Turn a Mary Engelbreit Greeting Card Into the Most Adorable Paperweight

Mary Engelbreit is one of my favorite artists because her designs are so warm and charming.  This is why I'm such a huge fan of American Greetings' line of cards featuring her artwork.

When I was shopping for Valentine's Day earlier this month, this sweet card caught my eye.  I knew it would make the most adorable paperweight.

The list of supplies for this project is very small.  I used the Large Rectangle Paperweight Kit, a Mary Engelbreit card, and some double-stick foam tape.  I also used something PhotoWeights just introduced, a display area template.  These templates are reusable and available for just 50-cents each.

My challenge with the greeting card was the fact that there were several inches of space between the little girl and the heart-shaped balloon (as you can see in the photo above).  I easily solved this problem by cutting out the balloon and placing it closer to the girl.  The balloon was attached with double-stick foam tape, raising it about 1/8" above the background.  This transformed it into a dimensional embellishment

Using the display area template, I traced a cut line around the area of the image I wanted to appear in the paperweight.   I recommend using a pencil for this step.

Cut around the outside of your traced line with a pair of good scissors.  Any visible portions of the line may be gently erased.

Adhere your artwork to the adhesive mounting board that comes with each paperweight kit.  This board is the same size as the template, so your artwork should fit perfectly if you cut just outside the trace line.

The heart balloon was carefully cut out with a pair of good scissors.  I placed a square of double-stick foam tape on the back, far enough from the edges that it would not be visible from the front.

The heart-shaped balloon was placed onto the artwork from the card, lining up the string.  Because this string extends all the way to the edge of the card, the balloon had to be placed close to the edge to cover it.

Any materials you place on the mounting board that extend beyond the edge can simply be trimmed.  (This is the top part of the balloon).

The mounting board (with artwork attached) was placed face-down into the recessed area on the bottom of the paperweight.

To finish, the base of the paperweight was covered with the self-adhesive bottom pad that's also included in each paperweight kit.

The next time you find yourself walking down the greeting card aisle of your local store, spend a few moments looking through the hundreds of greeting card designs that are available.  Which ones will you want to capture in a paperweight?