Valentines 2023

Thanks to Lynette for helping me get started on my Valentines two weeks ago. She gave me this pretty collage Valentine printed paper. I added a few embellishments. Was glad my white Gelly Roll pen still worked. Sometimes they dry up quickly. The red and pink die cut hearts were in my stash.

Made this card with Valentine scraps. The "14" is stamped with an old mini Valentine set of 4 stamps by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous that I bought at Archiver's a long time ago.

Here are kids Valentines I made for my grandkids and some special friends. 

Inspiration for the dog Valentines are from Andreja of Easy Peasy and Fun.

Inspiration for the cat valentines are from Michelle of Crafty Morning.

Click on images for a larger view.

Thank you for visiting!

Peace and all good.

First Stampfest in the Condo

 

Lynette came over to visit us at the condo yesterday. It was her first visit here! We had a wonderful time visiting and stamping.  She graciously catered to my wish to make Valentines. She brought a big tablet of 12 x12" Valentine printed papers for us to use.

Lynette made these cards. The background and the "hugs and kisses" strips are from the printed papers she brought. The heart die cuts are from my stash.

The printed paper Lynette brought was perfect! I had been thinking of stamping my own background. Using her paper for backgrounds made this quick and easy. The Love stamp is from a small Hero Arts February stamp set.

Lynette left early. I continued working on my cards and  made four more cards.

Used a printed paper scrap from my stash for this background. The heart was cut with a Gina K Master Layouts 4 die. The sentiment is from Gina K's Fluttering Fall stamp set. I stamped with Distress Black Soot ink and used clear embossing powder on it.

Thanks for visiting!

Peace and all good!

Valentines 2022

Happy Valentine's Day! 

I made simple Valentine's cards this year. Was very happy to use an old Stampin' Up! set from 2001 called Thanks From The Heart. The two crocheted hearts in the image directly above were made using Sarah's free crochet instructions on her blog, Sarah Maker. The other crocheted and felt hearts have been around for a long time.

I stamped most of the jars with Gina K's ocean mist. I stamped a few jars with Gina K's bubblelgum pink and blue raspberry, SU's ballet blue and distress broken china. Most of the hearts were stamped in  passionate pink, but used bubblegum pink on a few. Sentiment on the front if from Hero Arts, Month February set.

Sentiment on the inside is from Stampin' Up's 2001 Love Always set.

Wishing you a Sweet and Happy Valentine's Day filled with good health, happiness and love!

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!

Valentines 2020

This year I made Tent Valentines. They are also called Teepee or Pyramid cards. My friend Margo kindly explained how these are made, emailing details on how she made hers, using three pieces of 4" square papers for the base. These are scored and folded diagonally then glued together in such away to form the tent. For layering on top, she uses 3.75" squares, which are cut in half diagonally. These cards are VERY FUN to make!
Click on any image to enlarge.

There are lots of methods and tutorials online. It really liked seeing a video of how the 3 main pieces are glued/adhered together. I liked Frenchie's Video Tutorial and also Dawn Griffith's YouTube tutorial.

Frenchie had good tips on Velcro dots, which connect the sections and create the tent shape. I started with some velcro strips in my sewing stash. I cut them into small pieces, but that was hard to open, especially at first. I bought the Velcro Thin Clear Fasteners, General Purpose, 58 circles, 3/8 inch from Amazon and they worked really well. I saw the Velcro circles at JoAnn fabrics too. Frenchie recommended putting the rough side on  the top  and the soft side on the bottom of the closure area. The package says to wait 15 minutes after application.

At first I used solid paper, 4 inch square, for the base. Then when I was low on red cardstock, I used 2 pieces of red cardstock with 1 piece of printed paper. It was really fun using the printed papers because they all coordinated well together.

I punched flowers and fussy cutting hearts and the word banners. Most of my printed papers were from a 6 x 6 Lost & Found designer pad called Blush. I think one piece came from a 6 x 6 designer pad by Teresa Collins called Memories.

The nice thing about this card is that it folds flat and fits into an A2 envelope: 4.375 x 5.75 inches. However, I chose to use a larger A7 envelope: 5.25 x 7.25 inches. To help the recipient figure out how to make this card stand up, I printed this on a piece of computer paper:

Find the 2 little spots with Velcro and attach to make this card into a tent/teepee/pyramid shape. Enjoy!

Then I folded the paper with that message and kind of wrapped it around my tent card before placing it into my A7 envelope.

Stamps

Michael Strong, Stampin' Up!, Hero Arts, Judith Stamps

Inks:

distress festive berries, worn lipstick

oxide worn lipstick

Stampin' Up! rose red

I just LOVE Valentine's Day. I think it's because my parents were married on Valentine's Day!
That was a very long time ago...in 1953!

Let love shine every day!

Thanks for visiting! 

Valentines 2019

I had fun using embossing folder technique to make these backgrounds with acrylic paint. Used my new embossing folder called Whimsical, made by Park Lane from JoAnn's. It was on sale for $2.

If you have followed my blog, you will know that I really like these two tutorials for embossing folder stamping:

Heidi Wegman's Embossing Folder Stamping
and
Audrie Magno-Gordon's Embossing Folder Stamping

I used Adirondack Acrylic paint-Raspberry, applying it directly onto the "logo" or raised side of the embossing folder. Spritzed it with water, added paper, closed the embossing folder and pressed it down with a brayer. You can also just press with your hands.  Remove paper and set aside to air dry. Used Georgia Pacific 100 pound white card stock, but you can use watercolor paper if you wish.

When dry, I sponged the edges with distress picked raspberry ink.

Stamps used: Michael Strong and Hero Arts.

Below are some close ups and a few additional cards:

Michael Strong mini hearts were fussy cut and adhered with dimensional foam.

Sponged with distress inks: cracked pistachio, squeezed lemonade, picked raspberry.

On this background I added the paint to the "wrong" side of the embossing folder-NOT the side with the logo or raised side. It created a different look, so I added more sponging afterward. For the edges I sponged in distress hickory smoke ink.

Heat embossed Michael Strong's mini hearts on this card.

It's hard to see, but I used a strip of tulle on the side and tied it with a bow.

A loop of wide grosgrain ribbon for a bow, adhered with a glue dot.

Hope you have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

It's always been a special day for remembering...

my parents were married on Valentine's day 1953.

Wishing you heartfelt happiness today and every day!

2018 Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you heartfelt happiness today and every day!

Below you will see close ups of a few cards.




 

Thanks for visiting!