Valentine's

Hello!  I've been busier than a one armed paper hanger!  

First there was Christmas and the holidays, and my chickens, and then there was getting ready to go to the Alafia River Rendezvous, which is the southeast's largest pre-1840's historical re-enactment settlement (photos from 2013 here). Hubby and I made our outfits, and it was a lot of fun.  There were a few other glitches along the way, but I'm here today to share my prototype valentine.

As you know, I get bored making the same card over and over, so I have made some variations.  Here are the cards:

I really like the textures created for these cards.  I used an embossing folder on a section of the card, along with gesso, acrylic paint, glitter, and stamping. I punched out the hearts and used puffy stickers for the smaller vertical hearts on the side.

This one also uses 3 hearts as accents, but horizontal this time.

And last but not least, this one has a gold heart (which doesn't scan well) with a puffy sticker heart on top.  I love the flower, which are a lot of different sized flowers that I punched and layered.  I think my girls will like them.  

I hope to post again soon.  

Have a happy day!

Valentine's - part 4

Here is the last card I made:

Again, I am using up stuff I've had for years.  Ribbons, buttons, brads, chipboard, gemstones, paper. These have all been fun to make.  I made ATC's of miniature valentines to leave for waitresses, cashiers, etc.  I have gotten great results from previous ATC's I've made and passed out, so I'm sure these will be received well also.

I hope you have a great Valentine's day!

Valentine's - part 3

Here is the third Valentine I made:

This one uses ribbon, feathers, brads, and Romeo and Juliet background paper.  It's a great way to use up some of your older stuff you have stashed away.  My hubby will like this one.  :-)

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the last of my valentine shares.  This is an ATC I made for my friend who collects them.

I really liked the way this one turned out.

Hope you have enjoyed my valentine's.  Have a fantastic Valentine's day.

Valentine's - Day 8

Day 8 is here...just to change it up a bit, I used stamps from The Angel Company for this card.

I love the little bees. This is a good card for my youngest granddaughter. She'll really like it.  Hope you do too.

Have a great day.

Valentine's - Day 7

Here is the 7th card I've made. Hope you like it.

The center of this card is also ATC sized.  I liked layering the different complementary cardstocks together.

Valentine's - Day 6

Here we are again...

This actually started out as an ATC. Then I layered it onto the geometric background, but needed it to be on something else.  It's kind of busy, but I still like it.

What do you think?

Have a happy day.

Valentine's - Day 5

I hope you are enjoying these cards...Here is another...

I'm really enjoying this stamp. It was $1 at Wal-Mart.  I'm trying to keep my cards simple this year.

Enjoy...

Valentines - Day 4

Good morning!  Another day, another valentine...

Another very simple card.  A few dies and a punch.  Add a few pink rhinestones and you are done.

Hope you enjoy...

Valentine's - Day 3

Good morning.  Another valentine for you:

For this one, the cupcakes were stamped, colored and glittered, then cut out. I attached them to gold cardstock (which is why there is a glare from scanning).  I used checkerboard stickers for the border, punched a border across the bottom of the card, then added red rhinestones.  Hope you like it.  

Stay tuned for another...and have a great day

Valentine's - Day 2

Good morning! Here is another valentine I've been working on. Actually, you could use this for any occasion.

The flowers were stamped, colored and cut out.  I put glitter on them and let dry, then added the buttons. I put some rhinestones by the punched border to add a little bling.  Hope you enjoy.

Valentine's Cards

Good afternoon!  I've been working on some Valentines for my girls, and just want to share with you today.

I was looking for something clean and simple, and I think this qualifies.  The black and white dots are a sticker.

I will be posting more during the coming days.

Thanks for looking...have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you are enjoying your day.  My wonderful husband took me out to dinner Saturday night, and gave me the money to get a Kindle E-Reader.  How sweet is that?

Here are a few cards I made for my sweetie and my children/grandchildren.  Hope you enjoy them.

This one was for hubby.  Something a little more masculine than I made for the girls.  The heart that the little boy is cutting out is covered with red glitter.  Very shiny.

 This one doesn't have a black dot on it in real life.  I guess it was on the scanner and I didn't catch it.

And this one has watermarked hearts on the last red layer, which didn't show up in the scan.

I decorated small paper sacks with Valentine's images and punched out hearts and heart doilies to hold the treats I bought my granddaughters.  I didn't get them much candy (except a few Hershey Kisses...what's Valentine's Day without kisses and chocolate?), but I got them some drawing tools, paint by numbers, small notebooks, etc.  

Have a happy day!

Over The Moon Monday - Cool Cat

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday.

I hope you have had a great week, and you didn't get too much snow where you live.

Today I want to use one of my favorite stamps to make another Valentine. This stamp (Cool cat - #02-134I) is very versatile, and I have a number of sayings that fit into the heart. He can be paper pieced very easily, also.

I have returned to making simple cards. Mainly because I donate a lot of my cards to various causes (supporting the troops and helping special needs individuals), it is easier for them to mail flat cards. So, with that being said, let's get to today's card.

I used the black dotted paper to make the card background. I stamped a piece of red cardstock with a lip stamp, using versamark, so it came out like a watermark (although you can't see it in the scan). Then I tore it and attached it to the background.

I used a nestability die to cut out some white cardstock, then stamped the cool cat in the middle. I colored him with copic markers. I stamped again onto the black dotted paper and cut out the heart, which I attached to the cat. The cat is made so that he's easily cut out, and you could use pop dots to put him onto the background and give him some dimension.

I attached the whole thing to the background. I stamped "I love you" onto white cardstock, then used a red marker to faux stitch the top and bottom. I attached this to the bottom of the card. I stamped a sentiment in the inside and I was done.

I hope you have a great week.

Over The Moon Monday - Valentine's

Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I hope you have had a wonderful week. It was a busy one for me at work (which is a good thing), but I didn't get a lot of cardmaking done (which is a bad thing).

I went to Jo-Ann's over the weekend, and their new nestability dies have been flying off the shelf. I did have a 50% off coupon and managed to get one set of dies. The cashier told me they initially didn't have plans to restock them, but since they have done so well, they will be getting more in in the future.

I have added new Valentine's stamps to the store. For a limited time only, I will be offering 20% off any order (U.S. orders only), but you must use coupon code Val20 at check-out.

Let's get started on today's card. I used 2 images from the new stamps: the new Floral Heart and the Friends stamp. You can see all the new stamps here: http://www.mypapermoon.com/store/WsDefault.asp?iNew=New.

I used scraps of patterned paper to make a herringbone pattern for the background. That's a technique with the Technique Junkies and is pretty simple to do.
I stamped the heart image onto glossy cardstock that had been colored red with alcohol inks. I then cut it out and mounted on a piece of red cardstock. I added some glitter to the flowers to give them a little zing. I added some faux stitching (and if you could see my handsewing in real life, the crooked stitches are pretty real looking).

I stamped "Friends" onto black cardstock using a pigment ink, then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I faux stitched it with white ink.

I adhered both the heart and the friends to the background, then stamped a sentiment inside.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card. If you have made it all the way here, please leave a comment and I will have a drawing for a couple of free stamps from the new valentine's stamps. If you don't leave a way for me to get hold of you, you will have to check back next week to see if you won. Until next time, have a crafty week...

Over The Moon Monday - New Stamps

• Good morning and welcome to another Over The Moon Monday. I'm so glad the weather has returned to more normal temperatures in Florida. Everything is brown from the freeze last weekend, but it will mostly come back green.
• I am excited to announce that the new Valentine stamps are now available at My Paper Moon. You can see them here. With that being said, let's get to today's card, which is very simple.

Here is a card featuring one of the new stamps.

• I inked the Queen playing card stamp by coloring with a red marker, and coloring the outline with a black marker. I stamped it on glossy cardstock and cut out.
• I covered white A2 cardstock with the red polka dotted paper.
• I rounded 2 corners of scrap red cardstock and adhered to the card.
• I rounded 2 corners of some black polka dotted paper and adhered to the red.
• I punched 3 small hearts and adhered to the black paper.
• I stamped "the" on red paper, cut out and adhered to the background.
• I stamped QUEEN on scrap cardstock and punched out with a small circle punch. I adhered them with pop dots.
• I adhered the playing card with pop dots.
• I stamped a sentiment inside and viola! I was done.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card. I will have another next week. Until then, I hope you get to do something crafty.

Over The Moon Monday - Tags

Good morning! I hope the weather wherever you live is tolerable. I was wishing for cooler weather, but the weather in Florida has been ridiculous. I am currently in Savannah, GA (I've been here since Friday), and I'm having a fabulous time. Alas, I am returning home today.

Today I want to show you some tags I made. I hardly ever make tags, but the Christmas tag I made was a lot of fun, and I just want to show that you can make tags for any occasion. You can click the images for larger versions of the tags.

The first tag I made is for Valentine's Day (or just to tell someone you love them), and features some more sneak peek stamps. I will be releasing these stamps this week.

I colored the tag with cherry blossom walnut ink. The chocolate candies in the center were stamped from the same stamp that did the candies on the bottomm, but were colored differently and cut out and rearranged.

The next tag features stamps that are currently available from My Paper Moon, along with the typewriter key stamps from EK Success Nostalgique line.

I used glossy cardstock to make the tag, and covered it with Ranger Alcohol Ink in Meadow, Stream, and Lettuce. Then I stamped the travel collage stamp on the tag. I stamped it again on glossy cardstock so I could cut out individual pieces. I colored these pieces (pen, watch)with Copic markers. I also stamped the airplane on glossy cardstock and colored it with a Copic marker, cut it out and adhered it to the tag. I stamped the alphabet onto glossy cardstock, colored it, and punched out with circle punch and adhered it, also. I used an old postage stamp to finish off the tag.

I hope you have enjoyed my tags this week. Let me know if there is a technique you would like to see, or a sample. I hope you get to do something crafty this week.

Over The Moon Monday - Pick 3 Challenge

Good morning and welcome to the first Over The Moon Monday of the new year. Did you make any resolutions? How are you coming along with them? I have to admit, I'm not doing real great with mine, but I'm trying.

As you know, I am a big fan of the Pick 3 Challenges. I just think they help to jump-start your creativity. At least they do mine. So, with that being said, let's get started.

Pick 3 of the following 6 things to incorporate into your card. You can choose more than 3, but you have to use at least 3:

• Valentine's Day image
• Brads
• the color red
• glitter
• ribbon
• buttons

I chose too use 2 images that will be coming out in the next few weeks at My Paper Moon, so you are getting a sneak peak. I also chose the color red, and the ribbon. Here is my card:

It was rather easy to make, and allowed me to use up some scraps of paper that had been hanging around. I adhered those onto white cardstock to use as the background, then stamped the cupid image onto white cardstock. I used a nestability die to cut it out, then colored it with copic markers. I cut out red cardstock with the larger nestability die for a background. I put the polka dot ribbon between the 2 layers and adhered it. Then I adhered that to the background. I then stamped "Be Mine" onto red cardstock. I punched a scalloped edge with a Fiskars scallop edge punch onto one side of the red cardstock. I used a black marker to do faux stitching on the bottom edge, then adhered it to the card. On the inside I stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" (of course).

I hope you share your creation with us. Just leave a comment with a link to your creation so we call can see. Also, let me know what you think about the new images.

Until next week, take care and do something crafty.

Valentine #4

Good morning! Our weather is back to normal - warm. It's still cool at night, and that's a good thing.

Here is the last of the valentine's I am going to share with you.

This is a gate-fold card. I cut the patterned paper to fit on each side of the card. I cut out a heart from holographic paper, then cut a slightly larger heart from black to place behind the holographic heart. I stamped the image (Cool Cat from My Paper Moon), colored him with copic markers and cut him out. I adhered him to the holographic heart. I stamped the same image again onto the patterned paper and just cut out the heart, which I adhered to the stamped imaged. I stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" on the inside, and viola! I'm done.

I hope you have enjoyed my cards. I have made quite a few other Valentine's cards, but I've run out of time to share them with you.

I love to read your comments. Tell me your most memorable Valentine's Day, and I'll pick a random winner on Sunday, February 15th, and send a prize. I will need contact info to get in touch with you if you are a winner. If I am unable to contact you or you don't respond to my emails by February 22nd I will pick another winner.

Valentine #2

Good afternoon. I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was so-so. I somehow hurt my ankle several weeks ago, and sometimes the pain is so excruciating that I just have to keep it propped up. If I had medical insurance, I sure would have been to the doctor by now. But since I don't, I just try to keep it elevated and take massive amounts of ibuprofen (which doesn't help my stomach, but that's another story for another day). And on top of that, I awoke every morning, starting Friday, with a migraine. I was up at 4 a.m. this morning, standing in the shower with the water as hot as I could stand it, just letting it rain down on my head, trying to ease the pain.

Anyway, here is my valentine #2:

This is a matchbook card. I really like this little Cool Cat from My Paper Moon. He's very versatile, and I have small stamps that fit inside the heart, also. He makes a great card for birthdays, congratulations, and more.

I stamped him on watercolor paper, then colored him with Copic markers. I ran some red ink around the edges. I was going to watercolor him (which is why I stamped him on watercolor paper in the first place), but I liked the way he turned out with the Copics. I matted that onto a piece of black cardstock.

I stamped the heart a 2nd time, colored it, covered it with stickles, cut it out, and put it in place with pop dots. The gold accents were cut with the Cricut, and the black ribbon with white dots was glued to the bottom, covering the staple. I stamped 3 small hearts, colored them, and applied stickles.

I hope you like my cool valentine cat as much as I do.