Valentine card for my DH - ssh, don't tell him ...

Don't worry, DH has been warned away from my blog for a week or so anyway, so there's not much danger of him seeing this beforehand, lol.

I made this card to match the little door hanger gift that I made for him here.

Recipe

Stamp set: Love You Much

Textured Cardstock: Real Red

Plain Cardstock: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Ink: Versamark

Markers: Early Espresso

Punches: Scallop Edge, Heart to Heart, 3/4" Circle

3mm Taffeta Ribbon: Real Red

Other: Gold EP

The card blank is an A6 landscape of textured Real Red card. A panel of Crumb Cake was stamped with the Love You Much sentiment in the centre using Versamark and heat embossed with Gold EP. The letters were coloured in with an Early Espresso marker. Using the 3/4" Circle punch the centre of the "O" was punched out. The Heart to Heart punch was used to the right of the sentiment and then the panel flipped over and punched again to get the mirror image punch (take care not to punch too close to your sentiment). The panel was positioned over the base card (without adhering at this stage) and the placement of the aperture pencilled through to the textures card. The aperture was punched out with the 3/4" Circle, poistioning it as far up the card as the punch will allow. A border of Early Espresso card was punched with the Scallop Edge and adhered behind the top of the main panel. A thin strip of Early Espresso card was adhered behind the bottom of the panel. 3mm Real Red Ribbon was tied around the top border. The panel was popped up on dimensionals on the front of the card with the apertures lined up.

Here's a close up of the aperture:

And then on the inside you see the full picture:

Recipe (Inside)

Stamp set: Love You Much, I {Heart} Hearts, Seasonal Wishes (sentiment, retired)

Plain Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Ink: Real Red

Markers: Early Espresso, Real Red, Crumb Cake

Other: Blender Pen

For the inside the aperture was again marked in pencil onto the Very Vanilla card layer and then the Stamp-a-ma-jig was used to position the birds in the right place. Early Espresso and Real Red markers were used direct to stamp and then the birds were coloured in using a blender pen and Crumb Cake ink. The hearts and the sentiment were stamped in Real Red ink.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xxx

A door hanger gift for my valentine

Our sketch challenge this month over at In Love With Stamping is for a door hanger. I decided to turn mine into a sweet treat for my Valentine:

And I've made video, walking you through the project, so that you can make your own :

All the materials and tools are listed at the end of the video, as well as when they are used, and they're on my recipe list below as well.

Recipe

Stamp set: Love you much

Textured cardstock: Real Red

Plain cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink: Real Red, Early Espresso

DSP: Play Date

Punches: Corner Rounder, Scallop Circle, 1-3/8" Circle, 1-1/4" Circle, 1" Circle, Heart to Heart

3mm Taffeta Ribbon: Real Red

Other: Small Cello Bag

Non-SU: Heart chocs

Please email me if you'd like to order.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Traditional colours for my valentine

Sssh - I'm going to trust that DH won't be checking out my blog over the next few days and risk showing you his Valentine card. He's not a pink kind of guy and I'm a traditionalist so I decided to go with red and black as my colour scheme. I've used the gorgeous Groom pinstriped pattern DSP here. It's ideal for more masculine cards.

Recipe

Stamp set: Love You Much

Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White

DSP: Groom

Ink: Versamark, Real Red, Basic Black

Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon: Real Red

Other: Silver EP

I stamped the Love You Much and heat embossed with silver powder first then masked it before stamping with the large hearts on either side using Real Red ink.

Now don't give the game away and tell him will you? ;-)

Sara xx

February ribbon challenge at In Love With Stamping

Today I'm sharing the Ribbons challenge that we have this month over at In Love With Stamping. To play along you need to use at least 5 ribbons on your creation and they can all be the same or all be different.

I decided to use mine to "finish" my buttons:

Recipe

Stamp Sets: Love You Much, Whimsical Words (SAB)

Cardstock: Basic Black, Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Pink Passion

Coloured Buttons: Earth Elements and Neutrals, Soft Subtles

Gingham Ribbon: Black, Light Pink

I picked out the patterns on the large heart with markers direct to stamp and then coloured in further after stamping. The trail of little hearts was tracked using my Stamp-a-ma-jig. All the buttons are stuck with glue dots.

Thanks for looking.

Sara xx

Combination challenge for the ILWS Cup Challenge

The final challenge for Saturday Night's In Love With Stamping Cup Challenge was a combination one. We had to include a masking technique and also "recycle" a regular household item into the design.

My brain was a little fried by this time and so I saw the "recycle" theme and didn't really get the "household item" so my choice to recycle a used gift tag missed the point a little, lol. They were really looking for things like clothes peg, safety pin, band-aid plaster ...

Never mind, it's the taking part that matters isn't it? This is what I came up with:

Recipe

Stamp set: Love You Much

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Versamark

Punch: Heart to Heart

Other: Silver EP

Non-SU: Recycled gift tag

I stamped Love You Much in Versamark and heat embossed with Silver EP. I stamped it again onto a Post-it and cut around it. The mask was put over the original heat embossing and then I stamped the large heart in Real Red on either side before removing the mask. The punched hearts are raised on dimensionals.

So all in all, the Cup Challenge kick started my creative juices, began this year's stock of cards and gave me an excuse to "get together" with both old and new crafting friends. Want to join the fun? The next Cup Challenge will take place in April but to keep you going until then why not check out the Design Team Challenges that will be posted at the beginning of every month starting February (you can access the older ones here) or hop over straight away to the Tutorials.

Hope to see you at the next Cup Challenge.

Sara xx