My Heart is Full - String Art Card

I still love snail mail.  Most people have moved onto the instant gratification of email, texting and other forms of online messaging. I use all of these, but I believe good old, physical mail still has its place.   Going to the mailbox and receiving a piece of mail, that is not a bill or flyer, makes me very happy.  I am blessed, as one of my best friends is the Queen of Snail Mail and sends me the most beautiful cards on the regular.  Check out her Instagram account and be inspired by her mad washi tape skills and amazing curated stationery collection.

I received a very generous birthday package from her in the mail and wanted to send her a special thank you note in return.  Continuing on my quest to reduce, reuse and recycle, I set out to make her a card from items on hand and came up with the idea to do a simple string art heart card.  

SUPPLIES REQUIRED

• cereal box (or other box made of paperboard)
• embroidery floss or any other string you have on hand
• scissors
• darning/embroidery needle
• thumbtack
• pencil
• glue stick

STEP 1: Cut out a rectangle for your card and fold it in half.  Make your heart shape by folding another piece of the box in half and drawing half of a heart shape.

STEP 2: Cut both layers of the paper along the half heart shape and unfold.  Now you have a symmetrical heart to use as a template.  (I always used this method of making heart templates, as it ensures a symmetrical heart every time.)

STEP 3:  Turn your card base over and use a pencil to trace the heart shape onto the inside of the card.  Use a Sharpie to place evenly spaced dots around the heart.  You can add as few or as many dots as you would like. The more dots, the more string and therefore the more filled in your heart will be. 

STEP 4:  Use a thumbtack to make holes through each dot.  When you flip the card over you will see some raised openings.  You can use your finger to smooth the hole out if you do not like the look of the raised holes.

STEP 5: Choose the colour floss you would like to start with (if using various colours) and cut a length based on how many lines would wish to make.  Thread it through your needle and make a couple of knots at the end.  Start from the back and come up through to the front.  Thread the needle through another hole towards the back.  Bring the needle up through another hole in the back and repeat.

STEP 6: Repeat step 5 with the remaining colours.

STEP 7: When you are finished threading through all of the holes, the back of your card may have some long threads.  Trim the excess and cover the inside of your card with plain paper.  I took my eco-friendly mission a step further and used the pages of a free recipe magazine I had received to cover the inside.  The photos and art direction of the magazine were on point and luckily it was printed on a matte paper, so allowed me to write my message easily using markers.

STEP 8: If you wish to add a message, cut a small flag out of the cereal box scraps and either write a message using marker or stamp a message using rubber stamps (as I did).  Tuck the flag into the strings.

BONUS: I mailed my card as part of a package, so I did not need to make a mailing envelope.  Instead, I selected one of the recipe pages and trimmed the edges with a scallop trimmer, folded it around the card and used some of the embroidery floss to tie it closed.  It protects the card, passes on a recipe to the recipient and saves paper!  A win-win for everyone.