Introduction: Stitched Border Valentine's Day Card

About: Community Manager for Instructables and Tinkercad.

I have been wanting to do a stitched border card and Valentine's seemed like a good reason to make one.  Just whipped it up today so it doesn't take too long to put all together.

Step 1: What You Need

Need a couple things to get started.

Supplies:
  • 4 colors of embroidery floss
  • Cross Stitch Needle
  • 4 by 5.5 inch slip of paper
  • 4 by 5.5 inch greeting card
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Tape or glue
  • Marker if you want to draw on it

Step 2: Draw It Out

You start off with your 4 by 5.5 inch piece of cardstock, a pencil and ruler.

You can just wing it if you want, but I decided to give myself some guides.  I drew lines that were 1/4 inch from the side all the way around.  Then I added 3 more lines that were each 1/8 away from each other going in.  

These lines will be the back of the card.

Step 3: Stitch It

Time to grab your embroidery floss.  I was able to cut off pieces that were about 24 inches long and that was plenty long enough for the outside row.

Cut off a piece and then split it in half so you have 3 strands.  Thread your needle.  Start from the corner and start stitching your card.  I held down the string ends with just tape.

You can see from the pictures how I did.  I kind of just went with it.  My original plan was to perfectly measure out the stitch spacing, but I couldn't split it very nice, so I just did it. 

I started each color from a different corner so that one corner wouldn't get bulky from having all the string ends in it.  By starting in a different corner each time, I evenly distributed that bulkiness.

Now, just have fun with it.

Repeat with each color for each row.  I went from dark on the outside to light on the inside.  I also tried to alternate stitches for something fun.  So if there was a stitch in the outside row, the next row in didn't have a stitch there.  Check out what I mean in Photo 6 and then the photo of the completed card.

Step 4: Put It Together

Time to put the card together.  So to hide the ugly back of the card, stick it to the front of your greeting card.

That's it.  You can write a little fun note on it, or put on some drawings of hearts. 

That's it!  Give it away now :)

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