Valentines for the Kids

As I mentioned earlier this week, it has been a busy week of projects for Valentine's Day.  Today has been no different.  I'm finally finished creating Valentine projects!  Now to post the fruits of my labor.  Today, I will post the Valentines for the kids.  Tim is in charge of picking up a small goodie for them and I'm in charge of cards.  Two of the cards should be familiar as I posted them earlier.  Liam's card was made during my Kid's Pick series and Phoebe's card was one of the first that I made using the I {Heart} Hearts set.  I did alter Phoebe's card changing the sentiment on the front from "thinking of you" to "just for you."  I selected this card for Phoebe because she really expressed a liking for it.  It certainly fits her style, a leather and lace kind of personality.  Liam's as you know perfectly suits his love of trains, something in his DNA from his Poppy, my father.  I have to admit that his card is one of my favorite cards using the Choo Choo set. 

So, cards were complete for Liam and Phoebe, but I needed something for Tessa and Isabel.  Tessa had made a request of me on Friday.  She wanted a card with her favorite colors- yellow and orange- and her favorite animal- a cat.  The catch, the cat needed to be made using hearts.  Inspired by some heart animal art during the Valentine Party at her school and armed with the Welcome Neighbor Designer Series Paper and I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, I set out to meet her request.  The full list of ingredients is:

• Stamp Set:  I {Heart} Hearts, Teeny Tiny Wishes (inside)
• Card Stock:  So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie (textured), Very Vanilla
• Designer Series Papers:  Sweet Pea and Welcome Neighbor
• Ink:  Only Orange Classic Stampin' Pad





• Tools and Accessories:  1/2 inch Striped Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, Heart to Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch, Rhinestone Brads

I stamped my hearts the pumpkin pie zig zag stripe paper from Welcome Neighbor and then cut them out.  This technique would work better with a more symmetric heart so my cat is actually a little on the chubby side.  Use three hearts of equal size to form the body and head.  For the tail, I trimmed around the scrap paper at the point of the hearts I had trimmed.  For the head, I trimmed the point off the heart.  For the ears, I punched two small hearts with the Small Heart Punch from the Pumpkin Pie.  I then cut three smaller hearts with the Heart to Heart Punch from the opposite side of the paper I used for the cat's body.  I used two for the inside of hte ears and one for the nose.  I added two standard sized hole punched circles with black dotes added for the eyes.  The whiskers were hand drawn with a Stampin' Write Marker.  I layered my cat onto Very Vanilla and then Sweet Pea DSP.  I added a loop of ribbon attached to the corner with a brad.  The card base is So Saffron with hearts stamped using Only Orange.  The cat image was glued to the front of the card. 

Now for Isabel's card. At 11, I wanted to avoid cutesy for her.  I hope I did that.  For her card, I used:

• Stamp Set: I {Heart} Hearts (mounted on clear blocks), Teeny Tiny Wishes (inside)
• Card Stock: Pretty in Pink,Very Vanilla, Taken with Teal
• Designer Series Papers: Sweet Pea
• Ink: Pixie Pink Stampin' Pad
• Tools and Accessories: 1/4 inch Striped Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Rhinestone Brads, Pinking Hearts Border Punch

To begin, I selected 3 of the hearts from the I {Heart} Hearts and mounted them together on my clear block.  This is one of the benefits of the clear mount stamps- you can arrange as you like on the block itself.  I stamped the images in Pixie Pink.  I layered this onto a piece of Taken with Teal card stock where I had punched the bottom edge with the Pinking Hearts Border Punch.  I tied a piece of Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon around the card stock.  On the front of my Pretty in Pink card, I added a piece of Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper.  Over that, I layered my images.

Tomorrow I'll share a fun box using the petal card die cut. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Day 7: 10 Days, 10 Cards

Time for Day 7... A Valentine's Card.  This card uses the Big Shot and the new Beary Lovely Die Cut available in the current Occasions Mini Catalog.  When I saw the rose on this die cut, I immediately pictured a bouquet of white roses, just like the first bouquet of roses my husband gave me.  This card is a very easy project, easily 20 minutes or less.

First, gather your supplies:

• Soft Suede Card Stock
• Kraft Card Stock
• Real Red Card Stock
• Garden Green Card Stock
• Whisper White Card Stock
• Hemp Twine
• Red tissue or cellophane
• Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set
• Modern Label Punch
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
• Silver Brads

First you'll need to create your roses.  First cut twelve from the Garden Green, then use paper snips to cut off the bud, leaving behind the stem and the leaves that surround the bud.  After, cut 12 buds using the Whisper White.  You will want to cut the full bud, including the leaves that surround it so that you have enough to adhere the two parts together.  Now, glue your buds to the back of your stems such that the Garden Green is on top.  The two way glue pen works well for this project because you will get less glue on your fingers. 

Now that you have twelve perfect long stem roses, build yourself a bouquet on top of your cellophane or tissue square.  Gather the tissue around the roses and tie with the hemp twine.  This leaves you with a nice three dimensional bouquet for your card. 

For the card front, use the Texture Plate #4 Texturz plate to emboss the Kraft with the cheese cloth type plate.  Layer that onto my card front with Real Red.  Using Soft Suede ink, stamp the Just for You sentiment onto Real Red and punched it out with the Modern Label punch.  Add two brads and attach it to the card with dimensionals.  Lastly, use sticky strip to attach your bouquet to the top of the Kraft card stock.  On the inside, I stamped the Valentine sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes on the inside and added one last rose as a final touch.

Hope you enjoy this project!  Even if you don't have the Build a Bear die cuts, consider adding Beary Lovely to your die collection just for the hearts and roses you can make!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!
Charity

Day 3: 10 Days, 10 Cards

It's day three, time for another card.  I'm throwing in a Valentine's Card.  This card is inspired by a project that Stampin' Up! TM featured in the demonstrator magazine, Stampin' Success.  I know I've mentioned this magazine before, but I have to say it again, one of my favorite demonstrator perks.  Full of great ideas and this one was no exception.  The original project was a full size wreath using larger hearts but I was immediately inspired to create a smaller version for a card. 

For this project, you will need the following items:

• Petal Party Simply Scrappin' Kit (pink polka dot paper)
• Card Stock: Real Red, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Rose Red, Whisper White, and Kraft
• Ink:  Real Red Stampin' Pad
• Accessories:  Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals
• Tools:  Circle Scissors Plus, Beary Lovely Sizzlit Die, Heart to Heart Punch, and Small Heart Punch

To begin, cut a ring by cutting a small hole and then a larger diameter circle.  Just use some scrap cardstock for this as it will not be seen.  Then, tie your ribbon around the ring as you would to hang a wreath on the wall using a bow at the top.  Set that aside. 

Second, brush the edges of your Whisper White with the Real Red ink.  Let that dry while, you punch/cut lots and lots of hearts using your Real Red, Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Rose Red and Petal Party papers.  Grab your glue stick and start randomly placing hearts on your ring.  As you fill your ring with hearts, begin to layer and build height using your dimensionals.  This will help it pop a bit. The Beary Lovely die includes the letters to spell "LOVE" so I saved that when cutting my hearts and added that as a finishing touch to my wreath. 

Once complete, I used Stampin' Dimensionals to mount my wreath to the Whisper White.  To give the appearance of a wreath hanging on a wall, I added a brad at the top of the ribbon under my bow.  Last, I adhered to my Kraft card stock.

This card isn't overly mushy or romantic and would be well suited to give to a friend or relative.  Thanks for looking!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'

Charity

PS Let me know if you want to learn more about the benefits of becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, including the wonderful Stampin' Success magazine.

I {Love} Love

Love is in the air and it is time for some Valentines.  This card design would work for either a man or a woman.  For this card, you will need the following items:

• I {Love} Love Stampin' Wheel and Handle
• Define Your Life Stamp Set
• Fundamental Phrases Stamp Set
• Stampin' Up! TM Backgrounds I Texturz Plates
• Chocolate Chip Card Stock
• Real Red Card Stock
• Kraft Card Stock
• Very Vanilla Card Stock
• Round Tab Punch
• Small Heart Punch
• Basic Black Stampin' Pad
• Basic Black Jumbo Cartridge
• Stampin' Dimensionals

This card is a standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch card.  Each embossed the card front using the Backgrounds Texturz Plate.  As a reminder, spritz your paper with a little water when usign the Texturz folders.  You will get a better image.  Use the I {Love} Love wheel on the Real Red card stock.  Trim to size.  You will also stamp the "always" sentiment onto the Real Red and then mount to your Kraft Card stock.  Stamp the LOVE sentiment from Fundamental phrases onto Very Vanilla card stock and punch with the Round Tab punch.  Attach to the end of the Kraft Card stock.  Punch a heart from Chocolate Chip and add to your Kraft mat.  Use dimensionals to mount to the front of your card.  I biased mine closer to the bottom and right of the card front.

I'm also going to enter this in a Challenge over at Late Night Stampers.  Wish me luck!

God Bless and Happy Stampin'!

Charity