Valentine Round Up

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've got a lengthy post for you today, with lots of photos, but hopefully it will offer you some inspiration for planning your Valentine projects for next year! I will list the supplies for each item underneath each project rather than at the very end of the post so you can quickly locate what items you will need in order to case a technique.

Steffan's Card

First up is the card I created for Steffan, my daughter's boyfriend. He's definitely a one-of-a-kind guy so I wanted his card to reflect that and not be too lovey-dovey. He loves the color black but also likes red so that's what I went with for his card.

I created a simple watercolor wash using my Aqua Pen and Smoky Slate, followed by a little Basic Gray. I added some droplets of black by flicking some Basic Black and created some larger droplets by squeezing some drops from the Aqua Pen.

I liked the effect but wanted a bit more grunge so I added a stamp from Gorgeous Grunge using Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

I used the Hearts Collection Framelits as well as the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack to die cut three hearts from Red Glimmer paper. I inked the edges of each with Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

I cut the watercolor matte to size and then inked the edges with Real Red. I used the Alphabet Rotary stamp to stamp the sentiment at the top using Real Red. My only regret is that the stamp does not include the # symbol so I had to go with @ instead. Otherwise, the rotary stamp is great for words or short phrases (up to 13 characters) and includes uppercase letters, numbers, and some punctuation.

I adhered the watercolor to a Basic Black matte and then wrapped the bottom with Basic Black Baker's Twine. I adhered the largest heart over the twine, using Dimensionals. The two smaller hearts were adhered to the top right using Fuse Fast adhesive.

The matte was then adhered to a Real Red card base using Dimensionals.

Using the Envelope Punch Board, I created an envelope from Basic Black and die cut two hearts. I embossed the hearts using the Tim Holtz Alterations Bubble Wrap embossing folder and adhered them to the envelope.

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Courtney's Treat Bag

Next up is the treat bag I created for Courtney, using the Mini Treat Bag Framelits Die. What a wonderful set of dies! Not only do you get the two pieces for creating the treat bag itself, but you get 10 other pieces to use for decorating it, including two sentiment dies. These dies will prove useful in many projects throughout the year!

I altered the use of this treat bag die and actually created an enlarged treat bag by cutting two pieces of Rose Red card stock with the larger die for the treat bag and not using the smaller one. Each piece had the smaller section of the pinked edge cut off and each was scored on the smaller side at 1/2 and 1 1/4." I also cut a piece for the bottom of the bag, measuring 1 1/2 x 4 5/8", scoring it 1/2" from each end. This idea was not my own but I modified the process of creating the larger bag after viewing several different tutorials from the web.

As well as folding on the original score lines provided by the die, I did mountain and valley folds for the score lines I added. The pieces were then adhered together using Fuse Fast and the bottom piece added to finish the bag itself.

I cut a piece of the paper from the Painted Blooms Designer Pack to adhere to the front of the bag and then used the Banners Framelits to cut a banner from Blackberry Bliss and embossed it using the Happy Hearts embossing folder. I adhered the banner to the top front of the bag.

I cut a strip of Rose Red and used the Fringe Scissors on it. It was adhered over the banner at the top of the bag. A strip of Silver Glimmer paper was die cut with another of the dies from the Mini Treat Bag Framelits and adhered on top of the fringed strip.

Using the Bow Builder Punch (another new favorite of mine!) I created a bow from the matching designer paper and embellished it with a rhinestone.

I used Rose Red to stamp one of the Groovy Kind of Love hearts on Whisper White and then punched it with the Sweetheart Punch. I inked it up with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder to make it glossy.

I cut another heart from Silver Glimmer paper. Both hearts were adhered to the banner using Dimensionals.

"For You" was die cut using one of the sentiments from the Mini Treat Bag Framelits. I actually cut it three times and glued the pieces together to give it added thickness. I then applied Crystal Effects to it to make it really glossy. It was also adhered to the bag with Dimensionals.

After filling the bag I attached a Blackberry Bliss clothespin from the 2014-2016 In Color Printed Clothespins.

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Courtney's Card

Courtney's card was a fun one to create! I used the Hardwood background stamp to stamp Smoky Slate ink onto Smoky Slate card stock. I did two separate stampings and then cut the boards apart.

The Chevron Punch was used to give a point to each board and then I cut them to size. Each board was inked with Smoky Slate ink using a sponge dauber.

I adhered the boards to a Pink Pirouette matte. To be sure I got them spaced correctly, I affixed the middle board using repositionable adhesive and then placed boards on either side, adhering them with Fuse Fast. I then removed the centre board and re-adhered it with Fuse Fast.

Two other boards were trimmed to size, inked, and then adhered with Dimensionals as cross pieces on the fence.

The sentiment from the January 2015 Paper Pumpkin kit (Filled With Love) was stamped with Blackberry Bliss ink on another piece of stamped board and then punched using the Ticket Duo Builder Punch.

I used one of the Piercing Templates from the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack to help me evenly pierce two holes, with my Piercing Tool, on either side of the sentiment and through the pink matte. I used two Candy Dots Brad Bases to attach the sentiment to the Pink Pirouette matte.

Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities were used to color two rhinestones and then I added them to the Candy Dots Brad Bases.

I die cut five small hearts, two Rose Red, two Real Red, and one Blackberry Bliss, using the Hearts Collection Framelits. I applied a coat of Crystal Effects to each to make them glossy.

To create a banner, I tied a piece of Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine to the top horizontal board and then used Glue Dots to adhere the hearts to the twine and ultimately to the boards themselves.

The Pink Pirouette matte was inked with Rose Red and adhered to a Blackberry Bliss card base.

A matching Pink Pirouette envelope was created using the Envelope Punch Board. The flap was embossed using the Happy Hearts embossing folder. A tiny doily and Rose Red lace trim were added as further embellishment.

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Raine's Card

My granddaughter, Raine, is currently besotted with Elmo from Sesame Street! She has a large, talking Elmo which she received for Christmas, as well as a small Elmo which came with a book. I knew that an Elmo card would be a hit with her so I scoured Pinterest for some punch art inspiration.

I first created a square card base from Real Red and used the largest scalloped circle from the Circles Collection Framelits to create the shaped card. I cut a single scalloped circle to adhere to the card front, hiding the fold of the original card base.

More circles were cut from Basic Black,Whisper White and Pumpkin Pie using either the Circles Collection or the 3/4" Circle Punch.

All pieces were adhered to the card front with Fuse Fast or Tombow adhesive and the nose was adhered using a Dimensional.

Inside the card, I used Tuxedo Black Memento ink to stamp little hearts from the Perpetual Calendar stamp set as well as a sentiment from the January 2015 Paper Pumpkin kit (Filled With Love). I used the Alphabet Rotary stamp to add her name.

To complete the inside of the card, I die cut a heart from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper and adhered it with Dimensionals.

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Raine's Treat Bag

Of course, it wouldn't be Valentine's Day or a little girl without some treats so I made a simple treat bag with Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper using the Mini Treat Bag Framelits Dies.

I used the heart die from the same set of framelits to cut a heart shape in the front of the bag. A square of Window Sheet was adhered over this opening on the inside of the bag.

Using the Note Tag Punch I cut a tag from Red Glimmer Paper and punched a 1/4" hole for some Real Red Taffeta Ribbon. The sentiment, For You, was die cut from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper and adhered to the tag.

Another piece of Real Red Taffeta Ribbon was tied in a bow at the top of the bag. Some Red Foil cellophane can be glimpsed through the heart opening and peeks out the top of the filled bag.

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Bob's Card

 The last card that I completed was for my husband, Bob. The design for his card had been "gelling" in my mind ever since I created the watercolor Bokeh background for it, back in January.You can read about the Bokeh Technique that I used in my blog post, Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog.

This is the result I got after creating the watercolor portion of the background, complete with the colors of Ink Refills I used:

This is what it looked like after I added the bokeh:

  

I must say that this is my most favorite Bokeh background to date! I love the swirl of dark, jewel tones topped with the three dimensional circles of white.

The Bokeh background was trimmed to size and then I used a sponge dauber to ink the edges with Tuxedo Black Memento ink.I adhered it to a matte of Silver Glimmer paper.

I punched a heart from Blackberry Bliss using the Sweetheart Punch. I added Crystal Effects to create a very glossy heart. (In retrospect, this step was unnecessary but I didn't know this at the time!)

The heart was covered with a heart punched from Window Sheet which had been stamped with White Stazon ink to add the sentiment from the Groovy Kind of Love stamp set. I used Versamark, Heat & Stick Powder and finally Silver Glitter around the edge of the heart. This was done to hide the adhesive from the 2-Way Glue Pen.

Silver cord from my personal stash was wrapped around the panel and the heart adhered with Dimensionals on top of it.

The finished matte was adhered to a Blackberry Bliss card base. Both Frosted Finishes sequins and some Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh completed the front of the card.

For the inside, I adhered a Whisper White matte with sides inked in Blackberry Bliss ink. It was stamped with Versamark, using Love from the Seasonally Scattered stamp set, and heat embossed with Silver Embossing Powder.

Strips of Silver Glimmer Paper were die cut with a die from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies and were adhered at the top and bottom of the matte.

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Well, if you have made it this far you are doing well! Thanks for hanging in there to see my collection of Valentine projects! I had a ball creating them and hopefully they have provided you with some inspiration of your own!

Gold, Grunge, Glitz and Two Charlenes

This is my week to craft with ladies named Charlene!

On Monday, I visited a newer friend–named Charlene–at her home and helped her try out an emboss resist technique, some sponging, and some die cutting with the Butterfly Thinlits.

Then today at my place, I enjoyed a lovely day stamping with my long time best friend–and Upline– Charlene. She wanted to learn about the Bokeh Technique that I used here and while she worked on creating her watercolor backgrounds for the bokeh, I finished up my thank you cards to go out with my recent Stampin' Up! order.

Charlene achieved some great results and modelled them after my card from here but then branched out and made good use of some acetate and ribbon for a unique look! I am waiting on some pictures from her so I'll try to post those tomorrow.

Finally, my cards were finished and I was able to create the card I had been envisioning for days!
I started with a 5 x 7 Basic Black card base. I stamped my sentiment (from the now retired, See Ya Later stamp set) in the top left corner with Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

I cut a black card stock panel and stamped the fern from Butterfly Basics in Versamark, heat embossing again with the Gold Embossing Powder.

I used Dimensionals and offset this panel on another panel of Gold Foil.

I cut two of the the mid-sized butterfly from the Butterfly Thinlits, one in Basic Black and one from Gold Glimmer paper. I used the wonderful dryer sheet technique from Deb Valder to make it easy to remove the butterflies from the dies. I heat embossed the black one using Clear Embossing Powder to make it glossy.

Next, after deciding where my offset panel would go, I used Versamark to stamp some grungy flecks from Gorgeous Grunge. I also embossed these with Gold Embossing Powder. (Notice a trend here??) I then added the offset panel using Dimensionals.

I attached the black butterfly at the bottom of the offset panel using Glue Dots. The Gold Glimmer butterfly was attached to the black one using Glue Dots and the wings were bent up slightly to simulate flight.

I punched a tiny butterfly from Vellum using my Bitty Butterfly Punch and inked the edge in Versamark and then (you guessed it, right?) heat embossed it using Gold Embossing Powder. I bent up the wings and attached it with a Glue Dot near the sentiment.

The final touch for the outside of the card was to add a few rhinestones to the body of the bitty butterfly.

Since the card was black, I needed to create an inner panel to make it easier on which to write.
I cut a panel from Naturals Ivory card stock. Using Tuxedo Black Memento ink, stamped off, I stamped a few ferns at the bottom of the panel, not re-inking between stamps to give some added dimension. I also added a few flecks using black ink with Gorgeous Grunge.

I felt compelled to ink the edges loosely with Versamark and heat emboss them with Gold Embossing Powder. To complete the theme, I stamped the little butterflies–from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set–in Versamark and heat embossed them with Gold Embossing Powder.

Here are a few shots . . . it's hard to get good shots of the gold and glitter.

Details of the inside.

Lots of gold, grunge and glitz. Gotta love it!

If you love butterfly cards, be sure to check out these posts:

• Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog
• Butterfly Obsession
• Color Inspiration and Abundant Butterflies

What have you created with your Butterfly Basics and Butterfly Thinlits? Let me know in the comments below!

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Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog

Do you ever feel like there are just too many products and too many techniques and not enough time to use them? If you're like me, this is a common complaint!

Because I get to work in my craft room in bits and pieces, I sometimes try to combine too many products and techniques into the same card just so I can use them! However, I sometimes get the balance just right like I did today!

Today's card makes use of the Bokeh Technique for the background of the card while also using new products from the 2015 Occasions Catalog which goes live on January 6. For this card I was able to use the Butterfly Thinlits Dies, the Sheltering Tree stamp set and the Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim.

I actually created the watercolor part of the backgrounds yesterday so they would be completely dry for today's work. I started by taping two pieces of watercolor paper to my craft mat using Washi tape. I was careful to keep my tape placement straight so I would have an even border when I was finished.

I followed the tutorial for the Bokeh Technique by placing 10 drops of water and three drops of Reinker in several little containers. I decided to try the technique using two different color combos:

1. Melon Mambo, Totally Turquoise, and Crushed Curry
2. Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, and Perfect Plum

Next, I filled my Aqua Pen with water and completely wet the surface of one piece of watercolor paper. I then dipped into one color and dabbed it around the paper. Immediately, I could tell that the color was too intense for what I was after but I persevered, adding each of the two other colors, allowing each color to bleed into the next. I continued till no white remained.

I then repeated the process with the other piece of watercolor paper and the second color combo. These colors kind of looked a little muddy to me when complete but they were more muted looking than the first set.

I will try this technique again in the future but I will not wet the paper so much to start with, preferring to spritz it as I go, if needed. I may also spritz and blot the paper to create a more muted look. In addition, I may use a ratio of 10 drops water to 1 drop of reinker.

I dried the pieces with my heat tool and then left them to dry completely overnight. I removed the washi tape which had been used to preserve a straight, white border and keep the paper from curling up as it got wet.

Next, I used the Circles Collection Framelits to cut the three smallest circles in a piece of Window Sheet to provide a template. I held this template over my first colored piece and used a sponge dauber to apply Brilliance Moonlight White pigment ink in one of the template openings.

I moved the template and repeated the process, alternating circle sizes and placement, being sure to overlap some of the circles as well as hanging some of the circles off the edge of the page.
I definitely thought the circles of white—or bokeh—enhanced the colored pieces, even the first, more intense color combo. Once completed, though, I chose the second color combo with which to work.

I trimmed down the colored panel to remove the white edges and then inked the edges using Perfect Plum ink. I cut mattes of Whisper White and Old Olive and a card base of Perfect Plum.
I used Fuse Fast to adhere each matte and then adhered some Whisper White Satin Ribbon with a strip of the Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim on top, using Sticky Strip. I then adhered the mattes to the card base.

I used Black Stazon ink to stamp the sentiment—from the Sheltering Tree stamp set—on vellum and used the Hexagon Punch to create a banner end. I used Tombow glue to adhere the banner to the top left and used glue dots to adhere a Vintage Faceted Button, topped with one of the loose sequins over the spot to hide the glue.

I die cut the largest of the Butterfly Thinlits from Bermuda Bay card stock and bent each wing up a bit. I then inked half of it with Versamark ink. I heat embossed it using non Stampin' Up! Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder. I repeated this step with the other half of the butterfly and then adhered it to the card front using glue dots.

To complete the card, I adhered four more loose sequins to the card front.
Here are a few shots of the card from different angles.

A close up to show the details of the sparkle!

I hope you will try the Bokeh Technique. I found it to be a lot of fun!

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