Meals on Wheels valentines

For the past several years, I've donated hand-made valentines to a local community service organization that delivers them to Meals on Wheels clients. (If you type "Meals on Wheels" in my blog search bar, you'll find several posts showing the cards I've made in previous years.) It's a project I really enjoy doing, but the timing is always a little tricky because I have to jump right in after Christmas.

This year I got a late start with my valentines, but I still managed to make 118 cards, which I delivered to the community center yesterday morning:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Valentine's Day sentiment (Endless Creations)
Paper: Pale Plum, Mint Macaron card stock; Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper (DSP); Glimmer Paper Assortment Pack
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Heart punch, small heart punch, corner rounder, rhinestones, white polka dot tulle ribbon, Dimensionals

Normally I don't like to mass produce cards because I get bored with them. But since I had to make so many cards in a short period of time, I designed four basic layouts and then made multiples of each design, switching up the card stock colors and DSP patterns.

I have a few other time-saving tips that helped me create all these cards on time.

Whenever possible, use "easy" measurements. For instance, with this design, I cut pieces of 12" x 12" DSP into 3" x 3" pieces to use on the front of the cards. That meant I used the whole sheet and didn't have to make extra cuts to trim each piece. I also made full-size A2 cards, so I just needed to cut pieces of card stock in half to make the bases. And here's a bonus tip: If you're scoring your card bases, which I always do, score the piece of card stock before cutting it. That way you score two cards at once.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Garden in Bloom, Wild About Ewe, Honey! (Raising Boat)
Paper: Card stock and DSP Prints in Almost Amethyst, Groovy Guava, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz; Chocolate Chip card stock
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Heart punch, corner rounder, heart border punch, heart trio punch, brown ribbon (unknown), Chocolate Chip polytwill ribbon, Sparkle Silk (Fun Stampers Journey), Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

Minimize stamping. For all of my card designs, I relied on punches or dies (punches were my first choice since they are faster than die cutting) and patterned paper. I only used stamps for the sentiments. I didn't have to worry about coloring stamped images or pulling out multiple ink colors. Minimal stamping also meant there were fewer chances to smear an image or stamp it crooked, both of which could have taken more time and/or paper to fix.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Valentine's Day sentiment (Endless Creations)
Paper: 80-lb white card stock (Cougar); Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango card stock; Sycamore Street DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo
Accessories: Hearts die (Sizzix), Quilt Top embossing folder, Sycamore Street ribbon pack, Rich Razzleberry velvet ribbon, gold sequins (Craft Medley), small heart punch, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Mono Multi liquid glue

Use light-colored card bases. For all of my card designs, I used white or light-colored card bases (with dark ink), which was a huge time-saver. With dark card bases, I would have had to cut layers of white card stock to adhere inside the cards so I could stamp a sentiment.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: "Happy Valentine's Day" (Paper Source) (not pictured)
Paper: Sweet Sugarplum, Orchid Opulence, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Pistachio Pudding, Pink Pirouette card stock; 80-lb white card stock (Cougar); Llama Love paper stack (Craft Smith)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Glitter washi tape, heart punch, large pearls, clear faceted gems, Dimensionals

Work assembly-line style. When making multiples, it's faster to do one step for all of the cards before moving on to the next step, rather than making one card at a time from start to finish. For instance, with this batch of cards, I cut and scored all the card bases first. Then I punched out all of the hearts and "dealt" them into piles, ensuring that the hearts in each pile had four different patterns. Then I assembled the cards and stamped the sentiment inside as I finished each color group.

Well, there you have it. All of my Meals on Wheels valentines and a few simple tips for mass-producing cards. All-in-all I'm pleased with how these cards turned out, and I hope they bring a smile to the recipients' faces. But I did miss using my cute and punny Valentine's Day stamps. I'll need to get an earlier start next year so I can make some stamped cards, too.




Thanks for stopping by!