How to stick things on straight

I’m currently making a batch of wedding invitations and my friend was so impressed with my getting things straight method I thought I would share it!

This is what I’m making – 85 of them and they have to be identical! It’s actually a very simple card, but one which looks rubbish if you make it wonky. (Wonky has its place – maybe I’ll do a post on the merits of wonkiness another time!)
I didn’t want to draw guidelines on 85 card blanks – because that would mean having to erase 85 guidelines and because even with a great pencil, a great rubber and faint lines you are always going to risk nasty smudges.

And my method is so much easier than that.

You only need a sheet of plain paper, a ruler and a pencil.

You need to draw a straight line near the bottom of the paper – that’s where you line up the bottom of your card blank. Then draw a line where you want to stick your hearts (or whatever else) on straight.

Then I position my ruler along the top line – the level where the hearts go. I know where the centre of the card is by the measurements on the ruler – my middle point is on the 7cm mark.

So that’s where I place my middle heart – I use little foam pads for a 3d effect.

And my other hearts are placed at 2cm intervals – so there is one at 1cm, 3cm, 5cm, 7cm, 9cm, 11cm and 13cm. All you have to do is hold the ruler in place and you can see where you have to stick! (To make sure your card blank lies nice and flat wait until you’ve done the sticking before you fold it.)

So, I hope someone somewhere in the whole wide internet world finds that useful! Please leave me a comment if you do, or if you have another (better?) technique.