Anniversary-Style Card With Interlocking Paper Hearts

Two paper hearts, overlapped so that one tucks behind the other, make an anniversary card that is simple to cut and hard to get wrong. The same card suits an engagement, a wedding, or a note to a close friend, because nothing on the front ties it to one occasion. The message is handwritten inside.

What lifts the design above a basic heart card is restraint: a white panel, one deep color, one soft color, and a double mat that frames the hearts like a picture. The cutting is easy. The care goes into even borders and a clean overlap.

What you need

• One white A2 card base: 8.5 x 5.5 in (21.6 x 14 cm), scored and folded to 4.25 x 5.5 in (10.8 x 14 cm)
• Pink cardstock for the outer mat, 4 x 5.25 in (10.2 x 13.3 cm)
• Navy cardstock for the inner mat, 3.75 x 5 in (9.5 x 12.7 cm)
• White cardstock for the panel, 3.5 x 4.75 in (8.9 x 12.1 cm)
• Red and pink scraps, each at least 2.5 in (6.4 cm) square, plus small offcuts for tiny hearts
• Scissors, a pencil, a ruler and a glue stick or liquid glue
• A craft knife and cutting mat if you want to cut the interlocking slit

The base is half a US letter sheet. Half an A4 sheet makes a card of nearly the same size, with the mats trimmed to suit. If the fold on your base tends to crack or wander, read the guide on scoring and folding a card before you start.

A restrained palette

An elegant card usually comes from fewer colors, not more. White does most of the work, the deep color draws the eye, and the soft color keeps the deep one from looking harsh. Kraft adds warmth without competing.

Role	Example	Where it goes
White	White cardstock	Card base and center panel
Deep color	Poppy red, with navy as a thin line	Front heart and inner mat
Soft color	Pink	Second heart and outer mat
A touch of kraft	Kraft paper	The envelope

Pearlescent paper is optional. If you have some, use it for one heart only, since a shimmer finish on every layer flattens the contrast. There is more on building palettes in the guide to card color combinations.

Cutting a symmetrical heart from a fold

A heart drawn freehand nearly always has one side fatter than the other. Cutting through a fold removes the problem, because both halves are cut in the same stroke.

1. Fold the red scrap in half with the colored side in, and crease it firmly.
2. With the fold on the left, pencil half a heart against it: start at the fold about 1/2 in (1.3 cm) below the top, curve up and around for the lobe, then sweep down to a point at the bottom of the fold.
3. Cut along the line in one smooth motion, turning the paper and not the scissors. Short snips leave small corners on the curve.
4. Unfold the heart and flatten the crease by rubbing the back with a bone folder or the back of a spoon.
5. Trace the red heart onto the folded pink scrap, or cut the pink one the same way. Aim for hearts about 2.25 in (5.7 cm) wide.

If the heart comes out too narrow, the lobe was not drawn far enough from the fold.

Overlapping the hearts

There are two ways to join the pair, and both look right on the finished card.

Simple layering. Tilt the hearts slightly toward each other and glue the pink heart down first, then the red heart over it so that it covers about a third of the pink one. The pink heart appears to tuck behind the red.

The interlocking slit. Lay the hearts in position and mark, on the red heart, the spot where the edge of the pink heart crosses its outline near the top. Cut one straight slit in the red heart from that mark to about the middle of the overlap. Slide the pink heart into the slit: above the slit it lies in front of the red heart, below the slit it passes behind. The hearts now hold each other like two links of a chain.

Glue the interlocked pair as one piece, with glue only where paper touches the panel.

Building the double mat

Glue the white panel to the navy mat first. The panel is 1/4 in (6 mm) smaller in each direction, which leaves a navy border of 1/8 in (3 mm) all around. Then glue the navy mat to the pink one, and the pink mat to the card front. Working from the smallest layer outward lets you correct each border before the next layer hides your chance.

For a finer navy line, cut the white panel slightly larger so less navy shows. The guide to layering cardstock covers thin reveals and how to keep them even.

Place the hearts a little above the middle of the panel. A focal piece set at the exact center tends to look as if it is sinking.

Decorating the inside

A row of five tiny hearts along the bottom of the right inside panel ties the inside to the front and leaves the space above it clear for writing. Cut the tiny hearts from folded offcuts in the same way, each about 1/2 in (1.3 cm) wide, and alternate red and pink.

Rule a faint pencil line about 1/2 in (1.3 cm) up from the bottom edge and sit the hearts on it, starting with the middle heart and spacing the others outward. Erase the line once the glue is dry.

Writing the message and finishing

Write the greeting by hand, lightly in pencil first if you are unsure of the spacing, then in pen. A short, specific line reads better than a long general one: a shared memory, the number of years, a plan for the day.

Check the front for stray pencil marks and glue before the card goes into its envelope. The steps in finishing a handmade card cover those last details. A kraft envelope supplies the fourth color of the palette.