Valentines 2021

I was late getting started with making this year's Valentines. I mailed them before Valentine's day, but many people received them late. Now I am late in posting them. Oh dear...maybe the ideas here can also be used for anniversary cards. 

The cards above were made with printed papers from my stash, Michael Strong's mini cloisonné heart and some red fibers. 

These card backgrounds are made using "embossing folder stamping" with distress worn lipstick and festive berries. I used a "new to me" embossing folder from Momenta's Hey Love Emboss & Stamp set that I bought on clearance from Hobby Lobby (maybe last year?). 

The Tim Holtz blueprints heart is from a set of 4 stamps that Archiver's put out many years ago.  The heart with the XOs is from an old set of 4 Hero Arts cling rubber heart stamps. I used the cover of a pad of Valentine papers on the last card. 

Another variation... using D'vine Swirl embossing folder by Cuttlebug, printed paper, Micheal Strong's mini cloisonné heart and some fibers.

I made some kid's heart pop up cards based on these two YouTubes: Crafting Colors and Experts of Creativity. I found it was best to add "half hearts" on the inside. The full hearts did not work as well when opening and closing the card.  Cat and sentiment stamps from Inkadinkado: 97621 Cats.

I had a lot of fun making these Valentines. I especially enjoyed making the pop up cards! 

I hope you are having a great day! Stay safe from Covid! I am SO HAPPY  to have received my first Covid-19 vaccine a week ago! Wishing you all good health, happiness and love!

Inside Shadow Box Cards

Recently, I ran across a 2018 tutorial for Inside Shadow Box cards made by Jennifer McGuire.  I just had to give this a try. This card was fairly easy to make and it fits into an envelope for mailing! I used these Hero Arts stamp sets:  Color Layering Waves CM316, Color Layering Sea & Sky CM317 and Seas The Day Seagulls CM276. I was happy to find these stamp sets 40% off JoAnn's!

The first card I made didn't fold quite right at first. However, I was able to press it flat and adjust the crease slightly to make it work. For the water, I played around with different inks, never finding a combo that I thought perfect. But the colors look better if I don't examine them too closely.  I've noted some of the color combinations I used:

* Distress soft sky, SU bashful blue, SU tempting turquoise (or Ranger Caribbean coast)

* SU bliss blue, SU ballet blue, SU tempting turquoise

* Distress tumbled glass, distress broken china, Ranger Caribbean coast

Jennifer used pretty colors that I didn't have, more in the "sea green" family.

Here is the outside of  one of my cards. The "thanks" die cut is from Hero Arts, Thanks Stamp & Cut DC152. Palm tree colored with Tombow marker green #177 and distress vintage photo. Birds stamped in distress hickory smoke. Clouds stamped with distress tumbled glass.

Here are the inside panels which will go behind the oval cut-out. Jennifer gives us the tip to use the back part of the cloud stamps to create the islands in the distance. I stamped mine with distress peeled paint. Then stamped a second time with right side of the cloud stamp using in the same ink to give the islands some dimension. I used blending brushes for the sky with distress tumbled glass ink and for the sand, antique linen ink.

Here you see the finished "inside shadow box". I added the fussy cut chair stamped in SU's groovy guava ink. Attached it with Gina K Connect glue which worked great.

The sand here was made by sponging distress oxide fossilized amber. The boat and birds were stamped with distress hickory smoke.

Here I switched to  stamps from Seas The Day Seagulls CM276, stamping the birds in versafine onyx black and the wood stump with SUs close to cocoa. I used markers to add red to the hat and scarf and wood stump.

I used the oval cut out from the inside part to make some cards with kraft cardstock.

I had a lot of fun with the Inside Shadow Box cards. Thanks to Jennifer McGuire for sharing her creative ideas!

Thank YOU for visiting me! Hope you are well and staying safe from Covid-19!