Man's valentine card with faux metal and wire

As I made a dainty, romantic valentine earlier in the week I thought I'd go for a hard metal look today, suitable to make a man's valentine. I also noticed that I've made quite a few valentine cards recently and so I've gone back and added extra labels to them all so that you can find them in one place with the label Valentine now.

I used Elegant Eggplant as my base cardstock. To make the faux metal heart, I used a square piece of mountboard (I use it for framing my photos) but any piece of strong card will work. The stronger the card the less it will curl when you heat it with the layers of embossing powder. I tapped Versamark ink all over the square then dipped it in silver embossing powder and heated. While the embossing powder is still molten I dipped again into the silver powder and worked through these steps until I had 4 layers in total. With the last silver layer still molten I pressed the heart stamp from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set into the embossed layers and waited a few seconds for it to cool slightly before removing the stamp. 

Taking the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from the Seasonal Wishes set I stamped with Versamark onto Elegant Eggplant, added silver embossing powder (only the single layer this time) and embossed with the heat tool. Both the heart and the sentiment were matted onto Lavender Lace card. I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch a couple of holes top and bottom of the heart and threaded with silver elastic cord, securing the ends at the back of the card. The heart and the sentiment were both raised with dimensionals and I put the sentiment over the top of the lower cords.

Keep Stampin'.

Sara xx

Dainty, romantic valentine in soft colours with heat embossing on vellum

Wayhay! I've done it - I've made a valentine and not a scrap of Ruby Red in sight. This is definitely one I think of as a real girlie valentine, very soft, dainty and romantic.

I used Blush Blossom as my base cardstock. Then using Versamark ink on paper vellum I stamped the heart from the free Polka Dot Punches stamp set, three times in a row. (Click here for details of how to get the free stamps.) Now to get those hearts lined up fairly straight and even, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig with the vellum placed over Grid Paper. I poured white embossing powder over the end hearts and gold embossing powder over the central heart and then heated with the Heat Tool. Embossing on vellum is a little quicker than on card so take care not to over do it. I slightly overheated the gold - the powder melted too far and so the dots aren't quite so sharp.

I then used my Scallop Edge punch top and bottom 

of the vellum and decorated those frills with some paper-piercing. Glue shows through vellum and so I masked where I had stuck it to the card by adding a couple of narrow strips of Blush Blossom textured card over the top.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Simple Valentine pyramid card - using free stamp set

Today I've done another simple valentine card using the Polka Dot Punches stamp set. In case you've missed it previously, this is one of four limited edition stamp sets that you can get for free, simply by spending £45 or more on any goodies from the Stampin' Up! catalogue. If you order from me within the next week or so then you will get your stamps in plenty of time to create your Valentine's card. Details of the offer are here, you can browse the catalogue to create your wish list by clicking here, then email your order to me at sarastamper123@gmail.com.

For today's card I've used Ruby Red cardstock (yet again - but I promise to use something different for the next valentine's card :-) ) and cut and scored the card used a pyramid card template. The little border on the bottom was created using the Scallop Edge punch on Whisper White card and the sentiment is from the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. By the way, there's a misprint for this set in the UK catalogue and instead of "Happy Thanksgiving" we get "Easter Wishes" - much better. 

A narrow strip of Ruby Red card also decorates the border which runs round all three sides of the card. The hearts are stamped in Ruby Red ink, cut out and mounted with dimensionals. There's plenty of space on the back/inside of the card for a personal message to your valentine.

Keep Stampin'

Sara xx

Valentine gift box to match simple valentine card

Today I've made a little gift box to match the simple valentine's card that I made earlier. Details of that card can be found by clicking here.

Ruby Red cardstock was used to create the box. I stamped directly onto the box front in Ruby Red ink with the From the Heart sentiment, one of the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. Using the heart from the Polka Dot Punches set I stamped twice onto Whisper White (also with Ruby Red ink), cut out the two hearts and layered them onto the box front with dimensionals. I decorated the top of the box with some Holiday Treasures designer series paper to echo the card. The fastening is Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon.

I love creating matching sets. Hope you like it too.

Sara xx

Simple Valentine card - low fuss, man's valentine card

Well that's Christmas done, so I'm thinking now about Valentine's Day. I know that some men aren't keen on fussy cards and so this quick and easy card may fit the bill for them. 

I've used Ruby Red cardstock for the base card and also to mat the large heart onto. I used Ruby Red ink to stamp the love panel from the A Little Bit of Happiness stamp set (a Level 1 hostess gift). The same ink was used to stamp the heart from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set. This is one of the fab freebie sets available in the Sale-a-bration that starts on 1 January (see yesterday's post for more info). I've layered the love panel onto Regal Rose cardstock and Holiday Treasures designer series paper. Dimensionals (foam pads) were used to raise the large heart (apologies - the photo doesn't really show the 3-d effect, it's really dismal and gloomy here today).

Note - photo edited on 29 December, once I had better light.

The only techniques used in this card are stamping (single colour), cutting and sticking so this is a great card for a beginner to try. 

Happy stampin'.

Sara xx