cut and punched directly out of cardstock. All the leaves were die cut using the coordinating dies, and the small red flowers were punched using the Confetti Flowers border punch.

Notice how there are 3 different shades to my greenery?

I deliberately chose 3 different shades of green to create visual depth and dimension. I wanted to add a lot of greenery around my flowers. But had I kept the greenery in only one color, the layers would have blended together, and I wouldn’t have gotten the same depth. By using a light, a medium and a dark green, I was able to create the effect of highlights and shadows.

The last little detail I wanted to draw your attention to is the little detail I added at the top right of the heart. These are two die cut flowers that I tucked behind the heart. Without the addition of those two flowers and the greenery behind them, the card would have looked very “heavy” on the bottom left. But had I added another coloured flower on the top right of the card, it would have taken away from the visual impact of the black greeting heart. So those plain die cut flowers, along with the stamped and coloured flowers both serve to draw the eye inwards to the main focal image (the heart).

So that friends, is my decision making process behind my card design.

Did ya like it?

If yes, you may want to check out The Confident Card Maker™ Membership. I talk about the what and the why behind my design process for every single card I make. Not only that, I teach my members how I actually come up with my card designs.

Stampin’ Up! Always In My Heart | Supplies

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! unless others noted.

• Stamps: Always in My Heart;
• Ink: Jet Black StazOn ink; Stampin’ Blends in Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo and Light and Dark Poppy Parade;
• Paper: Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS, Blushing Bride CS, Soft Seafoam CS, Granny Apple Green CS, Garden Green CS; Love You Always Foil Sheets;
• Accessories: Stitched Rectangles dies, Floral Heart Dies, Subtle 3D embossing folder, Ornate Flower 3D embossing folder, Blushing Bride ⅜” Metallic Ribbon, Confetti Flowers Border Punch, Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, Tear & Tape Adhesive, Mini Glue Dots, Multi-Liquid Glue;

Stampin’ Up! Always In My Heart |Dimensions

Below you’ll find a list of the paper pieces used and their dimensions.

• Blushing Bride CS: a 4 ¼” x 11″ piece and a scrap piece.
• Whisper White CS: a 3 ⅞” x 5 ⅛” piece and a scrap piece
• Basic Black CS: a 4″ x 5 ¼” piece and a scrap piece
• Soft Seafoam CS: a scrap piece
• Granny Apple Green CS: a scrap piece
• Garden Green CS: a scrap piece
• Poppy Parade CS: a scrap piece
• Blushing Bride Foil: a scrap piece

Stampin’ Up! Always In My Heart |Step-By-Step Written Tutorial

Step 1. Score a 4 ¼” x 11″ piece of Blushing Bride CS at 5 ½” and fold it in half with a bone folder to create a 4 ¼” x 5 ½” notecard. Set aside.

Step 2. Dry emboss a 3 ⅞” x 5 ⅛” piece of Whisper White CS with the Subtle 3D embossing folder and the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss machine. Set aside.

Step 3. Center and stick the embossed white CS panel onto a 4″ x 5 ¼” piece of Basic Black CS, and then center and stick this to the front of your Blushing Bride note card. Set aside.

Step 4. Die cut a 1 ⅞” x 3 ¼” rectangle out of a scrap of Basic Black CS and a scrap of Blushing Bride Foil using the the Stitched Rectangles dies.

Step 5. Dry emboss the Blushing Bride Foil stitched rectangle with the Ornate Flowers 3D embossing folder and the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss machine.

Step 6. Stick the embossed Blushing Bride foil rectangle to the Basic Black CS stitched rectangle, offsetting them slightly. Center and stick the rectangle to the white CS panel on the front of your card.

Step 7. Create your ribbon treatment out of the Blushing Bride ⅜” Metallic Ribbon and center and stick it along the right side of the Blushing Bride foil rectangle.

Step 8. Stamp the “You Had Me At Hello” heart image onto a scrap piece of Whisper White CS using Jet Black StazOn ink. I used Jet Black StazOn vs the Tuxedo Memento Black ink, because the Jet Black StazOn ink is a truer black. Die cut the heart using the coordinating die from the Floral Heart dies.

Step 9. Center and stick the heart to the center of your foil rectangle using Tear & Tape Adhesive. Position the heart so that it is angled slightly downwards on the left side. Make sure you only put adhesive towards the center of the heart so that you can tuck the die cut pieces behind it.

Step 10. Our next step is to die cut the leaves and flowers. The leaf die in the Floral Heart dies set, die cuts 4 leaves at a time. Die cut this set of leaves once out of Soft Seafoam CS, twice out of Garden Green CS, and three times out of Granny Apply Green CS. Die cut two of the flowers that look a bit like a Lilly out of Blushing Bride CS (the u-shaped flower with the pointy leaves). Set aside.

Step 11. Punch the Confetti Flowers border punch out of a scrap of Poppy Parade CS twice. Set the punched flowers aside.

Step 12. Stamp the flower and the leaf from the Always in My Heart stamp set twice onto a scrap piece of white CS using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Color the flower with Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo and Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends. Color the leaves using Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends. Die cut the flowers with the coordinating dies from the Floral Heart Dies.

Step 13. Stick the two coloured flowers to the bottom left of the card using mini Stampin’ Dimensionals (place the dimensional on the back center of the flowers. Stick the two die cut flower to the top right of the heart using liquid glue, tucking the bottom of the flowers beneath the edge of the heart.

Step 14. Tuck your greenery all around the flowers, making sure you hide the ends of the leaves underneath the flowers. Use liquid glue and glue dots to stick them down. Add the small Poppy Parade punched flowers, sticking them down with a combination of liquid glue and glue dots.

Step 15. Stick small champagne rhinestones to the center of the larger punched flowers. Draw a small white center using a white gel pen in the center of the smallest punched flowers.

Step 16. Embellish your card with champagne rhinestones. You’re done!

There you have it friends! I hope you enjoyed today’s card and this tutorial.

Remember, if you want to learn more about the design process itself then be sure to check out my Confident Card Maker™ membership.

🇨🇦 Shop Online For Stampin’ Up! Products

If you are in Canada and you are looking to purchase any of the Stampin’ Up! products used in this card I would be honoured to be your Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator. Simply click on the product images and add them to your cart.

I do offer a customer rewards program. For every $50 CAN you spend (before taxes and shipping) you receive a star. Once you’ve collected 10 stars, you can redeem from me, a stamp set valued at up to $35 CAN (hostess sets excluded).