Sunday Snippets - A Valentine card from me

I decided to get cracking and make a Valentine card for Len - I still have to make the one 'from Dudley Dog to Len' though, I know - crazy as ever:

I used:

- 5.25" x 4.25" black card blank, side opening (the card blank is .25" less in height than a true USA A2 card to accomodate the final size of the hearts panel BTW!)

- a snippet of white linen card for the background to trim once the next few steps had been done

- a piece of the same black card stock as the card blank - I do chop up matching bought cards to match the main card where necessary - even black comes in goodness knows how many shades!

- I used an unbranded die (I know, glutton for punishment) to die cut one edge of the black piece of card - the die cuts beautifully. hooray! The die is from Amazon called 'Hearts Border'  - happy to send the link to anyone as I'm as sure as I can be that it's not a copy

- then I could trim the top and bottom edges of the hearts edged piece of black card and ensure it balanced with the dimensions of the main card blank by trimming the left side down to suit 

- I could also trim the white layer to leave a border - so in effect I worked backwards a bit and had to also trim approx. .25" from the top of the black card blank. I ended up with a card size that's balanced to suit the top layer of hearts - it's a trick I often use

- next, glued the white layer onto the card blank then added the black die cut layer

- for the patterned hearts I used snippets from Altenews 'Black and White' paper pack and a glue pen

- then dug out a snippet of Tonic pearlescent 'Red Velvet' card and die cut the little 'With Love' sentiment twice, using a dear little die from a Die'sire set of dies called 'TeaTime Sentiments' and layered them 

- used a SU mini punch to punch out a few hearts from another snippet of the 'Red Velvet' card before having a play around for positioning and then gluing them and the sentiment in place - finished!

The leftover snippets were so tiny, just little scraps and were whisked into the bin as I was working in 'secret' and Len was around. I swept a soft brush over the card after the photo was taken to remove those tiny specks of white - blow me, they're actually in the card stock itself and with the naked eye are practically invisible! Always makes me smile that the camera will pick up what you don't even know is there and yet it stubbornly witll ignore very obvious spakle and shine much of the time!  

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 71 - HERE The 'Hearts Border' die was having a first outing

Allsorts Challenge #816 - HERE The theme is Romance and/or Music. Nice one ladies!

Dudley Pupdate: Last Sunday morning we watched something extra on TV before getting out of bed. Right at the end of the programme, suddenly a pair of front paws appeared beside me practically tapping on the bed with impatience. I looked straight down at Dudley, he literally locked eyes with me and then very deliberately looked over at the digital clock on a unit at the other end of our bedroom! Len saw it as it happened as well, so I'm not losing the plot here! Basically, time was creeping beyond his after breakfast treat time and he was dropping a not too subtle hint! Or was it coincidence? Watch this space. 

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #498 are now published HERE.  

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - numbers are looking good and we might end up with queues for the trampoline that has mysteriously appeared!

Also, Challenge #500 starts next Sunday  and there is a mandatory 'Celebration' theme to comply with if you wish to enter the 'picks and/or the prize draw'. Sarn says there WILL be cocktails. Mine's a Mojito please!

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx