2023 Meals on Wheels valentines

Earlier this week I dropped off my box of valentines for my local Meals on Wheels organization. I made a total of 102 cards in thirteen designs. Here is the whole batch:

And here are close-up photos of the different designs:

For these cards I used some pretty patterned paper with watercolor-style flowers. I wanted to enhance the paper instead of covering it up, so I decided to embellish the flowers. I punched small flowers and glued them onto the painted blue flowers; I added gold paint in the centers of the purple and large pink flowers; and I used a black marker with sparkle to color the inside of the small pink flowers.

These two designs also use large layers of patterned paper, although this time as more of a background. For the paint card I stamped and colored the focal image and sentiment. And for the heart card, I stamped the sentiment on a strip of white card stock and added, appropriately, several small textured die-cut hearts.

In my book, Valentine's Day always calls for puns, and the cactus card was one of those designs. It's also definitely non-traditional, so I added a tiny white heart to the large cactus to make it seem more valentine-y. The milk bottle card looks a little more traditional, but it also could be used for a variety of love, friendship, or thinking of you occasions.

For these two designs I stamped a background stamp in the same color as the card base. Then I added the focal images on a die-cut or stamped white layer just above the middle of the card. I added some cute little envelope embellishments on the snail mail card, and the lightbulb card was another "punny" design. (The sentiment on that card is from a stamp with multiple phrases all related to lights or lightbulbs. The sentiments get cut apart with a die, so each card I made in that design has a different sentiment.)

For the card on the left I cut four coordinating pieces of 6" x 6" patterned paper into nine 2" x 2" squares. I adhered one square of each pattern to the card base at different angles and added a large heart with a stitched border in the middle of the card. To make the mushroom design, I first determined what size heart I wanted and then cut them out of white card stock. I placed one of the hearts on my work surface and placed my largest clear block on top of it. I arranged all of the mushroom stamps on the block and then I was able to stamp each heart just one time instead of having to stamp each mushroom individually. You also could do this technique with a stamp positioner, but my acrylic block was easier to grab. :)

These two are the most feminine designs of the bunch because of all the pink (although I did try to keep them from being too frilly). On the typewriter card, I paper pieced the heart on the stamped image. And it's hard to tell, but the light pink behind the typewriter is a piece of patterned paper with a text print. On the mod floral card, the pieces that look tan are actually a gold card stock. I struggled with whether I should add embellishments on those cards, but ultimately I liked the clean layout with the deckled edge.

The last card designs are two more puns. To make the records I used four different circle punches: 1/8", 1/4", 3/4" and 2". And the sentiment on the bumblebee card is another one from a sentiment-strip stamp, so each card has a different bee-related sentiment.

I've really enjoyed making valentines for Meals on Wheels over the past several years. (To see previous designs, search "Meals on Wheels" or click on the "Valentine's Day" category.) I hope each card brings a little joy to the recipient.

Thanks for stopping by!