Though the background is a nice touch, light blue S curve with dark fade, I think its a major part of what is causing the 'up down' look.
Suggestion, may not work, have the lighter blue line that's now making the 'S' curve through the card make 2 'V's?
If you could see the entire non-clipped portion of the Vs (which you wouldn't), you'd see a much larger heart.
This heart that would form the Vs doesn't have to be same shape as the one you can fully see.
I'm not sure the red fade works well either.
Here's an extremely sloppy draft of my idea, but using white to show what I had in mind. You could have the V's come to anywhere you wanted, and in from anywhere top/sides