mandeeblogs: Make Me: DIY Pull Tab Valentine Card

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Make Me: DIY Pull Tab Valentine Card

Why Don't You Make Me?

D.I.Y. Interactive Pull-Tab

Valentine's Day Card/Decoration

1. Receive card

2. Pull Tab

3. Happy kid

Making this adorable, pull-tab Valentine's Card for my niece was so worth the little bit of extra effort it entailed. She was so excited to PULL HERE and see all the letters come out! Start-to-finish this card probably took me a little less than an hour.

Here's how to make your own:

First, gather your supplies:

1 piece red card stock

1 piece coral card stock

1 piece pink construction paper

hole punch/grommet smashin' machine

grommets

scissors

tape

Sharpie

embroidery floss

embroidery needle

To begin: seperate pink paper into 20 equal pieces and cut out.

Then write "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!" giving each letter their own square.

Now cut red paper into rectangles about the size of a stick of gum.

Using your hole punch, make a hole on either side of each letter and on either side of the red strips of paper.

Use the red strips to connect the letters.

Lay a pink square on top of a red strip, align the holes, insert a grommet & squish using a grommet squisher.

Repeat until you've used all your letters and add a PULL tab on the left hand side in front of the 'H'.

Next, make the envelope using a pink piece of paper about 12"x14".

Fold in half lengthwise and begin to attach banner to card.

To strengthen the anchor-point I cut a piece of card stock and added a grommet.

Using a piece of string about 2" longer than the card, tie one end to the end of the banner.

Slip the other end of the string through the reinforced grommet, pull through and tape the string down on the backside of the card. I added a heart to make it pretty afterwards.

Now comes the most difficult part of this card, fold the letters on top of each other without getting them tangled so that they come easily out of the card via the PULL tab. Begin with the "y" and zig-zag the rest of the letters keeping the next letter on top until they all fit in the envelope. To get this right I had to fold and pull about 4 times. Trial and mulitple errors.

Then, using your red embroidery floss and embroidery needle, sew the envelope shut being careful not to sew any of the letters to the envelope!

The thread adds a cute decorative element and is actually much easier than gluing the envelope shut and risking getting any of the letters stuck in it. Remember to leave a space on the left hand side for the letters to come out.