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.

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!

Wreath Cards

I am still making these wreath cards and having fun with them. Trying out variations with different stamps. Was happy to find great wreath stamps in the Stampin' Up's Lots of Lavender set!

Thanks to Lynette who loaned me 8 stamps sets for the winter!

Made my own template by drawing two 3-1/2 inch squares on paper. Placed that paper in my Misti.
Cut a 3-1/2 inch square of cardstock for stamping. Used that in the Misti, turning it 4 times. More details about the Misti placement at the end of this post.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Lots of Lavender, All-Seasons Wreath; Hero Arts.
Ink: distress evergreen bough, worn lipstick, festive berries, oxide worn lipstick.
Colored pencil to color in the bow which was fussy cut and attached with foam tape

Same stamps and inks as above, except for Stampabilities sentiment. Also, added the tiny hearts from SU's Yay You set.
Used Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! What I love, Yay You.
Was happy to find that "cherish" stamp in SU's Baroque Motifs set.

This wreath was made free hand with Stampin' Up!'s wood stamp set, All-Seasons Wreath.
I still love the look of this wreath and love how easy it is to create.
Sentiment is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings CL342.
Inks: distress frayed burlap, oxide worn lipstick
Colored pencil to fill in flowers and bow.

Here's a new baby card. Used a clear heart stamp in the Misti with oxide worn lipstick ink. I added the green sprigs  by hand using SU's All-Seasons Wreath wood set and distress evergreen bough ink. Used Cuttlebug's Heart Blocks embossing folder.

I took these photos to show how I stamped with the Misti. You can always click on images to see a larger view. I drew a 3-1/2: square (the size of my cardstock). Then drew another one at an angle as shown. Decided on placement using a circle and then added the heart stamp.
I was inspired by Jo-Anne Roger's video tutorial.

Since making these cards,  I treated myself to Gina K's Wreath Builder Bundle which comes with 2 templates and her Wreath Builder stamps. Stay tuned for more wreaths!

Hoping the new year is good to you all!
Peace and all good!

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!

Happy Valentine's Day and Tuesday Card of the Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I just love Valentine's Day.
It's such a special day to celebrate love and friendship!
My parent's were married on Valentine's Day way back in 1953!

Today I'm sharing some file folder Valentine cards I made by cutting kraft paper in half
to measure 4.25 x 5.5 inch
 then folding that like a card.
I made tabs with my Envelope Punch Board
then cut away the approximately 1/2 inch wide strip with my paper trimmer.
Before I had the Punch board, I just made the tab with my paper trimmer,
scissors and a corner punch. Easy and fun!

For the inside I added this "file" stamped with 

Dina Wakley's big Handwritten Heart Collage stamp. 

Stamps:  Michael Strong, Hero Arts, Ranger-Dina Wakley, PSX

Ink: Versafine black onyx, 

Distress-worn lipstick, festive berries, barn door, mowed lawn.

Thanks for visiting
and

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Monday Card of the Day

This week I'm card captain at the Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Yahoo Group.

I used Mike's cloisonne hearts to make flowers, adding the stems from a Stampin' Up! set.
Used a strip of printed paper on the left. Drew squiggly lines and dots with a PITT India ink pen,
my latest favorite black marker.

I dug out my old crimper for texture on the white layer here.
Then sponged the edges and added the "fussy cut" typewriter
along with the stamped sentiments and printed paper.

Stamps: Michael Strong, Hero Arts
Inks: Versafine black onyx,
distress festive berries and worn lipstick

Thank you for visiting!

Friendship Cards on Wrinkle Free Distress Backgrounds

Here are cards made with some wrinkle free distress pieces 

from last Sunday's blog post.

I have been wanting to use my new friendship stamp called Heart of Friendship by Stampendous.

I thought a collage-y card would look nice on the background with this sentiment.

If you know me, you know how I love the collage-y look.

Here's a closer look. You can always click on the image for a larger view.

Used a "ribbon like" mesh as a stencil, sponging with mowed lawn.

Used picket fence stain on a Rays stamp from Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge CMS087 

in the upper left corner but this did not show up well. So, I dried it with heat tool 

and stamped over it with Frost White Color Box pigment ink.

Hard to see in the photo.

Stampendous Heart of Friendship  stamped in peacock feathers

Michael Strong's mini cloisonne heart in broken china.

Used fossiliaed amber for:

Stampin' Up's postage stamps from Travel Post

Stampin' Up's key from Antique Collectibles

Stampin' Up's ledger script from Office Ephemera.

Used distress tool on edges and sponged with broken china

Added fun fur yarn and attached to white card

in which the edges were sponged in broken china.

The distress background piece for this card was a little small

so I added a black layer underneath, trimming the border with a Fiskars border punch-Rope.

Used the "ribbon mesh" stencil sponging with mowed lawn.

Stamped Rays stamp from Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge CMS087

in Frost White Color Box pigment ink in center.

Stamped both the 

Stampendous Heart of Friendship

and

Michael Strong's mini cloisonne heart

in mowed lawn.

Used fossilized amber for:

Stampin' Up's cancelled postage stamp & ledger script from Office Ephemera

Stampin' Up's hotel oval from  Travel Post.

Used distress tool on edges and sponged with mowed lawn.

Added fun fur yarn and attached to green card.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Card of the day-Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

Today's card of the day for the Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Yahoo group

was inspired by a Hawaiian shirt I saw at Summerfest music festival last Wednesday.

As I was sitting waiting for the show to begin,

I pulled out a post it from my purse and made this sketch:

I thought Mike's mini flowers,  leaves and little fish from the mini creatures stamps

would be fun to use for my water scene.

I used colored pencils to draw the mountains, palm trees, shore and the water ripples.

The flowers, leaves and fish were stamped then fussy cut and attached with dimensional foam.

Added some gemstones to jazz up my simple card.

Stamps: Michael Strong

Inks: distress dried marigold, abandoned coral, shaded lilac and broken china.

SU certainly celery ink.

I'm not claiming to be an artist. 

I just had a lot of fun trying to sketch the scene and make a card later.

Maybe my feeble attempt will inspire someone else! 

If you do something like this, I'd love to hear about it and see your creations!

Thanks for visiting!

Card of the Day-Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!
Today's card of the day for the Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Yahoo group

 has a special digital sentiment created by Hetty Sanders!

"Time to drink some coffee".

Hetty printed it for me while we visiting her in June.

Thanks so much, Hetty!
The base of my card is kraft cardstock.
I sponged distress antique linen on the edges of the sentiment layer.
You can barely see the tea staining on the white layer.

I used loose tea leaves after making a few cups of tea for iced tea.
Not too thrilled with the results-

very light brown coloring
...and a mess dealing with those tea leaves!
 I have to tell you something funny about it.
My daughter happened to be visiting
while my my paper with the tea leaves was drying on the kitchen table.
She thought the loose tea leaves were BUGS!!!
I probably should have used coffee grounds in keeping with my coffee themed card, right.

I sponged the edges of my tea stained paper with distress worn lipstick.
Then stamped SU's coffee beans from SU's Espress Yourself
using distress walnut stain ink. 

Wrapped pink & white twine on right edge.

Added distress picket fence distress stain to a piece of corrugated paper. 

Stamped Michael Strong's mini hearts in distress worn lipstick and faded jeans 

then fussy cut them. 

To make the cup, I stamped the heart in worn lipstick on white cardstock. 

Then using Versafine black onyx ink, I stamped the cup
from Coffee with Friends by Flourishes Stamp Simply, then fussy cut it.
Using dimensional foam tape. I attached the sentiment, hearts and cup layers. 

Thanks for visiting!

2016 Valentines

After learning how to dry emboss the front flap of a card, I just had to make these Valentines. For the top fold cards, the card front is placed sideways in the embossing folder to emboss just the top 3/4 of the front of the card. For the traditional side fold card, the whole front is embossed. I used Cuttlebug folders: Heart Blocks and Victoria. I think I like the Victoria embossing better. At the bottom, I punched borders from Martha Stewart-Scroll Heart and Fiskars-scalloped edge using printed papers. Stamps used: Michael Strong, Hero Arts and unknown. Also used some punched and stamped scraps from my stash.