I love you Valentine card

Hello

This is going to be my last Valentine card for the year.  I brought a lovely stamp set by Kaisercraft called 'XO' last weekend.  I've got so many ideas for cards from it but I've limited myself to just one more Valentine (though there is plenty of ways to use the stamp set for non-Valentine cards).  I pulled out my water colours and created a rather satisfying card.

Materials used:

• White card base, white card
• Water colours in red, red/orange and white
• XO stamp set
• Versamark ink
• Clear embossing powder (Ranger)
• Stencil (Memory Box)
• Homemade texture paste coloured dark grey
• Corner rounding punch (Fiskars)

I first stamped the 'I love you' sentiment and the hearts on to a piece of white card and heat embossed them.  I took my water colours and mixed them with a small amount of water so that the colour would be quite vibrant.  I covered the piece with clean water and then taking the colours I made a diagonal stripe through the middle with one colour then added another on either side and a third to cover the corners.

While I let the water colour piece dry I took my stencil and texture paste and applied it to the card base making sure to mask off the back of the card.  Once everything was dry I rounded the corners of the water colour piece and adhered it on top with foam tape.

This card has been added to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes".

That's it for today's card.

Till next time,

Stacey.

I love you today and everyday

Hello

After my last Valentine that was deliberately avoiding pink and hearts, I've done the complete opposite for today's card.  A lovely pink gradient, embossed heart and pink sequins makes this card quite eye-catching.

Materials used:

• White card base, white card and pink paper
• Distress inks in spun sugar, picked raspberry and seedless preserves
• Sliver shimmer spray
• Patterned heart stamp (Rosie's Studio) and 'I love you today and everyday' sentiment stamp
• Pink pigment ink (Rosie's Studio) and black ink (Stazon)
• Clear embossing powder (Ranger)
• Pink and clear sequins

I created the pink gradient background first by sponging on the distress inks starting with the lightest over the whole piece, then the next lightest over 2/3rds and the darkest over 1/3rd.  I sprayed the piece lightly with the shimmer spray and mixed some of the picked raspberry colour with a bit of the shimmer spray to flick on top.

I hand cut a slope from a piece of white card and stamped the sentiment on the lower right corner.  For the heart, I stamped it on to the pink paper with the pigment ink and clear embossed it before trimming it out leaving a decent border.

I used foam tape behind the white piece and the heart and double sided tape to adhered the whole panel to the card base.  For the sequins I used multi medium in matte.

I really like how the pink gradient turned out.  Think I'm starting to get better with distress inks.  I've added this card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge 'Have a Heart'.

Till next time

Stacey

Valentine Card - Purple and Gold

Hello

It bothers me that almost every Valentine you see has a heart and are coloured pink/red.  Don't get me wrong, I do like hearts, and pink and red, but when everyone is using the same few things then I find all the cards start to look the same.  So to add some variety in to my Valentine mix this year I've made a card that doesn't have any hearts or use pink and red.

Materials used:

• Black card base, gold foil paper, black card and a purple patterned paper.
• Medallion stamp and 'Happy Valentines Day' stamp
• Versamark ink
• Gold embossing powder (Ranger)

I began by creating my card base and the gold and purple layers.  Then it was a matter of embossing the medallion and the sentiment on to black card.  I trimmed out the sentiment into a strip and created v shaped ends.  I trimmed out the medallion leaving a small border.

Assembling the card was simple, the gold and purple layers were adhered with double sided tape. The sentiment banner and medallion were adhered with foam tape.

This card turned out surprising easy.  It is also quite striking and refreshingly not pink.

Till next time.
Stacey

Valentine Card - Heart Shaker

Hello

I thought seeing as Valentines Day is just around the corner that I best make some cards for the occasion.  Lately I've seen a few people creating shaker cards with less dimension by creating more of a pocket rather than a shallow shadow box.  I like this idea because I'm forever battling with my foam tape because of its intense love to stick to everything but what I want it to.

Materials used:

• White card base and a pink patterned paper and clear plastic packaging
• Two washi tapes, pink hearts and pink stripes
• Heart shape nesting die (Couture Creations)
• Various sequins and confetti shapes in pink, red and gold
• 'I Love You' sentiment stamp (Rosie's Studio)
• Pink ink

I began by die cutting the heart from the card base.  I then took my washi tapes and wrapped the edges around the card and the inside of the heart so it looks like they were cut with the die.  To complete the front I stamped the sentiment below the washi tape.

For the shaker piece, I used a bit of plastic packaging to create a window behind the heart.  I then trimmed my piece of pink patterned paper to be slightly smaller than the inside of my card.  Before placing the sequins and gems on to the plastic I put down strips of double sided tape around the heart and also around the edges of the patterned side of the paper.  After I added all the shaker pieces I adhered the patterned paper pattern side down so that it shows through the window.

So yes it shakes, but not so much as a normal shaker card.  My only regret was leaving such a big gap around the heart when I was placing the double sided tape as the shaker pieces seem to have become a bit shy and hide behind the white card.

Till next time.
Stacey

Inspired by..... Card 2

Hello

This is the second card in my inspired by mini series.  I used this picture that I found on pinterest for inspiration.  You can check out my boards on pinterest here.

Materials used:

• Blue card base, navy and white card
• Distress inks in salty ocean, mustard seed and ripe persimmon 
• Black Stazon ink
• 'Oh Happy Day' stamp and solid flowers/leaves stamps (Rosie's Studio)
• Yellow gems
• Red gel pen
• Corner rounding punch (Fiskars)

I began by creating the background piece with the distress inks and sponges.  Once I got it blended to my satisfaction, I stamped the floral images around the edges and the sentiment in the center.  I then rounded the corners, coloured in the little heart on the sentiment and added the yellow gems.

Then it was just a matter of layering the piece on the navy card with foam tape and adhering it all to the card base.

That's all for today, come back on Tuesday for a Valentine card.
Till then,
Stacey

Inspired by..... Card 1

Hello

Today I begin a new mini series on my blog which features cards I've created based off of something that has inspired me.  For this card I took my inspiration from dragon scales to create the background design.  The effect is quite striking, but getting it done did take a rather long time!

Materials used:

• Black top folding card base
• Two shades of purple paper
• Gold shimmer paper
• White card
• Silver and gold shimmer spray
• Circle punch
• Cake, stand and 'happy birthday' stamps (Bake a cake stamp set)
• Gold gel pen

I began by spraying the purple papers with both the gold and silver sprays (which I've made using metallic paint and water) drying in between colours.  Following this I stamped the two cake segments and cut them out.  Then I punched a rather significant amount of circles from the papers. I covered a piece of light weight cardboard from packaging with double sided tape.  Then I took my circles and placed the first row so that half of the circle was over the edge, the second row was placed above in between and half over the first row. Repeat until you reach the top.  I trimmed off the overhang with my craft knife to complete my background.

To assemble the white panel I stamped the cake stand and the sentiment then added the two cake pieces with dimensional foam tape.  I used a gold gel pen to add details to the cake and stand along with dash lines around the edge.

The white panel was adhered to the background piece with foam tape, then using double sided tape to the gold shimmer paper and finally on to the card base.

This card did take a long time because of the background, but I do really love the way it turned out.  Some of the circles do have additional double sided tape added as only a small section touched the cardboard behind.  I have done this a couple times on a much larger scale on a canvas to give as gifts but I used liquid glue rather than tape and different colours of paper.

That's all for today.
Till next time.
Stacey

P.S. This card has been added to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge 'Something New' as a new technique.