Gel print valentines

Happy Valentine's Day (just a little late)! However you spent the day, I hope it was lovely and filled with kindness. I had hoped to share the valentines I made before the actual day, but here we are. File the ideas away for next year -- or modify them to make a card for a different occasion.

This was the first year in a long time I didn't make cards for our local Meals on Wheels organization. I had planned to, but I never heard back from my contact after reaching out to her three times during January. So instead I focused on my own cards and a festive project for work (and I still ended up rushing at the last minute).

Last year I made some inspirational hearts for my coworkers, and I decided to do that again this year, with a few tweaks. This year I used gel prints for my hearts and added phrases to the hearts instead of just a single word. The rest of the process was basically the same: make heart templates, trace on gel prints, cut out, adhere coordinating card stock on the back, add sentiment, finish with twine.

I chose twelve different sentiments and used each sentiment on five hearts. So there's some variation, but I didn't have to spend time trying to find sixty different phrases.

I put out containers of hearts in our office and break areas. I debated whether it was too similar to last year and thought maybe people wouldn't take them. There were still quite a few left at the end of the day on Friday (I left them out for next week), but I know some people enjoyed them.

After I had cut out all the hearts, I used various heart punches on the left-over parts of the gel prints so I didn't waste them. I used the larger punched hearts to make eight valentines with my all-time favorite layout for Valentine's Day cards.

There's something about those six hearts lined up that just speaks to me. I've used this layout with different textured papers, different colors, different prints, etc. Sometimes I worry that it's too simple, but that hasn't stopped me. I think I could make this card every year. I had planned to make something similar with the smaller hearts I punched out, but I ran out of time. I saved them, though, so maybe next year.

I needed a few more cards after this bunch, so I went looking through some pieces I'd saved to use "sometime" and found a few that worked perfectly for valentines.

The card in the left is the only one that uses gel prints (see Crazy Quilt Scrap Papers for more details). I think the backgrounds for the other two were from a play session when I first got some Distress Oxide inks. But any colorful background -- patterned paper, gel print, ink blending -- would work. I just added die-cut hearts, a sentiment strip, a few black heart embellishments, and a doodled border.

I have a few more valentines to share in my next post, so stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by!