Skyrim Themed "Arrow In The Heart" Valentine Scroll

 Yes the whole “arrow to the knee” phrase/joke is overused, but Oxboxer over at Tumblr made several super-cute Skyrim themed Valentine cards and I fell in love with them! This one in particular is perfect for my husband. We've used the phrase so much that it's completely replaced the name of the game that you just lost by the way). We rarely mention or hear the word "Skyrim.

And yeah, I nerded the Valentine up to another level. I didn't want to simply print it on some dumb piece of boring paper and have it laying about the house or tossed in with the bills. I wanted it to be extra dorky special! Plus I was dying to try this new technique I discovered on the wonderful world of Pinterest from The Country Chic Cottage blog: transferring images on fabric using an ink jet printer. So I grabbed some spray adhesive, muslin, and card stock and started playing.

   

I ironed the muslin so that there were no wrinkles (unless you are going for the rough, imperfect look, then it turns out nicely). Then I lightly spray glued to the card stock and placed the muslin on top. After I smoothed out the fabric to get rid of wrinkles and bubbles, the excess fabric was trimmed off the edges of the card stock. Then the card+muslin was placed in my ink jet printer, ready to be tested (that's when the DIY Dork in me got really excited)! I was uncertain how colored images would turn out seeing how the tutorial I learned from only used gray scale, but the results ended up being really cool! I am in love with this technique! Can't wait to use it on Halloween!

The original dark pink color in the upper text of the original artwork didn't show up well on the the muslin. The words blended in with the background and made it difficult to read. I had to brighten the font color and reprint. Good thing muslin is cheap!

After I let the ink dry for a bit, I sprayed a few light layers of Mod Podge Matte Clear Acrylic Sealer and let that dry, too. Then I gently peeled the muslin off the card stock and it came off so easily! NEAT-O!

The muslin was sewn to the burlap using a regular straight stitch and then a tight zig-zag stitch around the edge of the burlap to keep the darn stuff from shedding. Hopefully this will hold!

   

I had some hot pink twine and fabric hearts just lying around so I decided to finally put them to use. I punched a hole in the heart and dabbed the edges with Dritz Fray Check. Then rolled up the burlap, wrapped it with the twine, slipped on the heart, and tied a bow.

And now I have a sweet Valentine made with love!