Happy Valentine's Day!

I wanted to start showing my Valentines Day cards a few days ago, to spread them all out...but I am never quite that organized.  I don't go on my computer much on the weekends so I never got around to posting these, so now you get them all at once :)

I will start with this cutie for my husband.  This adorable hamster is Hamster Cupid from Lil' Inker Designs.  It's stamped on Flourishes Classic White card stock and colored with Copic markers.   I sponged inside the Spellbinders Standard Circle large die after cutting out the image.  I used the Big Scalloped Circle die to mat the image.  The heart and arrow, and the heart on the inside are from the die set Of The Heart Die and Stamp Set also from Lil' Inker Designs.  After I inserted the arrow into the heart I gave it a coating of Crystal Effects and glitter.  The gem hearts are Prima Crystal Hearts in shades of pink.  All of the paper is from MME A Happy Heart. 

 

 I tried not to make is too feminine so I used lots of gray and black and no ribbons of any kind.  I think the Christmas card I gave my husband contained enough pink to last him the whole year!   I stamped the image inside along with a sentiment from the Of The Heart Die and Stamp set.  I just wanna squeeze him!!!

This adorable image is from Tiddly Inks.  It's a digi image called Who Loves You. It's printed on Flourishes Classic White card stock and colored with Copics.  The sentiment is a play on words and I created it on the computer and printed it on the same card stock, cut it out, and popped it up on the main image panel.   This is for my 8 year old son, so I restricted the pink only to the hearts and used some masculine plaid paper from the Basic Gray Oxford paper pad. 

Last, but not least, is the card I made for my 6 year old son.  This adorable image from Whipper Snapper Designs (which you can purchase as one image too) is actually two separate stamps.  I stamped the frog first, then masked him and stamped the mushroom underneath and colored with Copics.  I used a green Spica pen to sparkle up his spots and Prismacolor Pencils and oms to shade around the image and grass.  The paper again is from the Basic Gray Oxford 6x6 pad.   The sentiment is also from WSD and I added a small heart button and bakers twine with a paper heart doily to finish it. 

I sneaked both of these cards into the boys snack bags along with a little bag of Hershey's Kisses...I hope the teacher lets them enjoy a little chocolate at snack time today :)  When they get home they will also get chocolate covered Oreo's from my favorite chocolatier, Bon Bons, yum!

 I hope you enjoyed these cards and that you are giving extra love to your loved ones today.  Check back tomorrow for another Color Throwdown challenge!  Have a great day! 

Hats off to Valentine’s Day!

I found the coolest project on Tosha Leyendekker’s blog.  She made these amazing top hat boxes to fill with candy.  I bookmarked the page at Christmas time but never had enough time to make one, then I saw she made another one for Valentines day and I knew I could wait no longer!
Before I get to it, a little story.  I showed it to my husband and asked him if he thought it was cute.    I showed him that it’s not just a pretty top hat, but a box to fill with candy. He hesitated and said, “it’s for a girl though, right?”  Did he really think I was going to give him a pink frilly top hat?!  He’ll be lucky to get a stale conversation heart now. 
Here is my creation.

I used Vintage Cream felt from PTI to cover my box.  I actually cut it the wrong size and ended making a hat about a 1/4 inch shorter than Tosh’s, but it still looked proportional so I went with it.   It was really simple to make and I had so much fun embellishing it!  The ribbon around the brim is an old piece from a LSS that closed a few years ago.  It looks like a strip of printed cotton fabric with a wire down the center.  You just pull the wire and gather it into a ruffle.  The big gem flourish is from Prima and the gauzy flowers are from Recollections.   I used a Martha Stewart punch with card stock and vellum for the butterflies and added pearls to the center. 

I used a piece of floral wire to stick a couple of the butterflies on and added one to the Spellbinders tag I created with the Tags Trio set which I think is no longer available.  It’s one of the first tag sets they made.   I can’t remember what set I pulled the sentiment from…it’s from an old clear set, maybe Studio G or Hampton, but something I picked up real cheap in Michaels.  I have tons of these little stamp sets and I forget to use them! 
I am going to fill this with chocolates from the gourmet chocolatier in town for my mom for Valentine’s Day.  Her favorite is dark chocolate covered raspberry marshmallow, yum!  My favorite are the chocolate covered Oreos!   Their chocolate is just SO good…it’s worth blowing weight watchers points on, lol! 
I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Yay Giants!  See you on Wednesday when the Flourishes February sneak peeks begin!!

Friday Focus

Today we have these cute little tins to showcase.  Flourishes has these tins in stock for your altering fun and they are only 75 cents!  You need a bunch at this price!
I pulled out my 123 Create Kit Sunshine again for this project.  I just love this kit!   I used a beautiful floral for the front of the tin.  I used Labels Twenty from Spellbinders for the sentiment, which is from Tokens of Affection. 

The inside I lined with more patterned paper from the MME Sunshine pad.   The token and Happy Valentine’s Day sentiment are both from Tokens of Affection.   I used a button for the center and surrounded it with flowers from Prima and Recollections.   I scattered adhesive gems around it too.

Around the outside of the tin I added some beautiful pleated ribbon.  The bottom card I added a flower and a ribbon tab so it can easily be pulled up.  Underneath it I added a gift card. 
Check out all the creative projects the design team came up with today.
Barbara Anders
Julie Koerber
Christine Okken
Danielle Kennedy (you are here)
Dawn Burnworth
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Sharon Doolittle
Jan Marie Caruso

It’s High Hope Sunday!

This week the High Hopes challenge is Valentines as requested by Michelle. I was more than happy to use this adorable image called Snuggle Lions which I haven’t pulled out since last Valentine’s Day. The image was colored with Copics and then Prismacolor pencils and oms . The edges of the panel are sponged with Distress Ink in Tea Dye and stitched to the flip side of this fantastic floral paper from Fancy Pants.

I was eager to make another of these fluffy paper flowers and this time I used pink tissue paper-about 16 layers. I folded it several times before punching it and crinkling each layer created a very full flower. I added a small pink button in the center and then sprayed the finished flower with Glimmer Mist in Sugar Cookie. It toned down the pink and added some sparkle. Then I added several sprigs of leaves I punched with an EK Success punch.

Please join us this week and create a Valentine theme card or project. You have a chance to win Troubled Travis! Have a great Sunday!

Happy Valentine's Day

Good morning! I hope everyone woke up to chocolate boxes and flowers! Not me...hubs took my little guy upstate yesterday and won't be home until this afternoon. We don't really celebrate anyway. I made him a cute card and will make a yummy dinner...Penne a la Punk Ass Betsy from the Pioneer Woman. It's so quick, easy, and unbelievably delish! It looks fancy with all that shrimp so it's perfect for Valentine's Day! Anyway here are a couple of candy bags I made for my boys.

Not exactly how I planned them...I have these window coffee bags from Papertrey I was going to use but the windows were too wide and extended past the sides of the gator. So I thought I would just use these brown lunch bags instead. Well, they are really too big for the Hershey's Kisses I was putting in them and so I stuffed the bottom of the bag with paper so that when I put the candy in it would show through the window. Well, the bag bagged out too much and got kinda lopsided and looked really sloppy. So I searched around and found these clear bags I had bought at Michaels a while ago for another project. I though this would work better but similar issue with the bag expanding too much from the weight of the candy and I kinda lost the gators feet.


Next time I will have to create my own bag or box if I can't find one the right size. I just assumed the coffee bags would work and I never checked and only found the eve of Valentine's Day. Frankly, my kids could care less about the packaging, it's me who's all flustered, lol!

Have a happy and have a great weekend!

Valentines for a good cause

Hi~

Today I just want to share a few Valentines I have been working on. I am trying to get at least a dozen done to send to Pat Adam's cause for the children at Children's Hospital of Michigan. Pat was given a very tall request by the administrator there. She asked if Pat could come up with 1,000 valentines for the kids to swap with each other and give to parents and staff.

I got this information from Curt O'Brien's blog Curt's World. Check out his wonderful Valentines he is contributing to this cause and the very generous blog candy he is giving away to one lucky contributor! If you would like to help with this project, please send Pat an email letting here know that you want to help. You can get the details here: Pat Adam. You can send her an email at mrsmiley6@aol.com.

Okay, I said my goal was a dozen cards...and here's what I have so far to contribute.

This image is from Magenta.




This super cute froggy is from Inky Antics.

This lovey giraffe is from Great Impressions.

I will also be donating the Valentine's cards that I have posted here and here and on older posts here and here. If anyone wants details about any of the cards please let me know and I will email them to you! I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Some Day Your Prince Will Come

I made this Valentine card for a friend of mine who is single this VD. Although she's not trolling bars or hanging out with frogs I thought it was quite appropriate! Inside it says Someday your Prince will Come! The image and sentiment are from Inky Antics and the db is Bo Bunny. The image is colored with Copics. I found a package of heart buttons really cheap at Michaels and thought they'd make a nice simple embellishment. I used a trick I got from Anna Wight aka sweetmissdaisy, and used a thin strip of cardstock in the button instead of thread. A little glitter pen for extra sparkle and done. Nice and simple!

An Elegant Valentine

I tend to make more whimsical cards than elegant or formal so I decided to give it a try. Not that I have never done them but it seems I have gotten away from them. I wanted to try out the new Distress crackle paint so I bought Fired Brick figuring it was a "valentines" color. I cut out a chipboard heart and covered it with paint and left it to dry. I was watching it...waiting for it to crackle...but you know the drying paint cliche. Anyhoo, I came back a while later to find it done curled up on me! I used really thin chipboard and it didn't hold up well to this technique. When I flattened the heart and then rubbed it with Distress Black Soot to bring out the cracks I pulled off some of the paint. Well, it just looks more distressed now! The background paper is Lasting Impressions. It's a light pink with a white floral pattern on it. I sponged some Distress Ink in Tea Dye all over and then I stamped flourishes from Autumn Leaves Flourishes II on it in Distress Ink Fired Brick to match the heart. I had this great paper with Casanova party invites on it from Rusty Pickle from last year and I never used it. I cut one out and layer it on dark brown cardstock. I layered it onto the background and added a brown ribbon. It really is a pretty chocolate brown but I just don't have the right lighting. Have to get me one of those studio set up's. I wrapped some lace ribbon around both corners. It was white but I coffee dyed it. You know, some left over coffee in the pot...throw in some ribbon, voila! Instant age! I really love the stick pins everyone is using so I decided to add my own homemade one. It's kinda lame...I really need to go bead shopping, but I just used what I had around. I thought it still needed something and found these great embellishments I have been hoarding for at least a year! They are Design Details from Nunn Designs. All of the pieces are separate, branches, flowers, etc, and you add the brads to connect them and attach them. I added adhesive pearls to it also to mimic the pearl on the stick pin. I have posted close ups below of the heart and the invite. I think it came out pretty good...but I will keep working on it. I am really liking the Distress paint so I will try that out again on some other elements.

After crackling I rubbed in Distress ink in Black soot to make the cracks stand out.

Here is the Rusty Pickle dp close up.

A Pick Up for Valentines Day

This truck is so much fun to stamp and cut out. It was one of those stamp sets that I "had to have" and then never used. It must have sat at least 6 months before I picked it up. I was browsing Kittie's gallery one day and was blown away by her images with this little truck. Well, all of her images actually! Anyway she inspired me to dust off this set and start inkin'. I decided that the foreground needed a little something extra and so I added the daises...not sure how I feel about them. I like them...but then I don't. I feel like the ribbon is a bit boring too, just having one of those days I guess. I will have to work on it and that's ok because I love using this little guy! The truck is watercolored with a waterbrush and markers, the hearts with Copics. After stamping the trees I pounced with evergreen to fill in and give it depth. The road was stipple with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye but then I decided to add a piece of brown cs which was torn and stippled. I also drew lines on the "road". I stippled Frost White and Faded Jeans on the sky for clouds.

Here's what I used:
Loads of Love, SU!, daisy by Morningstar Stamps
Colorbox pigment inks in Evergreen and Frost White, Ranger Distress inks in Walnut Stain and Tea Dye and Faded Jeans
Ribbon from Michaels
All cardstock by Bazzill and the brad from Target (a whole pkg for a buck!)