Another Site I love

Make and Takes is a site I frequent quite often. So I thought I would add it to my list of Sites that Inspire me, can't believe I forgot about it. So hop on over and check out her blog because she has a give-away going on to celebrate her 2nd birthday of blogging. Some really cute stuff that you are gonna want to try to win. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Sorry this is kinda late, it's been a crazy day. Here is the Valentine that I made for my hubby this year. It's pretty simple, because I made it in between putting my sick daughter back to bed like 3 times. Poor girl. I stamped the vine image on the cs and then used some red stickles glitter glue to highlight some spots. I used my clear glitter glue around the edge of the heart that was stamped and popped off.
The inside was kinda fun. It is an accordian fold and I added a couple elements to the folds that stuck out. Simple and fun, just what my hubby needs. He brought me breakfast in bed this morning. What a sweety.

Valentine Wrap Up

On the first card I used the same corner rounder to make the scallop edge, but I inked the edges up to make it stand out. On the second card, I had some die cut flowers that I stamped some images on the petals and then layered them to give the flower dimension. I distressed around the edges with ink as well.
I hope you've enjoyed two weeks worth of Valentine Cards, that will hopefully give you some inspiration of fun techniques to add to your own cards. Tomorrow I will share the Valentine that I made for my hubby this year.

Dress it up

Some simple Valentines for you. The first one I random stamped the background using the flourish stamp. I used some of our shimmer paint with re-inker to paint the paper flower to match. The second card I stamped the image in one color and chalked the inside of the heart to add a pop of color. I used my corner rounder with the guard off to make the scalloped edge and my hole punch to make it look like an eyelet border.
Fun techniques and tools can really add a little something extra to your cards.

Another Masculine Valentine

Here is a simple yet neat looking card that can be given to a man. In fact I gave this to my hubby last year. You could also switch up the colors and use ribbon instead of hemp to tie the pieces together.
I know some of you may be thinking, my husband won't really like a card, but my hubby has kept every one I've ever given him. He has them stashed in his dresser with his other "treasures".

Be My Valentine

Once again these are some cards from last year. I hope you don't mind. :)

On the first one I used my embossing folder with the Chocolate CS and then lightly sanded the raised image to bring out the white core. I stamped my sentiment on the twill ribbon. The fairy couple card uses a lot of tearing which is fun, and I added glitter to their wings with a glue pen and glitter.

Valentine's Cards

I've been feeling under the weather, so I am posting some cards that I made last year at Valentine's Day. I hope to be feeling better and up to creating again soon.
I think these cards are pretty self explanatory as to how I made them. On the love card I used an edge distessor to rough up the edges and I had the polka dot patterned paper in stock and I added the hearts to it with my stamps. It's an easy way to spruce up some basic paper. I used a glue pen and superfine glitter to add the red sparkle to the heart on the other card.

Crocheted Valentine

Today I have a Valetine Project for you. I wanted to make my daughter a beanie cap with a brim. I think these are just adorable, and I have a little girl who loves all things pink. I made this last night while she was asleep so I didn't really get the size perfect. It's all good as far as i'm concerned though, because I wanted it to cover her ears, and it will fit her for years to come.
Top View

She isn't the most excited person when having her photo taken. She's always making crazy faces, so this is her "just hold still" face.

Side View

I was sick yesterday so as I was laying on the couch I made two of these to go in the girls hair for church. I attached it to one of those small goody snap clips. (Not sure what the correct name is lol) These are quick and so easy to make, and it uses up any leftover scrap yarn you may have lying around.

Faux Pleated Ribbon Card

I think this technique looks so neat on a card. I took a strip of patterned paper 1"x12" and pleat folded it until it was the width of the card. I then sewed across the paper to hold all the pleats in place. I added my image and a small sentiment stamped in white pigment ink. Then mounted the card front on my card base that way the stitches cannot be seen on the inside of the card.
A little tip - I took the pieces of thread that were hanging over the paper and taped them to the back, that way nothing will come unraveled as I didn't do any backstitching.

A Heart For You

I had fun making this Valentine Card. This image is just so cute. I stamped her in Chocolate and the solid heart was stamped in Blush. I colored her dress and shoes using my Blush marker. I added a heart and the sentiment from these & these rub-ons. I've been having tons of fun with rub-ons lately, love em. I then added some Chocolate brads to balance out the heart.
I think this Valentine is just so sweet, don't you think??

Masculine Valentine

I like to give my husband a card on Valentine's Day, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want one that is all pinks and reds with hearts and Cupid's on it. So for today's card I created one that is worthy to give to that special man in your life, that he won't turn his nose up at.....hopefully. I took some Desert Sand CS and placed it over top of one of these metal bookplates. Then using my embossing stylus, I rubbed around the texture to make the image stand out on the CS. I then sanded the raised image lightly with 220 grit sandpaper. I used the same technique on the score lines on my base. This reveals the white core in the cardstock. I took my stipple brush and distressed using Cocoa ink on the base and the bookplate, then stamped the sentiment in the box. I attached the bookplate piece using some Antique copper brads. I know my hubby wouldn't be disappointed with this Valentine. I hope your would like it too.

Shaker Valentine

I created this card around the shaker box. I had my daughter punch out a bunch of little red hearts. She always wants to creat cards with me so I thought this would be a good thing for her to help me with. I added some sparkle jewels in red to the shaker box to give it some bling, as well as a little 'love' rub-on. I mounted it on the patterned paper which was mounted on black (kinda hard to see against the black background ) Wrapped some red grosgrain ribbon around that to finish it off.
Shaker boxes are so fun to make and add a little something special to your card.

Ms. Sweetheart

I just love this stamp set, it has images that would totally be good for Engagement, Wedding, Valentines and Love. Once again I used some patterned paper that I've had kicking around forever. Very fitting for a Valentine card I must say. I mounted the image on Hollyhock CS and punched out some circles in Hollyhock and Blush CS. I added some brads to the circles and a sentiment from the same stamp set. I could have colored in the whole image (which I was really tempted to do), but I wanted the heart to really pop out so I left the rest monochromatic.

Purple Love

I have had this patterned paper for quite some time now. It actually came in a Halloween themed paper pack. In my efforts to seriously reduce the amount of paper I have in my stash, I decided it would be perfect for this Valentine Card. I stamped the Heart image and the Valentine Sentiment using black pigment ink. I covered it with clear embossing powder, and embossed the images. (This technique works when you are in a pinch and don't have the right color of embossing powder) I mounted the image on a black scalloped square and popped it up using dimensional foam adhesive. I tied a ribbon on and attached a charm using White Hemp.

What are some ways that you have used items that are "outside the box" ? I would love to hear of ways that you have used items that didn' t normally go together.

Stitched Valentine Card

I saw a card similar to this one out in blog land and I really loved the simplicity of it. I first drew a heart on my white CS using a pencil. Then using my paper piercer, I made the holes for the embroidery thread. I erased my heart guide and stitched using red embroidery thread. To finish it off I used the ticket corner punch and a Love rub-on for the sentiment.

I hope you like todays card. Check back tomorrow for another V-Day card

Valentine's Countdown and a tutorial

Today I have a tutorial for you making a heart using eyelets. I got the inspiration for this card from the Jan/Feb issue of Papercrafts Magazine. First I drew a heart on my cardstock and arranged my eyelets on the heart how I wanted them to look. I was sitting there thinking....."this is great my eyelets are all set out, now how am I going to remember where on earth they go after I've punched holes". Well I decided to take my paper piercer and pokes holes inside the eyelets as they sat with a varying pattern per eyelet. I poked three little holes for the flower eyelets, two for the stars and small, medium and large holes for the different shades of regular eyelets. I hope i'm making sense. Take a look at the picture and you should be able to see what i'm talking about.
Erase your heart guide with a white eraser. Then I started with one style of eyelets at a time. I made the holes for the stars and then set them. Then I made the holes for the flowers and set them, and so on.

Now I have all my eyelets set in the exact place that I wanted them to be.

Here is my finished card. I feathered the edges with some red ink and a sponge. Added some ribbon, and some rub-ons for the sentiment and accent. There you have it, a cute eyelet heart card worthy of much praise from the recipient.

I am going to be posting a card a day counting down to Valentine's Day. I hope it will give you some inspiration for your own Valentine cards. So check back each day to see the new card.