Hello Peeps,

Left and right I hear different stories with regards to Valentine’s Day. Some think it’s just a bunch of commercial nonsense. Others believe it should be Valentine’s Day every day and others still kind of like it. I definately belong to the latter group, although I also like the idea of each day being Valentine’s Day. I think it is important to acknowledge the people in our lives from time to time and let them know how special they are to us. If Valentine’s Day serves as a reminder to that, fine. The fact that commercial enterprises play into that, is natural. But the feeling people get about being obligated to express feelings they don’t have, is going a bit too far and I don’t believe it is in the spirit of the day. Anyway, I made some Valentine’s Day projects that I would like to share with you.

Treats

One of the most imporant groups of people, in my opinion, is teaching assistants and teachers. They get a little treat, several times a year, from me to let them know how much we appreciate them. This year it was a little box made from a piece of 12″x12″ Whisper White cardstock on to wich I stamped a stamp from the Heart Happiness stamp set (Spring/Summer Catalogue page 20) with Real Red ink to create a background pattern. I cut the paper in 6″x4″pieces. Along the long side I scored the pieces at  1 1/4, 2 3/4, 4 and 5 1/2″. On the short end I just made a single scoreline at 1 1/4″. I cut up to the 1 1/4″scoreline along the score lines on the long side and cut away the little 1/2 x 1 1/4″ rectangle entirely. Next I added adhesive to the `1/2″ flap and glued it shut to create a tube. I folded in the sides and the back flap and added adhesive to the inside of the front flap in order to close it up and create the bottom of the box. I filled the box with 3 chocolate hearts and closed the top while pinching in the sides. Using a mini clothes peg from Action I secured the top. On a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock I stamped the striped heart in VersaFine Onyx Black in and the medium sized solid heart with Real Red ink.. After fussy cutting them out I adhered the little heart to the striped heart using a Mini Stampin’ Dimensional and added them underneath the clothes peg. Cute, right?

Masculine card

I made 3 more cards. Two of them are very similar, but I’ll start with this one.

In my work space I have a tin containing projects that I’ve started. It contains extra stamp prints, backgrounds that I’ve made as an experiment and cards that I’ve started but don’t know how to finish. In that tin I found a pretty background I had made using watercolours. The colours beautifully matched some stamped images I had made with the Heart Happiness stamp set that I also had laying around. Now all I had to do was add some cardstock and tie a ribbon in order to complete a card. I used a rectangular die from the CreaLies CLNestXXL nr. 36 set to cut the cardstock to size. To add a little sparkle, I put a layer of Wink of Stella Clear Glitter on the green heart. A perfect masculine Valentine’s card.

Simple cards

The last cards are very similar. Again I used the Heart Happiness stamp set (page 20 of the Sping/Summer Catalogue). It is such a fun set. Using just 2 of the hearts you instantly have a cute card. I stamped the striped heart using the Melon Mambo ink.and stamped the floral heart in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I used the watercolour pencils from the Lots of Happy Card Kit (page 15 of the Spring/Summer Catalogue). The pencils colours are: Flirty Flamingo, Lemon Lime Twist, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry. Onto the Whisper White card base I repeatedly stamped the cluster of hearts with Rich Razzleberry ink. I adhered the pink heart with Tombow Multi Mono Liquid Glue and the floral heart with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the second card, the floral heart is created in the same way as the card with the pink heart. Only now the striped heart is stamped with Wild Wasabi ink. In the background I used the plus signs from the Oh So Eclectic stampset (Annual Catalogue, page 133). I thought the Blushing Bride colour was nice in combination with the rest of the colours. After fussy cutting the hearts, I attached them in the same manner as in the first card.

Sale-a-bration second release

Speaking of the Oh So Eclectic stamp set … as of  February 16th some new products will be added to the Sale-a-bration rangechoose from, when you order for €60 or €120. One of those additions is a stamp set called Eclectic Expressions. It matches the Oh So Eclectic set beautifully but is also great as a stand alone set. It includes several watercolour type images and some more graphic elements. and is combined with two commonly used sentiments namely Thank you and Happy Birthday. The set is available as a wood mount set (the stamps are affixed to a wooden block once and are always ready for use) or as a clear mount set (the stamps are used in combination with clear blocks and are removed from the clear blocks after us to be stored away). In my opinion this is a versatile must-have set with which you can make a great number of combinations. If you want to place an order and earn this set, please get in touch with me or leave a comment below. Sale-a-bration is a temporary event and after March 31st this campaign will be over.

See you next time,

Leonie