Valentines for seniors

It’s been a couple of years since I made valentines for my local Meals on Wheels chapter. But this year I made a group of cards for a different organization — one that supports senior citizens throughout Minnesota. I wanted to share them before Valentine’s Day, but better late than never.

With everything going on in the world, our country, and particularly in my state, I wanted to make valentines that had a little more meaning. I started with the scratch papers I used to clean off my brayer during previous gel print sessions. I cut free-hand hearts from the papers (a total of 20 hearts) and used a variety of Posca acrylic markers to add a stitched border around each heart.

For the sentiment I started by finding scraps of card stock that coordinated with each heart. Well, coordinate might not be the best word. I tried to find a color in each heart that I could pull out with the sentiment strips. It was satisfying to use up some of the small bits of card stock I always seem to save.

Anyway, once I had chosen the colors, I used a stamp set with a labeler-style alphabet to spell out the phrase “Do small things with great love.” I didn’t worry about lining up each letter perfectly; obviously I was going for an imperfect style with these cards. After all the words were stamped, I cut out each word, leaving a narrow border of colored card stock. 

I decided to use sheet music for the background, so I paged through an old songbook I have (I think it’s from the early 1900s) to find some pages that were visually appealing. I also scanned the lyrics to make sure they weren’t religious or offensive. Then I tore the pages (gasp!) into background panels for the cards.

For the card bases, I chose a card stock color that I thought looked nice with each heart; some “match,” and some don’t. I had planned to make all the cards in a landscape layout, but a few of the hearts were too tall. (These are A2 cards, which are 4-1/4” x 5-1/2”.) For the landscape cards, I tore the sheet music into a rough rectangle, leaving about 1/4” of the card base visible on all sides. For the cards with a portrait layout, I used the same size piece of music but glued it across the middle of the card and trimmed off the extra on the sides.

I glued down each heart in the middle of the card base and then added the words for the sentiment on the heart. Normally I would’ve used foam tape to adhere the words, but the organization requests non-bulky cards so I went with liquid glue. I also wanted to add some little embellishment so I pulled out a sheet of finely detailed gold stickers that I’ve had for ages. They were a fun little accent, and I managed to use the whole sheet. Yippee!

I was pleased with how these cards turned out (though I do sometimes wonder if cards like this don’t look “nice” enough). I also made a few valentines for friends and family, but those will be for my next post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter cards for seniors

I’ve been sloooowly making progress on my craft room. Today we moved the furniture downstairs. I need to get a few more shelves for storage, and then I’ll be able to start reorganizing everything. I’m hoping to have it set up by Thanksgiving; I have so much Christmas stuff to work on!

For now I have some winter cards to share. Most of these are the cards I created during my craft weekend a few weeks ago. I posted group photos at the time, but I also wanted to share pictures where you can see the individual cards. These cards, which are for the Cards Connect program at the Friends and Co. organization, will be sent to senior citizens around the state. (See my Sept. 20, 2025, post for fall cards I made for this same cause.) I was able to create 71 cards this time.

I have quite a few pictures, so I won’t share individual details of cards. My main supplies were the Simple Vintage Flannel Season paper pad and ephemera (Simple Stories) and the Chilling with My Snowmies paper pad and coordinating dies (Echo Park). Embellishments are minimal, as the organization requests that cards be fairly flat for mailing. If you have a question about a specific card, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.

Whew! I still need to write a message in each card, and then I have to drop them off by Dec. 5. How are we halfway through November already?!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall cards for seniors

For many years I've made financial donations to a local organization that works to promote connection and meaningful relationships for older adults. Recently I learned that they have a program called Cards Connect -- individuals make cards and send/bring them to the organization, which then mails them to seniors around the state. They collect cards four times per year, and the donation deadline for fall cards happened to be a few weeks away. I pulled out some autumn-themed stamps, dies, and patterned paper and started creating.

The organization requested that the cards be fairly flat for mailing purposes, so I didn't add the dimension I usually would. I limited my embellishments to flat sequins and tried to add interest with textured or shimmery paper or a bit of splatter.

I created a total of twenty cards to donate this time. I made multiples of a few designs, but I also created some unique cards by using up bits and pieces that I've had sitting around for years (like the die-cut frames and the panel with the Emily Bronte quote).

Inside the cards I wrote a simple uplifting message with a couple of sentences about autumn. I also included a seasonal "dad joke" in each card for a little fun.

I'm hoping to make many more cards for the next round, which will be winter (not holiday-specific). I've already bought some cute patterned paper and coordinating ephemera so I can get a head start. Maybe I'll be able to finish some for my September Christmas cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

For the animals

Today I participated in a Walk for Animals, a fundraiser for our local Animal Humane Society. I only registered for the Walk last month, so I didn't have a lot of time to collect donations. But I did have a few friends and family sponsor me, and I wanted to make a little something to thank them for their donations. So I started with (obviously) thank-you cards:

Of course I needed to make the cards pet-themed. (I have to thank my online stamping friend Sunshine for sharing some cards she made for her vet's office and inspiring the idea.) I used the Speech Bubble Backdrop die, Critter Chatter stamp set, and Say What? Pets stamp set, all from Lawn Fawn, to create eight cards. They're all the same basic layout with different background colors.

I used alcohol markers to color the animals very simply -- the only detail I added was stripes on the cats. On each card I gave the middle animal a speech bubble and then stamped the "translation" inside.

With the thank-you cards done, I decided to make some small gifts -- sets of four notecards and simple bookmarks -- continuing the animal theme.

To create the notecards I used the Storybook Friends stamp set and Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack (both Stampin' Up!). I chose four images from the stamp set and paired each with two DSP patterns. I colored the images with alcohol markers and punched them out with a scalloped circle punch. I covered the seam between the patterned papers with a strip of card stock punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch and finished each card with a trio of cream sequins.

Finally, the bookmarks. I used the Critter Chatter stamp set again, but for the animals I pulled out a set from a past My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts. I stamped a dog, fish, cat, and bird -- each in a different color -- then filled in with the words and finished with a doodled border. 

I had a great time at the Walk for Animals, and I think I'll sign up again next year. Thanks for stopping by!

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!

Personalizing a card kit

When I assemble a card kit, it’s never as quick or easy as I think it will be. Mainly because I usually want to change up the designs or add details to make the cards more “me.” And that’s exactly what I did when I sat down to put together a birthday card kit I received recently.

The kit included five square card bases, five circle card bases, two sheets of patterned paper, pre-printed images, woven labels, and some other goodies. I used all of the square card bases for actual cards, but I ended up using two of the circle cards to die cut some stitched circles (on the pink card above and the two cards below) and the “happy birthday” sentiment on the orange card above. I could have used my own card stock, but this way I didn’t have to worry about finding a matching color.

I trimmed some of the pre-printed pieces to better fit my card designs. For instance, the cake slices had the sentiment “Make a wish” at the bottom, and the “Enjoy” piece (top photo) was originally a tag. I also swapped out most of the embellishments included in the kit for my own rhinestones and sequins. And I used some sequins, glitter, and a piece of acetate to create a shaker for one of the cards (below). It’s a pretty simple shaker because I don’t make them often, but I still think it’s cute.

I’m planning to donate the cards from this kit to a charitable organization, although I’m not sure which one yet. I received a few other kits along with this one, so when I have all the cards done I’ll figure out where I should send the cards based on the organizations’ needs at the time.

I did have some patterned paper and other bits left after I finished the pre-cut card bases, so I decided to make two cards for my own stash:

You can’t tell in the photo, but the black background in the right-hand card is embossed with a streamer/confetti embossing folder. That panel has been sitting in a scraps envelope for ages, and I finally had the right card for it!

I still have some leftovers from the kit, but I’m not sure if I’ll end up using them. For now I’m hanging onto them, just in case. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Brilliant Butterflies card set

Later this spring, the school where I work is having a carnival, complete with silent auction, to raise money for different school programs. I asked if they would like a set of handmade cards for the auction, and the answer was "yes," so I got to work.

I wanted to make a set of cards that was fairly versatile, so after much debate I settled on a clean and simple layout with bright butterflies. I made ten cards total, two each of five designs. Four of the designs have sentiments ("happy birthday," "thinking of you," "thanks," and "happy thoughts"), and the fifth is blank.

I chose five butterfly images from the Brilliant Butterflies stamp set (My Favorite Things) and assigned each one a color: pink, orange, yellow, green, and teal. Then I mixed and matched the butterflies so I used each of them three times, and no two card designs have the same combination of colors/butterflies. Then I chose a sentiment for each design from the Totally Random Sayings Vol. 3 stamp set (Essentials by Ellen).

I love these images, but they do take a little time to stamp because each butterfly is actually four stamps: the top wings, the bottom wings, the detail wings, and the body/antennae. I used my MISTI and stamped each layer on a scratch paper first to make sure everything was lined up before I stamped the card bases. For the teal butterfly I used Taylored Expressions inks (Confetti Cake and Cookie Monster); the other ink colors are Color Fuse inks from Rubbernecker Stamps -- they're perfect because each set includes four shades of the same color. 

Once all the stamping was done I added a very narrow strip of glossy black card stock along the bottom of each card. (It's difficult to see it in the picture, but I think it's a nice detail.) I finished the cards with several sequins, which I tried to arrange in a pathway going up each card.

I'm happy with how these cards turned out, and I hope they do well in the silent auction. Thanks for stopping by!

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!