Valentine's Day Cards

Quick, take my temperature! I did the unthinkable (for me) and made some cards. Not just one, but three! I think all those card making videos on You Tube has been getting to me. Even now, I have split screens on my laptop, watching Nichol Magouirk videos while I'm typing.

Valentine's day is just around the corner and it's a perfect occasion for me to do some cards and some colouring as well.

Valentine's Card 1

For this card, I used kraft paper as the base. I then cut out a heart on my pink polka dot paper, layered on a piece of acetate and framed the front of the heart with another die cut red heart. I added a foam tape "dam" to the back surrounding the heart and added beads and sequins to make a shaker card.

 The pair of elephants are too adorable and small enough for me to colour. I don't have the coordinating dies so had to cut them out by hand. Well worth it I think as they are just too cute. This card will be for Miss C.

Products Used

Kraft cardstock and red cardstock

Pink polkadot paper from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two Blush 6"x6" paper pad
Nesting Heart dies from Sizzix

Stamps by Lawn Fawn Love You Tons

Elephants coloured with Spectrum Noir markers

Mini sequins and microbeads from stash

Valentine's Day Card 2

 The second card will be for the Mister. I chose some masculine colours and patterns, die cutting the heart three times with three different papers and inlaid the negative space with the dark brown pattern and red card stock.

I distress inked the beige pattern card and laid it on a red matt card. I also added some clear Wink of Stella on the red roses. The words were die cut from another stamp/die set.

Products Used

White and red cardstock

Patterned papers from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two Blush 6"x6" paper pad

Lace Heart Sizzlits die from Sizzix

Words stamped and cut from Hello Sizzix Framelits 

Frayed Burlap distress ink by Tim Holtz for Ranger Inks
Clear Wink of Stella

Valentine's Day Card 3

 This is my favourite of the three. Haven't found a Valentine's for this card yet - might keep it for myself. The typewriter is too cute. I stamped and coloured that and the envelopes before cutting them out. I then stamped the typewriter paper with the LOVE.

For the pink background paper, I chose one with a tight pink pattern and stamped the pink circle all over the paper (which I then promptly stuck on upside down - sigh). I added two strips of brown patterned papers on the base before sticking on the typewriter, envelopes and a few sequins and hearts.

Products Used

White and pink cardstock

Patterned papers from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two Blush 6"x6" paper pad

Stamps and die set from Pink Paislee Pen Pals collection

Red enamel hears from Doodlebug Design

Typewriter and envelopes coloured with Spectrum Noir markers

Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick and Frayed Burlap by Tim Holtz for Ranger Inks

Hope you liked my cards and I would love to see some of yours too.

Thanks for dropping by and Happy Valentine's Day.

I Heart U Card Tutorial and Free SVG Download

Hello there,

Only a day left to Valentine's Day and I'm running out of time to come out with a project, so here's an quick and easy one for you.  I've seen so many cute projects online, big and small, made in preparation for the day of love. We're not huge celebrators, but I will make a special meal and pop out the chocolates.

I can't remember where I got this card inspiration, but I had it in the back of my mind for ages, so I got out my eClips and quickly did up this card. I've also left an SVG for you at the bottom to download the same file, so you can churn out a card in no time flat.

I Heart U Card

Tutorial

Load the svg onto your digital die cutting mat. From edge to edge, the cut area measure 5.5" x 5.5", so I aligned the top left corner (the A) 0.5" inwards from zero on both axis. Place a 6" x 6" piece of white cardstock on your real cutting mat and press cut.

Once cut out, it should look like this. I then cut a 0.25" strip off each edge, so there would be gutter on all sides when I stuck it down on my card.

I stuck down black cardstock on the back of the cut image, leaving just the I, heart and U.

From the front, it would look like this.

Take a piece of red cardstock (or paint a white piece red which I did). Smear an even coat of glossy accents onto the surface. Cover evenly with red glitter, pressing it in firmly and let dry.

Once the red glitter paper is dry, cut it into small pieces to cover up the I, heart and U and stick down. At this point, you can also put some foam dots down.

Looking good already.

I wanted my base card to be white, but I also wanted a red border to contrast, so I cut out a 6" x 6" piece of red cardstock to cover the entire front of my card.

Center your cut out on the card front and stick down. Voila! All done, in less than 20 minutes. Pardon the mess in the background.

Press on the above image to get the SVG download for this file.

Hope you had fun with this simple little card and have a very happy Valentine's Day.

See you soon,

Love is in the Air

Hi All,

It's been a busy few days with a cake order straight off the plane from LA. This was for a good friend of mine, whose little girl wanted a Madagascar themed cake. The party was for over 70 people (adults and kids combined), so you can imagine how big the cake had to be.  The cake itself was chocolate vegan cake with non-dairy chocolate buttercream, covered in fondant decorations. The animals were all made from gumpaste.

 The cake measured over 14 inches across and 12 inches tall! It was one HEAVY cake.

Scrapbooking-wise, I've been busy finishing several layouts; three HKMC February kit club samples (I'll be posting them at the end of this month), and two Valentine's layouts. It's so great to be scrapbooking after several weeks without it (less the workshops I did in LA, that is).

The first one makes use of My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 3 Ruby Collection.  Such a pretty collection with pinks and reds. Perfect for the lover's holiday. The layout is based on the January sketch challenge from My Creative Sketches.

The MCS January Sketch

Be Mine

Beautiful papers; some embossed, some glittered. Love the reds, greys and pinks here. The hearts are my favourite thing on the layout.

I cut different papers into small rectangles and distressed the edges before layering them like the sketch. For the red hearts, I laid double sided tape on one side (with the backing paper still over the top), then ran it through my Big Shot with a Sizzix Framelits heart die in several sizes. I then peeled off the paper and sprinkled on red microbeads and really pushed them into the sticky tape. Some did come off, but it mostly held fast. The butterfly is a sticker that I removed the sticky from and added pink bling.

I wrapped three layers of trim around the grey polkadot patterned paper for more texture. The hexagon embossed paper is my favourite. Also love the enamel dots - they give such dimension.

Products Used

Patterned papers, stickers, trim, name plate and enamel dots from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 Ruby Collection (available at HKMC right now)

Red cardstock from Bazzill Papers

Chipboard letters from Dear Lizzy American Crafts

Rouge microbeads from Pop! American Crafts

Doilies sourced locally

For the second layout, I wanted to do an ultra flowery, romantic page and used most of the November limited edition kit from My Creative Scrapbooks. I didn't put any hearts on this layout, but the amount of flowers and the psalm that is printed on the papers (from 1 Corinthians 13, which was read at our wedding), very much indicates "love". The photo was taken in Japan last spring, when the flowers and trees were in full bloom.

My True Love

One of the more flowery paper collections that I've used, the roses are ideal for fussy cutting. I also cut a frame out of the top paper and backed it with a pink wordings paper.

Look at the little angel sitting on the edge of the flowers. I smeared some gesso on the flowers to mute the pink down a little and add to the faded look. I then spread a thin layer of glitter glue over the butterflies. After the whole layout was done, I covered the photo with some scrap paper and sprayed the whole layout with iridescent Glimmer Mist.

The chipboard flourish was covered with diamond glaze before sprinkling on a light gold glitter.  I also cut up a Prima crystal border to stick around the photograph and then dotted some glitter glue around the edges of the frame and photo.

Products Used

Patterned papers (Tea-Thyme collection), flowers, crystal border, resin angel and brown title letters from Prima Marketing

Chipboard flourish from Dusty Attic

Diecuts and label stickers from Colorbok

White gesso from Golden

Gold "Cream Soda" glitter Pixee Stix by Pink Paislee

Platinum glitter glue from Stickles by Ranger Inks

Iridescent Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels

After these layouts, I think it's time to do something mix media-ish, so I'm going to be breaking out the paints, gels and gessos. Watch this space for more.

Thanks for dropping by,

Happy Valentines Day

Done just the day before St. Valentine's Day, I wanted to finally use the Sizzix flower 3D die that had been sitting on my shelf for the last two months. I had played with it before but just couldn't get the flowers right. This time, after a lot of fiddling about and banging on the table, I came out with several misshapen flowers that I stuck to the layout. In the end, I think it doesn't matter that they aren't perfect, flowers in nature aren't perfect either. That's what makes them unique and beautiful. And you know what? Now I know how to do them, they are so easy. Don't know what I was complaining about at all.

A tone on tone layout on a plain background can speak volumes.

Draw and cut out a desired shape, like this heart, and use it as a mask before spritzing your paper with some glimmer mist. After it is dry, add some stitching to accentuate the heart shape.

Cover plain chipboard shapes or letters with your desired papers, trim around, sand and ink the edges to bring it together.

The "imperfectly perfect" 3D flowers.

Products Used

Papers from Making Memories Love Struck Collection 2010

Cardstock from Bazzill Basics

Chipboard, hearts and transparencies from Making Memories

Die from Sizzix 3D flowers

Crackle Accents, Distress Inks and Stickles glue from Ranger

Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels Candy Apple Red 

Here's a little extra off the Valentine's day project. This was based on an online tutorial by the man himself, Tim Holtz. 

Products Used

Grungeboard, embossing folder, cherish tag all from Tim Holtz range

Cherub, chipboard and papers from Making Memories

Ribbons and crochet flowers sourced locally