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Valentines 2025
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It was so fun to make cards for Valentine’s Day! I had purchased dies last year but didn’t use them. I can’t decide which I like the best, so leave a comment telling us of your favorite. This first one was for my grandchildren showing a little teddy bear stacking balloons on top of each other to say ‘I LOVE YOU’. The balloons are die cut from a glossy card stock but the picture didn’t pick up the shine. The die cut out all the hearts in one cut, so I used different colored papers and then glued them individually on the white layer that I embossed with a fun heart embossing folder. With 4 cards to make it was great to have different colors to mix and match.
For the inside I used our spiral die and glued one end on each side so it opened up with a flash of hearts. The children love an interactive card!
- Kokorosa Die for teddy bear and balloons
- Sunshine Wishes Dies for the layered heart on the left of the inside
- Lots of Heart Stampin’ Up! set for the “my heart smiles just thinking about you”
- Think Happy Stampin’ Up! for the little smiles inside the heart
- Spiral BigZ die
- The embossing folder is one of the mini folders from Stampin’ Up! so you run it through twice
Next, I used the same embossing folder for a layer and then die cut interconnected hearts and layered them on a piece of designer series paper.
- Kokorosa Die for interconnected hearts connected to side strips
- Stampin’ Up! Love & Happiness stamp set for the tiny Happy Valentine’s Day
- Stampin’ Up! Heartfelt Stamp Set for the “Roses Are Red…..So Lucky” and the heart in bottom corner
As many as you made, I’ll bet you had Paul’s help.
I did, Sal, which made it more efficient and certainly more fun!
Third for the day is a card with a blue background for a friend (you know who you are) who loves blue!
- Kokorosa Die for the flurry of hearts coming out of the envelope
- Stampin’ Up! envelope maker using 1/2 of smallest measurements
- Stampin’ Up! Heartfelt Stamp Set for the “Roses Are Red…..So Lucky” and the heart in bottom corner
The inside bottom heart is stamped but it looks so clear in the picture that it looks like an additional die cut. Paul used the Stampin’ Up! envelope maker to make the little white envelope.
Last but not least is another set of interconnected hearts on a sponged background for a rainbow look. For this construction, there are the hearts die cut in purple, then a layer of white die cut for placement of the purple and then a smaller layer of white card stock sponged to go behind those two layers.
- Kokorosa Die with the interconnected hearts
- Stampin’ Up! Heartfelt Stamp Set for the “Roses Are Red…..So Lucky” and the heart in bottom corner
That is a nice variety of purple, blue, pink and white bases.
Purposeful! Doing a whole set of cards just alike can be very productive, but it can get boring if you don’t have an assembly line for each step of the card.
And when have you had an assembly line? I don’t think two people count as a “line”.
Hmmmm…… maybe that is something I should do in classes. NOT!
Thank you for giving me some time today. Hopefully you have been inspired, even to just see some nice wording you can stamp on anniversary cards or birthday cards or ……
SAL, Such A Lot of Valentines
Karen
Quotation of the day:
“Sometimes the greatest gift you can give someone is simply to include them.”
Karen Decker’s December 2024 Shoebox Event
(If you are opening this post in a mobile device, be sure and click a second time on the header to go to the blog where the pictures are shown correctly.)
My prayers go out to all those suffering from the LA wildfires and a special prayer for the firefighters and first responders who brave it all to protect others from losing it all.
Our last and final Shoebox Event was hosted by me with a Christmas luncheon, snowman gift exchange game, and a couple rounds of bunco for laughs! Card making of course started the day and I used the unique Krazy Kreations stickers to create one Christmas card and one friend card.
I created a way to bring the celebration of the birth of Jesus with the music notes and Stampin’ Up! stamps.
The dancing deer do look like they are celebrating.
That, Sal, is Designer Series Paper from Stampin’ Up! as is the red and black plaid I used for accents.
So the outline of the deer is actually a sticker?
Yes, Sal. So are the music notes on the outside, the little bird and the greeting, bell and holly up top. The little bird is from the ‘Hello Winter’ sticker bundle, and the green boughs and greeting are also stickers. Here are steps for creating with a Krazy Kreation’s sticker when adding to glitter paper:
- Burnish a piece of KrazyKreations fine glitter paper.
- Carefully peal off the stickers that you want to be glittery, place on the glitter paper.
- Burnish the sticker. I used our ink roller.
- Color the image using ALCOHOL markers.
- Fussy cut the image.
- Use the edge of a black marker to have a definitive black edge on the cut out sticker.
- Apply to your project.
Woah – that is not as easy as stamping!
Just different, Sal. It is always fun to learn new things at any age.
Recipe
- Base: Sahara Sand, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4
- Layer 1 (X2): Basic Black, 5 3/8 X4 1/8
- Layer 2: Red & Black plaid DSP, 5 1/4 X 4
- Layer 3: Basic Black, 4 X 3 1/2
- Layer 4: Sahara Sand DSP with deer, 3 3/4 X 3 1/4
- Inside: Sahara Sand DSP with deer, 5 1/4 X 4
- Inside Strip: Red & Black plaid DSP, 3/4 X 4
Inside Music Notes: Stampin’ Up! ‘Music From The Heart’
Heaven & Nature Sing: Stampin’ Up! ‘Nature Sings’
For Unto You… and Wishing You Every Blessing…: Stampin’ Up! ‘Every Blessing’
Alcohol Markers Used:
- Bronze with the Color Lifter for the deer; Add color to the edge then pull it in with the Color Lifter
- Lt Granny Apple Green for the holly leaves
- Dk Real Red for the bow on bell, the holly berries and the belt circles and the bird’s hat
- Basic Black for the belt the hooves, the nose and the edging
- Lt Smoky Slate for the bell
- Dk Smoky Slate for the bird with the Color Lifter to blend color
The downside of using Krazy Kreations stickers is using them up and not having any more for future cards. However, they are still available in the store so I could purchase more. I will link the Krazy Kreations store in the computer below.
How often do you go back and make the same card?
Good point, Sal! I always want to try something new.
For the Snow Friend card I went through my stash of DSP-designer series paper, and found two sheets with a watercolor look that worked well together:
I am using the Krazy Kreations Snow Friends Sticker Bundle. Everything you see is from that bundle, even the stars on the dividing strip in the middle. I made some kits with a strip of 11 stars and some kits with 10 stars and two red jewels.
Recipe
- Base: Coastal Cabana, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2, score at 4 1/4
- Layer 1 (X2): Basic Black, 5 1/4 X 4
- Layer 2 at the top: DSP with snowflakes, 2 1/8 X 3 7/8
- Layer 2 at the bottom: DSP watercolor look, 3 X 3 7/8
- Inside top layer: 5 1/8 X 3 7/8
- Fine Glitter Paper: 3 X 3 for stickers, 3 7/8 X 3/8 for the strip separating the two DSPs on front
Alcohol Markers Used:
- Dk Real Red for the bird, the hat and the inside of the heart star
- Lt Balmy Blue for the outline on the bear with the color lifter for blending
- Dk Basic Black for the edging
Thank you for stopping by today to see a new way of creating greeting cards!
SAL, Sharing A Love of Learning
Karen
Riddle of the day:
Question: “What four-letter word can be written forward, backward, or upside down and can still be read from left to right?”
Answer: “NOON”
Card In A Box
Sometimes ‘Thinking of You’ just isn’t quite enough so then you might want a special card like a card in a box.
Not again! Those are stamps you had in the Bake Sale!
Yes, Sal. Sigh….
The box looks cluttered in the picture but in actuality there is a double Z fold piece you add to the box to give you different sections. Let’s look at the box from the bottom. The blue dashes show the inserted piece. I recommend tear and tape on the sides that attach. I used tape runner and it isn’t as good. I used strips of window sheet to attach the images to the sections.
The box still folds to fit in an A2 envelope. The back has one long piece which is good for writing your own personal message.
These are so fun to make! I made a dinosaur one HERE.
This is a printable pdf of the directions with lots of pictures: Box Card
This picture shows the sections a little better.
Bye for now!
SAL, Let’s be Salt and Light to someone today
Karen
Riddle of the day:
Question: You go at red, but stop at green. What am I?
Answer: Watermelon. You eat the red part, and you stop eating at the green part.
Colorful Colorado Birthday Cards
We were at Steamboat Lake for a week and watched as the colors were changing! It was glorious! The first picture is Pearl lake, another beautiful lake north of Steamboat Springs. The picture captured the various colors and the reflection in the lake.
You must have had your daughter’s fancy camera!
No, Sal, just an iphone on a beautiful day!
Right before we left for camping I purchased a Colorado Stamp and die set ‘Colorful Colorado’ made by Memory Box and another Colorado stamp set, ‘Greetings from Colorado’ at Simple Pleasures in Colorado Springs. It is a design by Ann Corbiere-Scott. The store is a stamp and scrapbook store with an entire section of the store dedicated to products for each state. They market many of the major stamp and die companies’ products and have an amazing stock of scrapbook and card making paper.
ooohhhh, time for a field trip. Let’s see the card you made with what you bought!
Give yourself lots of time when you go to this store!
For the card, I had fun doing sunsets using sponging in different colors. Paul liked this sunset best which used Orchid Oasis for the blue.
My favorite was this sunset with the darker Pacific Point ink for the blue. I tried Marina Mist for ink sponging as well but it wasn’t much different than Pacific Point. Let’s take a vote…… which do you like best?
This is a picture of a Colorado sunset taken at Ridgway State Park in June. I talked Paul into taking us out on the boat to sit in the middle of the lake and watch the sunset.
The following picture is of columbines at Yankee Boy Basin outside of Ouray, Colorado.
I think you got the color of the columbine perfect. What did you use?
I used Copic marker BV00 which is close to Orchid Oasis.
Can you see the Kissing Camels (Garden of the Gods) in this stamp collage of Colorado?
The stamp set came with the die to cut out the the aspen frame, the mountain and the pinecones. The columbine was in the other set and was fussy cut. The pine bough came from the Poinsetta Petals Stampin’ Up! set with Poinsettia dies.
The hug greeting is the Limited Edition Stampin’ Up! stamp set and the Designer Series Paper (DSP) is birch paper from years ago in Stampin’ Up!
The die does not need to be cut apart. If the die is left intact, all the leaf and pinecone shapes will be cut out when you die cut the frame but you can easily stamp them afterwards. I stamped the leaves in Memento Black and the pinecones in Chocolate Chip.
One pointer for anyone who has this set – the set is photopolymer and the large aspen frame can stretch and not be perfect for the die which cuts it out.
I can guess how you found that out!
True, Sal, and to remedy this situation I used my Stamparatus and mounted the aspen stamp on the plate and then placed the die on the stamp to check that nothing was stretched out of the shape of the die, adjusting the stamp where necessary. This could work with any dies you have that have thin images to cut that might not stamp correctly if the stamp is stretched.
The other cool thing I found with the aspen frame is by stamping the frame on the piece of basic white that I was going to sponge and then popping up the die cut frame on top of the stamped image with white foam adhesive strips (don’t use dimensionals), I achieved a 3D effect for the tree.
I can see that in the right side on the first picture.
Recipe
- Base: Very Vanilla, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 scored at 4 1/4
- Layer: Birch Bark DSP, 5 1/4 X 4
- Inside Bottom Strip: Birch Bark DSP, 1 X 4
- Background Layer: Basic White, 5 X 3 3/4; stamp the frame in Chocolate Chip, then fussy cut around the outer edges of frame.
- Sponge the sunset in Pacific Point, then Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, and ending with Calypso Coral.
- The mountain will be die cut when you cut the aspen frame, then ink the mountain stamp with Memento Black, wipe off the black ring around the sun with a wet wipe (or finger), or mask the black ring before you stamp. Fussy cut the tiny white around the mountains that the die will leave, then color the mountains with Copics B24, or BV00, and the sun in Y06 or Daffodil Delight. Mount directly to your background.
- Stamp the ‘Hugs from’ and ‘Colorful Colorado’ in Versa Mark, then heat emboss with white embossing powder – note – be sure the blue of your sunset comes down far enough to give a good background for Colorful Colorado or it will get lost in the yellows.
- Aspen Frame: Basic White, 5 X 3 3/4, Stamp in Chocolate Chip, die cut and then use a marker to color any white on the edges so you can achieve a 3D look with the background layer.
- Leaves: Stamp your cut out images in Memento Black and color with YG17 for green and Y13 for the tips. Note the placement on the pictures.
- Pine Bough: Stamp in Garden Green using the Poinsetta Petals stamp set and die cut with the Poinsettia Die. Cut the image apart to layer the small bough under the large bough. Top with a little pine cone stamped in Chocolate Chip.
- Columbine: Stamp image in Memento Black and color outside with BV00, or Orchid Oasis, and heat emboss the middle with Crushed Curry embossing powder. Pop up with a dimensional over the largest part of the mountain.
The ‘Greetings from Colorado’ set has a fun stamp for the back of your card that says ‘handmade in Colorado’.
May we see a picture of these stamp sets since they are so unique?
Of course, Sal!
Click on Little Sal in the computer to go to the Simple Pleasures stamp shop. They are happy to ship. Tell them I sent you!
SAL, Share A Love
Karen
For my copic marker users and myself to remember what I used.
‘
Best Friends’ Birthday Cards
There are little daffodils poking up through the ground; poor things got covered with 4″ of new snow yesterday.
From a distance the bare branches of the bushes with clumps of snow look like we are growing cotton!
Now Sal, this is just springtime in the Rockies! In another week we will be out getting flower beds ready for planting.
Today, I would like to show you a couple fun birthday cards and alert you to new postings in the ‘Bake Sale’ tab with many of the items I am purging.
You can’t call them ‘new’ postings when there haven’t been any postings of sale items for eons.
True! Folks, there are postings in the Bake Sale of items I am selling. Better, Sal?
Back to the birthday cards! The first is a slimline card for Paul’s birthday with a stamp set from Whimsy called “Best Friends”.
Recipe
- Base: Thick Basic White, 8 3/8 X 6 3/4 scored at 3 3/8; (Note: 8 1/2 X 7 scored at 3 1/2 is the standard slimline but I wanted a 1/16″ reveal of the base)
- Border (X2): Early Espresso, 8 1/4 X 3 1/4
- Top Layer: Designer Series Paper, 8 X 3
- Inside Top Layers:
- Designer Series Paper, 4 X 3
- Basic White, 4 X 3
- Blue Cut Outs: Pacific Point, 8 1/2 X 3 1/4, Die Cut 2 large and three small shapes with Stampin’ Up! Diorama Dies then emboss with Stampin’ Up! 3D Cane Weave embossing folder
- Outside Greeting: Rectangle Stitched Framelit in Early Espresso 2 3/4 X 1 1/2, with Basic White Top Layer, 1 X 2 3/8
- Inside Greeting: Rectangle Stitched Framelit in Early Espresso, 3/4 X 2 7/8 with Basic White Top of 1/2 X 2 1/2
- Images: Basic White, 4 1/4 X 5 1/2, stamp in Memento Black, Color with Copic Markers
- YG03-straw; C3-milk & egg outlines using 0 to lighten and blend; B000-Cup
- Y13-butter; C5-legs & arms; V15-Jelly; R00-Tongue; E33-PBtr & Bacon
- E31-Toast top & cookie; E18-Toast crust & Chocolate chips; E15-Syrup
- B24-Together coloring after stamping in memento ink
- Happy Birthday – Stampin’ Up Hey Chick stamp set, all other greetings are from Whimsy Best Friends set
- Embelishments – 5 swarovski crystals
The characters and hearts on the front are popped up, the other pieces are adhered directly to the paper.
Here are individual pictures for the sake of looking closely at the coloring – I am new to these Copics and will need to refresh my memory frequently until I get used to numbers- plus, they are just cute to look at separately.
If you stamped me in black, could you color me with Copics?
We’ll try someday! For now I have another birthday card to show and this time I used some foiling. I have a special friend’s husband who has the most adventurous stories imaginable and he was a pilot so I put the two together to make his birthday card. It is a ‘never ending card’. We made this card at club for Valentine’s Day in 2016. Here is a hint – to effectively use the blog, go to the recipe box and find the thumbnail picture of the card you remembered making and click on the picture and you will go to that posting so you can make another card like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF-FGBX_Cis
.
Don’t let the picture fool you- this is a standard A2 card! Fold the top flap up and the bottom flap down and voila:
I stamped the plane from Stampin’ Up!’s retired ‘Sky Is The Limit’ stamp set onto Shrinky Dink Paper, colored the back side, cut it out, and then cooked it to make a cute little card size 3D plane!
I stamped the clouds and then decided they needed to be a little 3D also so I added our puff paint. It stuck to the top of the paper so that wasn’t the best idea but it gives the cloud a little blue dimension. Now let’s fold the card again:
Then once more up with the top and down with the bottom so we go to the back for a greeting:
The foiled paper is from a retired Stampin’ Up! designer series paper and the gold ADVENTURE was a card front sent with my new Minc machine that we ran through the machine with gold foil. Paul figured out how to get all the large letters on the front flaps by cutting and gluing each one separately. I’ve ordered more foils so stay tuned for fun cards with foil embellishments.
Never Ending Card Recipe Basics (watch the video for construction)
- Base: Basic White, 4 1/4 X 11
- Cut in half for two 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 bases
- Score one of the half pieces at 1 3/8″ on 4 1/4 top & bottom then cut that piece in half at 2 1/8,
- Score the other half piece on the 5 1/2 side at 1 1/16″ at top and 1 1/16″ at bottom, then cut in half at 2 3/4″
- Add two pieces of sticky tape right up to the score line on the two 4 1/4″ pieces
- Now the two pieces you cut in the first step that are 2 1/8″ X 5 1/2″ will go on top of the 4 1/4 X 2 3/4 pieces
- first adhere each piece to the bottom corner of the piece that has the sticky strip, laying your 4 1/4″ in line with the edge and bottom. The two pieces should meet in the middle
- then slide the top piece of the 2 3/4 X 4 1/4 piece in alignment with the bottom that now has the two pieces attached and then press the top onto the sticky strips
If you get all the pieces cut and scored with the sticky strip added, then it would be best to watch the video (at point 2:43) for how to lay the first two strips on top of the second two strips.
What the video doesn’t show is decorating the many sections and their dimensions so I will list those here. Note: If you like the design to exactly match, multiply the sections by 2 and then cut in half to match designs.
- Front Middle (X2): Blue foil DSP, 2 X 2 5/8
- Front Sides (X4): Blue Glimmer Paper, 7/8, X 2 5/8
- First Fold Middle (X2): Blue Sky DSP, 2 X 2 5/8
- First Fold Top & Bottom Sides (X 4): 7/8 X 1.1/4
- Second Fold Middle (X2): DSP, 2 X 2 5/8
- Second Fold Sides (X4): DSP, 7/8 X 1.1/4
- Back Middle (X2): DSP, 2 5/8″ X 2″
- Back Top and Bottom (X4): DSP, 1 1/4″ X 2″
And your next fold will bring you to the front again! Have fun. It should be marketed as a stress relief tool as you play with folding it back and forth! My first Never Ending Card (also called a Perpetual Card) was a Valentine card and I started with colored card stock bases so I could just add embellishments whilly nilly! You can click on the blue to see that card.
http://stampalosopher.com/?p=787
You had to make an extra base so you could give instructions so why not make another?!
Well, Sal, I do need a birthday card! Let’s do it!
For this card:
- Basic White Base
- Purple Ombre Glimmer Paper
- How Sweet It Is Designer Series Paper
- “This Calls For Confetti”, So Sentimental stamp set with oval punch
- “Happy Birthday”, Birthday Chick Dies
- “Hope Your Day is…..” Postcard Pals with Tailored Tag punch
- “Hugs, Prayers, Love” Positive Thoughts with Peek A Hoot Dies Rectangle
- “Let’s Celebrate You” Birthday Chick Stamp Set
- Streamers, Birthday Chick Stamp Set
- Balloons with double balloon punch
- Vellum tiny envelope with punch and butterflies with retired butterfly thinlet
- Gorgeous Grape Ink
That could be your graduation cards, too!
A valid possibility!
I taught the Shrinky Dink technique several years ago in a technique club.
Are we able to go somewhere on your blog to see all your technique sheets?
That is a great idea, Sal! I will work on doing that, right after I get the products I am selling on the ‘Bake Sale’ tab. I could at least create a new tab and add this Shrinky Dink technique sheet. I need a short name to fit the tab so ‘technique’ is out – any suggestions?
Well, you have a ‘Recipe Box’ and a ‘Bake Sale’ so how about ‘Cookbook’?
Great idea, Sal! Consider it done!
The first of many products have been added to the Recipe Box!
Toodoloo friends! I hope you have found a pinch of creativity today to spice up your crafting world!
Karen
Bee With Heart
Let’s take a trip to a fantasy land where bees are pink! I used a digital stamp by Connie Fong called Bee With Heart! I saw this cute pink bee on a card by Gloria Shirr and just “had to have whatever stamp it was”. You all know that feeling! Little did I know it would lead me to a new world– digital stamping!
After printing the digital images on Basic White cardstock, I cut them out with a Stampin’ Up! ‘Deckled Rectangles Die’ and adhered to a layer of retired pink marble designer series paper. For the inside greeting I used Stampin’ Up!’s ‘Prized Peony’ stamp set. By duplicating the images and printing landscape I could print four fronts to a sheet of 8 1/2 X 11. The digital stamp set has a boy bee and a girl bee with two greetings and a flower. Here is the second greeting on a card for my mother.
The inside greeting is a stamp Lucille gave me before she moved far far away to New Jersey. Miss you, friend! The clear heart and pink pearls are retired Stampin’ Up! embellishments.
Well, Sal, we learned to do mirror images with regular stamps using the stamparatus and a silicon sheet, but with a digital stamp it is just a click of a button!
Recipe
- Base: Basic White 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 scored at 4 1/4
- Border Layer: Designer Series Paper (DSP), 5 3/8 X 4 1/8
- Top Layer: Basic White 5 1/2 X 4 1/4 cut with Second Largest Deckled Rectangle Die
- Inside Strip: DSP, 1/2 X 5 3/8
- Embellishments: 3 pink pearls for outside, 4 clear dots for middle of flowers and 1 clear heart on inside
- Copic Markers
- RV10 and RV23 for the bee’s body and heart
- RV09 for the Nose and Inside of the flowers
- R00 and a tiny touch of RV10 for the wings and then a coat of Wink Of Stella
I hope you enjoyed a trip to fantasy land!
Here I am adding a sympathy card made with one of the digital images from Connie Fong Art but this time in more traditional colors:
- Copic Markers
- R27 for the heart, flowers and tiny touch on nose
- Y13 Inside flower
- C9 Black on Bee
- YR12 Yellow on Bee
- E000 Face
- R00 and a tiny touch of RV10 for the wings and then a coat of Wink Of Stella
- Deckled Rectangle Dies are used to create the frame with a piece cut out of the middle of the front used to borde the back
- Inside Greeting: Kindness & Compassion stamp set, love how it ties to the digital greeting on the front.
By combining digital with the dies and stamps I have in my stash I have a new realm of card making!
SAL, Sending A Lot of Love
Karen
Cherished Friend Valentine
Our stamping group met together on the traditional second Tuesday of the month and it just happened to be Valentine’s Day this year! I pulled out my ‘hearts’ collection and created a heart of hearts Valentine similar to a card made by Mary Herdt only monochromatic red and white with different embossing folders, a different background for the hearts and hearts instead of flowers for bling. I will note the products I used in the recipe.
. Let me guess…. you forgot to take a picture of the inside before you wrote in them?!
Yes, and handwriting is not my forte.
Recipe
- Base: Thick Basic White, 4 1/4 X 11, scored at 5 1/2
- Stamp the lace look 1 1/2 down from the top and 1 1/2 up from the bottom with retired Delicate Details stamp (note: I used the Stamparatus so I could stamp twice for a darker image)
- Stamp ‘Cherished Friend’ with greeting from Lovely You stamp set
- Inside Layer: Basic White, 4 X 5 1/4, stamped with Real Red using 2 stamps from the retired Valentine Love
- Sparkly Background: Red Glitter Paper, 2 1/2 (minus a hair so 2 7/16) X 4 1/4 (minus a hair so 4 3/16)
- It is a good idea to cut your background paper just slightly smaller than the top layer
- Top Layer: Basic White, 2 1/2 X 4 1/4, die cut with Blooming Happiness Die
- after rolling out the little cuts, push the little leaves up from the backside for more texture
- Three Smallest Hearts: Basic White, 2 1/4 X 2 1/4, Cut and embossed using the retired Embosslits Fashionable Hearts
- Large Hearts (X2): Basic White, 2 X 2, punch with the retired heart punch which measures 1 3/4 across at the top
- Emboss one with the Ornate Flower 3D embossing folder
- Emboss the other with the Dainty Diamonds 3D embossing folder
- Bling it up!
- Two red Glossy Dots
- Two connected hearts die cut from the Many Hearts Die (from the long die of hearts cut just the two connected hearts fussy cutting the two away from the other hearts
I bet they can use any of their heart’s stash of stamps and dies to make a similar card!
Yes, Sal, and any embossing folder could be used!
Thank you for sharing a bit of your precious time today as Sal and I strive to bring a pinch of creativity to your crafting world!
Sal, Send A bit of Love
Karen
The hostess code is C3XMWVCS; click on Sal to order; Current products are in orange
Case The Creator #8, Spanner Card Fancy Fold
Let’s get fancy today and make a Spanner Card!
The top has a strip of window sheet attached to the two sides which were cut from the main card base. You lift the front to reveal a middle panel:
Then lift the middle panel to see the greeting:
Here is the printable pdf file and if you open it you can click on the Youtube from Sharon Lim to see a video…
Case The Creator #8 printable pdf file with video link
…. and if you would prefer to just look at the directions here, this is a screen print of the pdf (so the link will not work):
I used the scrumptious Rustic Harvest DSP (designer series paper) on a Cajun Craze base with a Basic Black mat. The Sending Dies and the Sending Smiles stamp set are a great addition to anyone’s stash. I did cut two additional 1 1/4 X 1 1/4 Basic Black squares to put over top of the back sides of the window sheet so the glue dots wouldn’t show. I die cut a little pumpkin and a branch of leaves from the Seasonal Swirls Dies. The greeting is from Blessings of Home stamp set.
The greeting doesn’t look like what is in the stamp set?!
No, Sal, I masked off the ‘hello’ in ‘A CARD TO SAY HELLO’ and added three little dots with a marker. The greeting dies were longer than I wanted and I didn’t want to cover up the beautiful DSP so I masked, then stamped, then die cut half of the greeting, removed the die and then placed the die on the other end of the greeting to die cut a shorter length. The embossed edges kept the die in place.
Oh, yes! But practice makes perfect so its best to challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zone so we get comfortable using our dies in various ways. It is nice to know we don’t need dies and punches in every size!
Let’s look at what my crafty friends came up with for challenge #8!
Ann used the Peaceful Deer Stamp Set and Deer Builder Punch:
Lucille’s card has a fall feel to it with a die cut bouquet from Penned Flowers dies.
Jo used the Delicate Edges Dies! Her flower is from the Color & Contour stamp set with the Scalloped Contours dies.
You are so lucky to have such talented crafters playing along with your CTC challenges!
Blessed, Sal, blessed!
Thank you crafty friends for joining the challenge and sending pictures of your creations. Thank you, dear followers, for spending some of your day with me!
SAL, Sending A Lot of samples to spice up your crafting world!
Karen
Triple Time Stamping
Have you ever tried ‘Triple Time Stamping’? It gives a fun look and is not hard to accomplish. You have three sizes of Basic White temporarily adhered together on which you stamp your images and then you pull them apart and add the borders. Easy peasy!
Color and Contour Triple Time Stamping Card (A)
If you love a water color look, you will love this stamp set. You actually have one stamp for the outline and one stamp for the coloring. The stamps for coloring do not color in the flowers perfectly, use a Blender Pen or Water Painter if you prefer a perfectly colored flower with a water color look or use a marker in the same color.
I love those little dots you added!
They are part of the set, Sal, take a look-see:
The Scalloped Contour Dies go with the set. Where you see the stamps with a pinkish color, that is showing a die that cuts that stamp. This die set is a must for your stash!
Best Butterflies Triple Time Stamping Card (B)
Design your own whimsical butterfly with the Best Butterflies stamp set! There’s big wings, small wings, big bodies, small bodies, big words, small words and triangles or dots for added interest! I used Fresh Freesia and Calypso Coral with Granny Apple Green on this card with a Fresh Freesia base. Those little flowers are Fun Flowers Resin Shapes.
For the butterfly card I found it best to use the Stamparatus to stamp the images; with the added layers it is a bit hard to get the images to stamp completely so you need to stamp a second or third time. However, remember there is a border that will cover 1/8 inch of the image so don’t fret too much about those incomplete edges right next to a layer where the mat will be.
For the Best Butterflies card, use one plate for the butterfly bodies- stamp this first then mask, a second plate for the calypso coral wings and a third plate (or the back of your plate) for the fresh freesia wings. It makes a workshop go quickly to have them all aligned on different plates for perfect stamping. I had several butterfly body masks already fussy cut with our new Masking Paper to lay over the bodies before stamping the wings. Post it notes work pretty well if you don’t have the masking paper, just stamp the image on the post it note and fussy cut.
For the Color and Contour card, I mounted the stamps on acrylic blocks to give the stampers opportunity to stamp and color only what they wanted. I had an Evening Evergreen marker available so if the image wasn’t stamped clear to the edge we could use the marker to complete it, if we saw it was necessary after adding the border mats. I also had a Highland Heather marker so those who didn’t like the watercolor look could color in their flowers.
Secondly, start with stamping your greeting on the center layer, then stamp the images around the greeting.
Recipe for Triple Time Stamping Layers
- Base: A – Highland Heather; B- Fresh Freesia; 11 X 4 1/4, scored at 5 1/2
- Mats: same cardstock as bases
- 3 1/4 X 4 1/2
- 2 1/4 X 3 1/2
- Artwork Layers: Basic White, Temporarily adhere together with temp glue or use just a bit of snail and then use your fingers to rub the snail so the oil in your fingers makes the glue less sticky
- 2 X 3 1/4
- 3 X 4 1/4
- 4 X 5 1/4
- Inside Layer: Basic White, 4 X 5 1/4
- Ink: A- Evening Evergreen, Highland Heather, Crushed Curry; B- Fresh Freesia, Calypso Coral and Granny Apple Green with the greeting in Tuxedo Black.
- Embellishments: A- Evening Evergreen Open Weave Ribbon, Brass Butterfly; B- Fun Flowers Resin Shapes
The recipe sounds pretty easy!
The beauty, Sal, is all in the stamping and adding the borders!
For the Color and Contour card I used a Happy Birthday greeting from the Shaded Summer Stamp Set.
For the inside of the Best Butterflies card, I used a fussy cut butterfly from the Butterfly Kisses Designer Series Paper.
Click on little Sal in the computer to go to the online store.
SAL, Sharing A Love of stamping
Karen
Hues of Happiness Easel Card
Stampin’ Up!’s Hues of Happiness designer series paper (DSP) is beyond gorgeous. I made this bouquet easel card with one of the less used pieces of DSP that I thought was extra pretty with its yellow and black centers.
I started my fussy cutting focusing on those three little flowers on the right that I wanted to hang over the pot. The fresh freesia flower you see on the left was a separate fussy cut that I added so that a flower wasn’t hanging over too far on the pot where I wanted a couple leaves (fussy cut). The card itself is a tri-layer fold that I saw Jan B. make at janbcards.com. She was casing a lovely card from a Japanese demonstrator and translating the directions from Japanese to English. What a challenge! Thank you, Jan. From there I changed up the dsp, the embossing folder and altered the cuts a bit to come up with this Hues of Happiness Easel Card.
The bottom flap folds out to give you a great place for a message!
Remember- don’t toss those edge pieces of your DSP! You can add them to the inside like in the picture above!
I started a bouquet card with cutting out the flowers in the Hues of Happiness DSP with the Blossoming Happiness Dies but it just lacked something and then I realized the piece of DSP I thought was much too busy was actually perfect. However, I did save the cutouts and used them on the back of the bouquet:
I think its the yellow in the DSP that made you prefer it over the other.
Maybe so, Sal, it definitely is eye appealing with yellow centers and little yellow flowers and added greenery which always enhances flowers. What a great job the Stampin’ Up! artists did in designing this paper!
Recipe
- Top Base 1: Bermuda Bay Cardstock, 4 1/4 X 11, scored at 5 1/2 and 2 3/4
- Bottom Base 2: Bermuda Bay Cardstock, 4 1/4 X 10 3/4, scored at 5 3/8;
- adhere to base 1 with the fold of base 2 aligned to the inside bottom edge of base 1. The length of base 2 is 1/4″ smaller to allow for the fold of base 1. The top of base 1 flips up and the bottom base 2 flips down. I didn’t get a picture but here is one from JanB’s blog post. I am using 1/8″ borders so my layers won’t look like hers
- Middle Layers for Base 2, (X2), Basic White, 4 X 5 1/8;
- one is for the inside of base 2, the other is for the outside of base 2 when it is folded in
- DSP for Card Base 2: Hues of Happiness DSP, 3 3/4 X 4 7/8, this is for the outside of base 2 when it is folded in
- Folded Layers of Base 1 (X2): Basic White, 4 X 2 1/2
- DSP Layer for the folded layers (X2): DSP, 3 3/4 X 2 1/4; make an effort to use the same color of DSP flowers on the right and left as you have on the Base 2 DSP that folds in so it has a continuous look
- Flower Pot Base: Basic White, 3 1/4 X 2 3/4
- pencil mark the top of the base 1/2″ in on the right and left sides
- pencil mark the bottom of the base 1″ in on the right and left sides
- cut from the bottom to the top mark on both sides
- Flower Pot Rim: Basic White, 3/4 X 4 1/4
- die cut both the base and rim with the Stitched Greenery Die
- Circle Stabilizer for flowers: Window Sheet, die cut with the 2nd largest of the plain layering circles
- Attach the window sheet circle between the base and rim of the pot making sure the top won’t go over the base of the card when closed. This also gives you a guide for mounting your flowers.
- Lay the pot on base 1, 1/8″ above the easel fold and pencil mark the pot on the base, then cut the base cardstock to match the pot. I tried to use the trimmer and found fussy cutting would have been better
- Adhere the pot to the base with a foam strip (you can see this in the picture of the back)
- The bottom of the pot should line up with the basic white layer (I had to trim mine a bit)
- Bouquet: Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper cut to about 4″ X 3 1/2″ with added fussy cut greenery and flowers to make it fuller if necessary. I wanted those three little flowers on the bottom so I started there and used regular scotch tape to glue the extra pieces I wanted to fill it in with edge flowers and greenery
- Attach to the window sheet with glue dots
- cut additional flowers for the back with the Blossoming Happiness Dies or use the same sheet of DSP if you aren’t making numerous cards and have enough or don’t have the dies
- Sentiment Layer: Bermuda Bay Cardstock, 4 X 3/4, attach with a 1/2 X 3 3/4 foam strip 2 3/4″ from bottom
- Sentiment Top Greeting: Basic White, 3 3/4 X 1/2, stamp with greeting from Pansy Patch Stamp Set
- Bow: Scrap of Bermuda Bay cut with the Pierced Blooms Die (retired)
- Embellishment: In Color Rhinestone for center of the bow and a dragonfly punched from retired DSP
What!? You didn’t use the brass butterflies?
Not this time, Sal. I must be over-using them for you to say that!
This card and a triple time stamping card were for my July Stamp Camp.
And a lunch with something zucchini or green beans, right?
Hopefully all the zucchini will be shredded and frozen by then, and the green beans are already frozen. The cherry tomatoes are the best this year! So sweet, but I digress….
Well, it is not a ‘card buffet’ where you pick out which card to make from several kits, and it is not a ‘stamp-a-stack’ where you make several cards of each design, and it is not a ‘technique class’ which I have held before, and it is not a ‘club’ or ‘coffee and a card’, so I guess the closest title would be a ‘stamp camp’, just not an all day event. Does anyone have a better name I could use?
Click on little Sal in the computer to go to the online store.
SAL, Be Salt And Light out there folks, it’s a crazy world these days
Karen