February Christmas cards: fractured cards

I'm getting my February Christmas cards posted in the nick of time. Thank goodness for leap year! This month I decided to try the fractured card technique using the Mittens & Mistletoe patterned papers. (These patterned papers are the same ones I used for my May 2023 Christmas cards.)

I don't have a tutorial, but if you do an online search you'll find a variety of tutorial videos and samples. The basic idea, though, is to glue a shape on your card panel and then add strips of card stock to create the look of fractures.

For my first try (the card in the lower left with the postage stamp images), I used card stock for the square and adhered it over a panel of patterned paper, so the four outer sections are the same print. For most of the other cards I used different patterned paper for the square and the other sections.

For the focal images on these cards I used mostly coordinating ephemera. I die cut words for a couple of the cards, and for that first card I cut out some of the little stamps from some scraps and adhered them with foam tape.

For these last few cards I used pre-printed images as the focal points. I placed them in the same direction as the cards instead of angling them. It's a different look, but I like how they turned out.

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Cherry on top

I'm back with the final two valentines I made this year. I decided to share these cards last because they're not traditional valentines and would also make fabulous birthday cards.

I used the Coloring Layering Cupcake stamp set and coordinating die from Hero Arts. The set includes two stamps for each part of the cupcake -- the paper, the bit of cake in the middle, the frosting, and the cherry -- to create a fun, realistic image.

I used a stamp positioner to do the stamping for the cupcakes so I could align all the pieces as closely as possible. I also used the coordinating die to create a template. 

I didn't want the backgrounds to be too busy, so for the first card I used a piece of striped patterned paper matted with a layer of dark brown card stock. For the second card I embossed the card front with a polka dot embossing folder.

I kept the embellishments simple and added several red enamel dots to play off the idea of a cherry. I thought the second card needed one final detail, so I tied some red and white baker's twine around the bottom of the card.

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Mixed media valentines

For most of the valentines I sent out this year, I made mixed-media cards. To make my cards I started with a number of the prints I created in my last gel printing session as well as several foiled panels. 

These two cards are my favorites from the gel print cards. The panels for both cards, as well as those for the rest of today's cards, were made with stencils from The Crafter's Workshop. (I purchased them in a bundle, however, so unfortunately I don't know the names of the individual stencils.) I cut these panels with the Postage Stamps Nested Frame Cuts dies (Hero Arts). I added the bits of text with the Collage Background Hero Transfers (Hero Arts). To add some sparkle, I used my finger to rub Gold Hero Paste on a few places on each card and then splattered a bit of Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink (both from Hero Arts).

These two cards use many of the same products and the same basic process as the previous cards. There was one extra step: I added texture by spreading some of the Gold Hero Paste randomly through the Script Stencil (Hero Arts). It's hard to see in the photo, but it's a fun detail. 

For these two cards, I added accents with the Sketched Hearts dies (Taylored Expressions). I used gold card stock for the hearts on the pink card and black card stock on the orange/yellow card.

I kept the postage theme for these cards but switched to the dies from Master Layouts 11 from Gina K Designs. I die cut two panels of "stamps," used a pen to doodle borders, and added the letters L-O-V-E to the stamps.

The rest of the cards in today's post were foiled using Transfer Gel Duo and Deco Foil from Therm O Web. For these first two cards I accented the foiled card fronts with musical notes transfers, twine, and a few washi tape postage stamps on the left-hand card.

I had a hard time trying to figure out how to use these two foiled card fronts. I didn't want to cover up too much of the image, but I didn't want to leave it "plain," either. For the pink card I decided to use the coordinating ink to sponge around the edges of the panel and in the center of the rose. I finished the card with some ribbon and a few pearls. For the gray card I added a few floral die cuts, a sentiment strip, and enamel dots.

These two cards are probably the least "valentine-y," but they're still cute! For the card I the left, I love the rainbow foil on the black card stock. I kept the rest of the card simple with a few silver hearts and sequins. The silver foil and yellow card stock of the right-hand card reminded me of a bumblebee, so I added a die-cut bee and punny sentiment strip in the middle of the card front over a circle of vellum. 

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Inspirational hearts

This year for Valentine's Day, I wanted to create a little something to share with the teachers and staff where I work. I didn't want to make more cards, though, and I wanted the gift to have some meaning. I decided on a collection of colorful hearts with inspirational words. Here are a few of my favorites:

To make the hearts I actually used the paper from cleaning off my brayer while gel printing. (Those scratch papers always look so pretty; I love finding a use for them.) I drew a few folk-style hearts on chipboard and cut them out to use as templates. I traced and cut out the colorful hearts, glued them onto coordinating card stock (a great way to use scraps!), and then trimmed off the extra card stock.

I used a variety of pens and paint markers to doodle a border on each heart then punched a hole with my Crop-A-Dile and added a loop of twine. I made a list of inspirational words and used a small alphabet stamp set to spell out the words on strips of white card stock. (Some of the words I stamped two or three times.) I trimmed the white card stock close to the letters and glued a word on each heart.

I made about 55 hearts, divided them into two containers and put one in the main office and one in the staff break room. I was nervous that no one would take one and it would end up being a silly idea, but most of them were gone by the end of the day, and there was only one left by Friday. Yay!

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2024 Meals on Wheels valentines

Happy Valentine's Day! The last couple of weeks I've been so focused on trying to get projects finished for the holiday that I haven't kept up with my blog posts (obviously). I'm finally getting everything posted this week, starting tonight with the valentines I made this year for Meals on Wheels. I created a total of seventy-five cards, many of them made with bits and pieces from card kits. There are quite a few pictures, so I'll keep the text short.

Here are all the cards together, followed by close-up photos of the different card designs:

The next group of photos are from the first card kit. The flower pot cards were one of the intended card designs. The next three photos are card designs I made using parts of the kit (patterned paper, some embellishments, circle layers) along with my own die cuts and other elements. 

Below are cards made with the second card kit. The first cards -- pop-up box and tags -- were the designs from the kit. The cards in the third photo were ones I made with the leftover patterned paper from the kit.

The rest of the cards were all made from "scratch." The card fronts of the first two cards were actually panels I made for desk calendars. The stamped hearts were too low and didn't leave enough room for the calendar page, so I remade the panels for the calendars and saved these to use as valentines.

The next cards designs are simple layouts with colored focal images. I made five cards of each design, using the same color palette for all the coloring so I didn't have to spend time choosing which markers to use.

I finished off with nine cards made with patterned paper and die-cut hearts. I used 12" x 12" paper, which I cut into nine 3" x 4" panels. I chose four colors of card stock for the card bases and die-cut hearts and used coordinating ribbon to finish off each card.

I hope these cards offer you a bit of inspiration for next year's valentines or give you ideas that you can modify for other occasions.

Thanks for stopping by -- and stayed tuned for a couple more Valentine's Day posts!