Valentine trio

It's hard to believe that it's already almost the middle of January -- it seems as if Christmas was just a few days ago! Before I know it Valentine's Day will be here, so today I spent some time creating valentines for my friends and family.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: You Are Loved, Lovely Little Labels
Paper: Cameo Coral, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla card stock; First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Cameo Coral (pad and marker), Soft Sky, Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Petite Pennants Builder punch, Little Labels punch pack, small heart punch, corner rounder, Calypso Coral baker's twine, Color Spritzer tool, pearls, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I liked the color combination I used for the love card I made a few weeks ago, so I decided to use a similar combo for this card. It's hard to pick up some of the little details in the picture, so I'll point out a few things:
~ I spritzed the card base and the First Edition DSP pennants with Cameo Coral.

~ For the Soft Sky pennants I stamped the floral heart image from the You Are Loved set and then punched out part of the image.
~ There are three small pearls on one of the Soft Sky pennants.
~ To adhere the pennants to the card I placed a Glue Dot in the top two corners of each pennant.
~ Inside the card I stamped the floral heart in Cameo Coral (first stamped on scratch paper so the image was lighter) then stamped the greeting over it.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Filled with Love, Curly Cute
Card stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Apothecary Accents Framelits dies, small heart punch, Adorning Accents embossing folders, In Color glimmer brads, Pear Pizzazz stitched poly ribbon, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

To make the focal image on this card, I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig tool to stamp a line of four of the stemmed heart image in Pear Pizzazz, and then I die cut the group with one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits dies.

I stamped the small heart in Soft Sky and Riding Hood Red on a separate piece of card stock, punched them out and adhered them to the stemmed hearts with Glue Dots. I added a glimmer brad to each side and then used Dimensionals to adhere the piece over the ribbon.

Inside the card I stamped the sentiment and added three small punched hearts.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Warmest of Wishes, Grateful Greetings
Card stock: Kraft note cards and envelopes (Paper Reflections), Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Petite Pennants Builder punch, mini silver brads, small heart punch, paper piercer, mat pack, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Glue Dots, Tombo Mono Multi liquid glue

(Note: This card base is 5-1.2" x 4", so it is slightly smaller than A2 size.) For this clean and simple card I used a layout from a birthday card I made last month.

I stamped and punched out five pennants and used mini silver brads to connect them. To attach the banner to the card, I placed a Glue Dot on the back of the middle and two end pennants. For some simple embellishment I wrapped a piece of baker's twine twice around the bottom of the card and tied it in a knot.

Inside the card I stamped the sentiment and added three small hearts punched out of Cherry Cobbler card stock. I didn't take a picture of it, but I also added a punched heart to the middle of the envelope flap.

Thanks for stopping by!

A fun discovery

I'll be honest, I'm always a little envious of the creative people who can take a few punches, dies or stamps and come up with unexpected ways to use them. I don't usually have the eye for that. But while I was playing with the Floral Frames Framelits dies to create my flower-shaped card, I did make a little discovery: you can use these Framelits dies to make label shapes.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Raining Flowers, Sweet Essentials
Card stock: Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade (marker)
Accessories: Scallop Edge Border punch, Floral Frames Framelits dies, Delicate Designs embossing folders, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, rhinestones, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Glue Dots

See the shaped piece of Lucky Limeade card stock behind the greeting on this card? That was made with the Floral Frames framelits dies! I know that it's not terribly cute or exciting, and I may not even be the first person to think of it, but it was a fun discovery for me.

I used the second-largest die in the Floral Frames set and a 1-1/4" wide strip of card stock. (The finished length of the label shape will be about 4-1/4", so be sure your card stock is at least that long.) I positioned the Framelit die so that two "petals" across from each other were aligned on the strip and then ran it through my Big Shot. (If needed, you could place a self-stick note across the die and card stock to hold them in place.)

If you use a slightly wider strip of card stock, you create a different shape (see photo). I layered the label in my card above with a small banner, but I think either of these labels would look great layered with other shapes, too (I think I might try ovals next). And I'm sure you could use the rest of the Floral Frames Framelits dies to make larger or smaller label shapes; just adjust the width of your card stock as needed.



Thanks for stopping by!

Flower-shaped card

A while back I saw an adorable Floral Frames card on the blog of another Stampin'!^® demonstrator, Mary Fish. Mary used the Floral Frames Framelits dies to create a fun flower-shaped card. I wanted to try my own version, and here is the card I created:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Lucky Limeade cardstock; Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Accessories: Floral Frames Framelits dies, Woodgrain embossing folder, Brights Collection buttons, white baker's twine, Glue Dots

What a bright, cheery card for a cold winter day! And it was really easy to make, to boot. I wanted the card to fit in a standard A2-sized envelope, so I started with a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card base in Daffodil Delight. I placed the largest Floral Frames die on the card so that two of the points were lined up evenly along the bottom of the card, and then I ran the card and die through my Big Shot. (A quick disclaimer: Framelits dies do specify that they are designed to be used with a single sheet of paper, card stock or other material. I didn't have a problem cutting through both layers of card stock, but it could affect the product warranty if any damage occurs.)

I used the next largest Floral Frames die to cut a layer of the Summer Smooches DSP and a layer of Whisper White card stock (for the inside of the card). I adhered the DSP layer to the front of the card and then trimmed off the parts of the top two points that stuck up past the fold. Then I cut off the same amount from two points of the Whisper White layer and adhered it inside the card. (The Daffodil Delight card stock is light enough that I could have skipped this step, but I like how the card looks with the layer inside.)

For the rest of the card front, I used the third-largest Floral Frames die to cut a Real Red flower, which I embossed and adhered to the front of the card. I love the texture created by the Woodgrain embossing folder. To create the flower in the center, I used the smallest Floral Frames die with another piece of the Summer Smooches DSP and finished it off with a Tempting Turquoise button and a touch of baker's twine.

To create the leaf, I cut a piece of Lucky Limeade card stock with the second-largest Floral Frames die. The petals of the flower can be cut apart to make perfect leaves. For this photo, I drew lines on the die-cut so you can see how to separate the petals, and then I cut out one section. I hand-trimmed the leaf shape a little more and then embossed it with the Woodgrain embossing folder and adhered it to the back of the card front (see photo above).


I think the next set of cards I make as a gift may just have to be these flowers. Thanks for stopping by!

Valentines or anytime

Now that the holidays are past, it's time to start thinking about Valentine's Day. In the last batch of cards I recently sent to Operation Write Home, I included a couple of designs that I might use for some of my valentines this year. Neither card mentions Valentine's Day on the front -- so they are designs that could be used year round -- but it would be really easy to add that greeting, either stamped or handwritten, on the inside of the cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Turtle & Co.
Card stock: Confetti White, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade
Accessories: 1/2" circle punch, Scallop Edge border punch, Pear Pizzazz stitched poly ribbon, corner rounder, Dimensionals

I really like how this clean and simple layout turned out. The scallops under the ribbon are a strip of Poppy Parade card stock punched with the Scallop Edge border punch. The scallops on the side of the focal image are three 1/2" circles glued right next to each other on the back of the Confetti White layer. You could embellish this card a little more by adding googly eyes to the frog and glitter to the heart.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Safari Animals (DeNami Design), Wild About You
Card stock: Confetti White, textured Real Red
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Going Gray, More Mustard, Soft Suede
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Adorning Accents embossing folder, Dimensionals

With the red hearts, this card does have more of a Valentine's Day look about it than the first card. You could make it a little more "any time" by layering a different shape behind the animals and/or omitting the embossed heart border. But I do like the wild animal theme for kids' valentines because it works for girls and boys. You could easily make a class set of valentines by changing the size of the card to 3" x 3" and using just one heart and animal with the greeting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two versions of a birthday card

Happy new year! I hope your new year celebrations, whether lively or quiet, were happy ones. My family had dinner and game night, which was just right.

Today I'm going to share a couple of kids' birthday cards. They use the same focal image and almost the same layout, but one is a girly version, and one is more boyish.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Happy Chick Birthday (Unity Stamp Co.), Create a Cupcake
Card stock: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Pool Party, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Barely Banana, Pool Party, Pink Pirouette, Pixie Pink
Accessories: 2-1/2" circle punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Scallop Edge border punch, Polka Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Lily White rhinestones (Doodlebug Design Inc.), Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Happy Chick Birthday (Unity Stamp Co.)
Card stock: Whisper White, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow, Taken with Teal
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Versamark; markers: Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow, Taken with Teal, Pixie Pink, Only Orange
Accessories: Top Note die, Merry Minis punch pack, Scallop Edge border punch, primary rhinestones (Me & My Big Ideas), Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue


Can you see the similarities in the layout? The cards are mirror images of each other, and I changed the shape of the focal image. On the boy card I stamped a sentiment multiple times across the strip of card stock. For the girly card I embossed the strip and then added a greeting stamped on a little flag.

I think both of these cards turned out cute, but I'm a little partial to the girl version. Which do you like better?

Thanks for stopping by!