Valentine's Day card for Len

I made this card last week, whilst my mind was whirling around over Dudley and his 'grooming experience'. It did help to have something relaxing to focus on - and using new toys is also such fun:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" card blank, side opening, made using Neenah 'Desert Storm' card stock

- then die cut a panel of Neenah 'Desert Storm' using a NBUS Lil' Inkers 'Perfect Palette Heart' die

- used the same die to die cut more hearts from the 'Desert Storm' card and also from white card

- glued the die cut panel onto the card front - then it was time to play

- first of all I stacked up 'Desert Storm' hearts, three high, to insert into some of the apertures - making sure the top layer was a stitched edge one

- glued those four stitched edge layered hearts in place on the card front

- then made up five dear little white hearts by using just two stamps from the NBUS matching Lil' Inkers set of stamps called 'Heartthrob' by first stamping the solid colours (blue, plum and red) and then the scribble stamp using Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

- glued the now stamped white hearts in place onto the card front

- I had a band of empty hearts apertures across the upper part of the card so I in-filled those with plain 'Desert Storm' hearts to level the card front off

- die cut the word 'Love' using Impression Obsession's 'Love' die from a couple of snippets of SU's 'Real Red' card, glued on on top of the other and then glued the word to a strip of Desert Storm card before using it to cover the width of the front panel

- at this point I could have stopped but felt something was missing - so I die cut another two little red hearts using the 'Love' word die (I already had two one from the fall-out waste) and popped one on each of the four 'Desert Storm' coloured stitched hearts - at the same angle as the heart cut-out in the 'Love' sentiment

The die and stamps are lovely together - loads of ways to use them and plenty of little sentiments in the set of stamps as well.

It's very clever how the overlapping 'make a heart' stamps themselves work, and there are a good few patterns in the set to choose from - but to be truthful it's also a bit tricky to get them totally placed where you want them onto the die cut little heart shapes. I used small clear plastic stamping blocks, having unsuccessfully tried to work out if I could use the Misti.

Sorry to see Lil'Inkers go, as I've said recently. I could only get hold of one set of stamps otherwise this would have made a nice Playground prize to go with a matching die like I used. Oooer, sorry I dangled that one - folk in the USA might have less of a problem finding the last Lil' Inkers stock than we do over here.
 

Valentine's card for Len - take 2

When I finished making the latest snippets challenge card (the die cut/inlaid heart that took almost a whole day), I did mention in the blog post that I'd had another idea for a Valentin's Day card for Len.

Trouble is, I can't decide between the two options so he might just get both cards!

This latest one is so personalised that I think it will tickle his sense of fun:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- snippet of black card as the outer 'frame'

- snippet of red card with sparkly white hearts on - the date alongside the manufacturer's details is 2001! Surely not, but also quite possible knowing me!

- one hint when you have patterned paper like this, trim the paper so that the pattern is evenly spaced on all four sides and then trim the frame (black in this case) to suit - and even trim the card stock itself if need be. It makes for a more balanced result

- used a couple of snippets of white card to stamp the sentiment and image - plus the 'Love you Watts and Watts' - using stamps from the SU 'Watts of Occasions', the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- then die cut the image plus sentiment and the 'Watts and Watts' using dies from the Lil'inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set of dies

- added some light and darker yellow to the bulb and the heart shaped filament, using Pro markers - and also tickled the filament heart with clear Wink of Stella

- mounted them onto slightly larger snippets of black card

- assembled the black and red and glittery white hearts layers onto the card blank, using Collall All Purpose glue

- added the two image/sentiment rectangles using thin sticky pads - remembering to add double layers of sticky pad to where the small rectangle wouldn't sit directly on the larger one. This makes it much more level

- final touch, added a shiny red Josy Rose heart shaped nail head to the right of the smaller sentiment - I'd deliberately die cut it so that there would be space left

The light here was very odd when I took this photo - the light bulb is pale and darker yellow, yet the pale area looks peachy. And the white card blank seems to have a bit of a peachy yellow cast to it on one side. The side where the natural light is strongest as well - how very peculiar.

And the reason I think Len might be quite tickled with this card? His surname is Watts :) The set has quite a few different light bulb designs and also sentiments built around the 'watts theme'. I can see him having a few more cards over the coming year from yours truly, made using that stamp set - so I should get my money's worth! All too often a stamp set is used as little as once here, and that's not good value or sensible is it!? in fact, it's downright wasteful and I ought to be ashamed!

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #319

I've gone with the majority of you and from now on the fortnightly challenges will be numbered as challenges rather than two-week numbering. To be honest it was confusing me here when I did the in between weekly post in the fortnightly challenge! Two numbers was harder to handle somehow. So, challenges will still run on a fortnightly basis - and we can still celebrate special milestones I'm sure.

My snippets card for this fortnight was made with Len in mind - although I've since come up with a different idea! That's what happens when you make cards too long in advance, as well as Mr Mojo having made a return visit or three!

I spotted the die I used on this card over at the Seven Hills Craft blog and thought it was perfect for either Valentine's Day, Anniversaries or 'just because'. It looks such a simple card but Dumbo here decided that it would be even better to inlay the words - hey, ho, kept me busy for almost an entire day:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style

- a snippet of red glitter paper from an XCut 'Darks' pack of Adhesive Glitter sheets - which I adhered onto a snippet of card stock (I used SU 'Smoky Slate' but it doesn't matter as it was just to lift the die cut words so they would be flush with the main grey panel once I'd finished)

- then I die cut the red glitter words using the Lil'Inkers 'Love You More Than Words' die and set them to one side. As Lynne in NI picked up, I always pop little pieces into a plastic lid when I'm working to stop them from escaping. Mine just so happens to be a clear lid from one of those small double layer boxes of Ferrero Rocher choccies (my very favourite - yummy)

-  next I worked out the size I wanted a SU 'Smoky Slate' (aka grey!) panel to be and trimmed it to size - another snippet gone

- while I was using the trimmer I cut a narrow snippet strip of the XCut red Glitter paper across the middle (and positioned it on the card front so that just a little strip would peep from underneath the top and bottom of the Smoky Slate panel (this is a real cost saver when using precious card or paper for backing purposes. Saves on making a full square or rectangular mat and still gives a pop of contrast (in this case I could have used the centre of a square of the glitter card of course to cut the die and then used the outside 'frame for matting

- die cut the words again from the grey card and removed the die cut very carefully from the die itself as I wanted to use a lot of pieces to fill in between the red glitter words. Most of the teeny grey pieces that are in the centre of total loops stayed in place in the die cut thankfully 

- at this point I really began to doubt my sanity at even thinking of inlaying such a fiddly die but I'd started so was determined to finish

- took the grey panel and added a smaller piece of medium sticky  sheet to the back then set to adding the red glitter die cut words into the apertures - that part was quite good fun 

- then it was time to add all the teeny little grey infill pieces, which took ages! The easiest way is to position the grey die cut bit by bit on top of the red glitter one and gently poke out the tiny infills. You then feel them lock down into place

- then ran the (by now) grey and red glitter panel through the Cuttlebug using embossing plates and an unopened embossing folder (for thickness) just to make sure everything was firmly pressed down

- final step, at last, was to adhere the grey panel on top of the two red glitter strips. I wasn't totally sure about what would happen if glue didn't hold the top and bottom firmly or even worse squeezed out onto the red glitter layer

- I could have taken the time to experiment with some tiny scraps from the waste bin but that possibility of 'glue ooze' was still bugging me so I tried another of my little tricks - which worked like a charm!

- I flipped the grey panel face down on the desk, and left the adhesive sheet backing behind the die cuts in place as that stuff is so unforgiving if you get things wrong when placing layers together - hence my love of wet glue or Stick-It sheets

- then I ran a strip of red line tape across the top and the bottom of the panel, leaving the protective red plastic in place

- next filled in the rest of the back of the panel with Collall All Purpose Glue before flipping it back over and carefully positioning it, centred between those red strips

- then straight away I gently lifted corners at one side of the top and bottom of the grey panel, slipped my very pointed tweezers in and peeled away the red line tape covering so that the sticky could adhere to the red glitter paper. Perfect!

I do often use a similar trick with red line tape so it wasn't a totally idea to be honest, more of a way to avoid any messy glue ooze. Normally that can be removed with a glue eraser or even the sand eraser but I just wasn't sure how it would work on glitter - plus it's stuck there like a limpet now with no chance of peeling back!

To be honest, I made a rod for my own back by inlaying the die cut - even though the results were so worthwhile. I could have just stuck the die cut straight onto the grey panel by cutting the heart shaped words straight from the adhesive glitter paper without even backing them with card as well as eliminating all that fussy poking out of teensy little pieces. The glitter paper holds its shape really well even when die cut finely - unlike the way that peel offs tend to distort. Also, and this may have been a trigger for me doing an inlay - the die cuts in two pieces. If you look closely you'll spot that the words 'you than' come out separately to the rest, But, on hindsight I don't think that's enough of an issue to make me spend such a long time messing around inlaying this particular die cut in future :)

So, here's this week's Snippets Playground prize:

It's a Lil'Inkers 'Love You More Than Words' die and also a pack of 10 sheets of that luscious XCut Self Adhesive glitter paper - both the same as I used for my card of course. The glitter papers are red, lime green, cerise, purple and a beautiful peacock blue - and totally non-shedding as well.

There is a caveat on the prize, which will apply from now on. Both items form the one prize and I won't be splitting future prizes unless I decide that it's really got to be an option, which is extremely unlikely. These babies go together - of course, if you win you can always pass what you might not want onto a friend once the package arrives with you. So you play for the complete prize and I post off just one package to the winner. It also means I only need to keep one list of prize players with no options of course - keeping this as slick as possible girls!

As always, the Snippets Challenge will run for two weeks and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 17th February. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

It's a maximum of ONE entry and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Remember, if you link into the Playground and don't say clearly that you're wanting to be in the draw then you will be bypassed if your name comes out of Mr Linky. I'm sure you all know I ask for a positive 'yes' - just in case you're playing only for fun. Thanks!

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Be sure to call back next week to see a really lovely Guest Designer, my picks of last fortnight's entries and also the winner of the MFT 'Sushi Date' set of stamps.

Love from Parsnip and of course from me,

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'Roses are Red'

Time for another Cuttlebug Mania Challenge and the theme this time is 'Roses are Red'.

Your theme can actually be anything, just so long as there's lots of red as the main focus. Details of our sponsor/the prize to be won can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

I cheated somewhat with my DT card as it was already made for a challenge (two in fact) that I couldn't enter. I know there's a lot of white on the card but the main and only colour focus (the heart) is red.

This is what I made:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card blank, tent style

- smaller layer of white card stock, embossed using the Couture Creations embossing folder called 'Bon Jour'

- then I stamped the heart using SU's 'Real Red' ink onto the centre panel - masking off the top and bottom of the panel first. The heart stamp is a much loved one by Penny Black called 'Love is the message'

- then I die cut the word LOVE out of the stamped panel using a die by Impression Obsession called 'Love' (making sure I saved the two little cutouts - a small heart and the centre of the letter 'e'), and also cut the word again from white fun foam

- backed the LOVE aperture in the card panel with double sided adhesive sheet and then popped the fun foam LOVE word in place along with the little cutouts I'd saved

- glued the saved die cut LOVE word from the card centre panel on top of the fun foam

- glued the panel to the card front and called it done

This was a bit of a tricky card to make so you can imagine my horror when I realised that it didn't qualify for the two challenges I wanted to use it in :( First was Darnell's NBUS Challenge #9 where I'd even complied with the options of CASE'ing a card as well as using the camouflage technique for the word LOVE. Ha, what I had totally forgotten was to use something NBUS - the basis of all Darnell's challenges!!

Then, I realised it wasn't fair to enter the card into the current Penny Black Challenge of 'Anything Goes' as the card is such a direct CASE from cards made by both Darnell and Chrissie!

So, I put the card to one side in the hope that it would be useful for a future post or perhaps Cuttlebug Mania DT work. Yay, happy dance when the theme for this fortnight was chosen!

Hope you find time to join in - not long until Valentine's Day. I've kept this card hidden from my in-house critic as it's most likely going to be given to him on 14th February :)

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - I {Heart} You}

Time for the new challenge over at Cuttlebug Mania, and the theme is 'I {Heart} You - have a heart on your creation'.

You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

Details of our sponsor this fortnight are over on the challenge - with a nice prize to be won. 

It's  certainly a great theme and hopefully your 'love, hearts and mushy stuff' goodies are all still to hand. This is my DT card:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank

- snippets of darker blue card to form a double 'frame' 

- a snippet of baby blue pearlescent card, embossed using the Xcut 'Hearts and Kisses' embossing folder, trimmed to size and then layered up with the two darker pieces of card mentioned above. LOVE this folder!

- after a lot of juggling around I measured and then cut a diagonal strip out of the layered card, placed it on the card front and lightly penciled along the diagonally cut lines as a guide to the stamping - then set the pieces to one side

- phew, perfect fit when I stamped the 'Love' sentiment using SU's 'Real Red ink. The sentiment is a pre-loved one made by SU, from a set of four called 'Wonderful Words', probably long discontinued

- rubbed out the light pencil lines and then added the embossed panels to the card front

- making the big heart was fun - not! The first attempt was a total failure and I had to think outside the box when I redid it. First of all I die cut a plain white heart from a snippet using the Memory Box 'Cupid Heart' die and put that to one side - so far so good

- after the failed first attempt I'd had a rethink about how to make the big heart made up of little hearts as I wanted it to sit on top of the card with a little border and not be inlaid

- covered a snippet of blue card with Stick-It adhesive sheet and then die cut the heart shaped cluster of hearts using the Memory Box die called 'Heart of Hearts' for the second time. It comes without a frame and that's where I had problems with the first attempt - it's almost impossible to line up the 'Cupid Heart' evenly in order to die cut a nice narrow border around the little die cuts. That's made me realise that the die is not actually meant to be used as a frame - unless you truly want a trip to the Funny Farm! Cluck, baa, moo!

- then came a light bulb moment! I took the solid die (which has a thin perspex inside the outer metal shape so you can see exactly where it's positioned), gently taped it in place over the little hearts and lightly pencilled round the outside before then hand cutting it to form a border - yay!

- peeled off the Stick-It backing and poked out what seemed like hundreds of little hearts then stuck it onto the white heart shape I'd die cut earlier

- from a little snippet of red card I die cut a handful of little hearts, again using the 'Heart of Hearts' die, and then added just a couple into the main heart shape before sticking it onto the card using thin sticky pads

By then I was exhausted and the place was littered with tiny little sticky backed hearts! A few lessons learned there! Luckily I'd already invested in the die a good while ago to use with another MB heart die (Serafina) so at least it's fine with that, plus it's good as a backing for the card I made today and also the butterflies heart shapes - just don't expect borders without needing a session on a couch under a bright light!

Those little leftover hearts? Mrs A would be proud of me - they're already sticky backed but I intend to attempt to sandwich two at a time together to add to shaker card confetti.

Why not join in with the challenge? Surely it can't be any harder than the angst I had with my card - the theme is fine, it was what I tried to do with it! We'd love to see you over at Cuttlebug Mania!

Di
x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 214

Well, that's January almost 'over and done with' already - looks like this year will fly past! And this last week we had spot on 100 entries - thank you all so, so much! I knew it had been standing room only during a lot of the week but truly thought we'd stalled at 99 as the clock ticked towards 11am (I was sitting here writing this post) and then in hopped Hazel - yay!  

My snippets card this week was pretty quick and easy to make - once I decided on the design:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- snippets of SU 'Real Red' and black card stock for the backing 'frames'

- a snippet of white card stock, embossed using SU's 'Happy Heart' embossing folder and trimmed to size

- all the backing layers were then glued in place using Collall All Purpose glue

- next I die cut the sparkly heart from a piece of Xcut red adhesive glitter sheet using the Creative Expressions 'Expressions - Love' die set

- stuck the die cut onto a snippet of white card and then trimmed it right down - much easier to do it that way than try and position the die cut centrally on a ready trimmed snippet

- added a backing layer of black card stock from a snippet then stuck the 'topper' in place on the card front using thin sticky fixers

I really loved making this heart - firstly because the die set is so versatile. You can use it as I did with the 'word part' die taped inside the outer border die. You could die cut just the word 'love' without a border into a card front. Or you could use the plain heart die on it's own to cut plain hearts or heart shaped apertures - the World is your whelk oyster.

And the glitter sheet was a total delight to use! These are new to me (spotted something about them in a craft magazine when I was doing the 'grand cull' recently) and the red sheet I used came from the 'Dark' pack of 10 A5 sheets in five colours (red, lime, pink, purple and turquoise). There's minimal 'glitter shed', it die cuts perfectly, the backing which covered the self adhesive is sort of plasticised which makes removing it a doddle and it sticks really well onto card. Top marks to Xcut!

Onto the weekly picks now - and the usual hard time here whittling the picks down to just a handful:

Jane J made this wonderful 'Moment' layout after a fabulous visit for lunch to The Shard in London. Her blog post is fascinating to read, with tons of great photos both of the day/ amazing views as well as the steps Jane went through to make her 'Moment'. I just had to include it as there is so much detail about the day included - and that eye also keeps drawing me in!

Love this really clever card and great use of snippets, made by Jane W. I think this would make such a great get well card - or just to cheer someone up, as Jane suggests.

How cute is this card then? Made by Lynn H and I so love the sweet little racoon :) And such a clever touch with the hearts border - minus the red heart that the little 'bandit' is clasping so firmly - aw :) It's often those little details that totally make a card for me.

Love these little gift boxes, made by Carol L! They're a great way to use up little snippets and I know a few of us have been exclaiming over that wonderful 'heart cut out' paper. It's comes like that - and I've had a good search in the UK for it without any luck. Happily Mr Postie brought me some happy post from Carol the other day so I have a little supply to play with :)

The detail on this card, made by Jackie T, is absolutely fabulous. Lots of layers and snippets used and I just think it's exquisite! Jackie has a lot of information in her blog post about how she made it too.

Let's finish the week's picks with another Valentine's Day card - made by Laurie. Again, lots of snippets used and such a sweet design - brilliant sentiment too!

I'm typing this whilst waiting for a grocery delivery so am cutting the picks short this week. As always, I could keep adding more and more - wonderful work girls, even if you aren't a weekly pick!

We have two new playmates this week:

Such a cute (and pink, yay!) card, brought to share by Cara @ Crafting Bunnies. 

And I encouraged Heather to come and play after spotting her adorable stamped and paper pieced tags. So cute!

Welcome to the Playground girls! We do hope you'll come back to play with us again.

Now let's do the prize draw for last week - the Inkadinkado set of clear stamps, called 'Flower Garden', very generously donated by Mary Anne and the Taylored Expressions 'Twirls and Swirls' embossing folder. Our winner is:

Karen (Ladd)

Well done Karen! Karen joins in regularly and this is her first win in just over six months, someone's gonna be doing a happy dance I hope! I have your address Karen and will post your prize as soon as possible.

This next week's prize is very much connected to my snippets card. It's a three part prize this time - you can choose some or all of it - although it is being offered as one complete prize, if that's what you'd like and your number is drawn by Mr Random:

Yup, it's a Creative Expressions heart/love die set, a pack of that fabulous Xcut adhesive glitter paper (dark) and also an Xcut 'Hearts and Kisses' embossing folder. I'm hoping this prize (or parts thereof) will reach the winner(s) in time to be put to use for Valentine's Day - at least with luck and a following wind, should have done this prize a week ago really. Hindsight sure is 20/20 vision!

A slight difference though - the folder I used today isn't exactly the same (mine is a Stampin' Up one purely made up of hearts) but I suddenly thought just the other day, after making my snippets card, what a nice complete prize it would be if I offered the die set, a pack of glitter paper and embossing folder. Of course, Dumbo had left it too late to order the SU folder but I came across the Xcut one instead. And I like it - a lot :)

The Snippets Challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 6th February. The gates will open again at midnight UK time on the same day.

Maximum of three entries and please say in a comment if you wish to play and be a possible winner of the prize. If you only want to play for either the heart die set, the glittered papers or the embossing folder (or for two of the three items) then just say so in a comment - if your number comes up then I'll do a further draw for the remaining part of the prize. But, all three items are up as one complete prize if you so wish of course. Please also link back to the Playground in your blog post to be eligible for the draw.

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, it's easy for me to sort out so don't struggle on alone :)

Enjoy your week - whatever you have planned! So far I think my most exciting outing will be for a blood test - but, given some of the Spring-like days we've been having, I'm hoping for something more exciting than that to turn up!

Di and, of course, Parsnip! 
x

Love you just the way you are

Whilst Len was out at archery the other morning, I whipped up a very quick Valentine's Day card for him. Thankfully he doesn't check my blog :)

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- snippet of SU 'Real Red' card stock and a snippet of black card stock for the 'frames'

- stamped the heart using SU 'Real Red' and the sentiment using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' - both stamps came from SU's 'Sprinkled Expressions' set

- it looked a little stark so I stamped a couple of splatters using Memento 'Gray Flannel' and a stamp from SU's 'Gorgeous Grunge' set

- then I almost wrecked the thing - bearing in mind I was working to limited time as Len was almost due home! I punched all four corners using a Woodware fancy corner punch - and totally mis-punched the top left corner! Bit of swift thinking and I grabbed the corner rounder scissors and rounded that corner and the bottom right one

Shame it's not as I'd planned, but the scissors did save the day I suppose.

Di
x

A card for 'Mister Len'

This is my second entry into Mrs. A's new Butterfly Challenge. Have you been across to play there yet? If not, then why not? This fortnight's theme is to use one or more butterflies and flowers on whatever you make - we're being eased in gently I suspect :)

It's a bit of a standing joke here about how much time Len lavishes on caring for the 'Playground' wildlife. The birds take up a lot of time (and money!) and of course Spike the hedgehog visits during the Summer. So it was only fitting that they should send their own Valentine's Day card to 'Mister Len' :)

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Embrace' sheet. I did recently buy this stamp 'pre-loved' but time to spend colouring wasn't around - so I used the Stickeroo

- plain orange and yellow card from the snippets folder

- the green spotty paper is by Raspberry Road from a pad called 'Summer Goodness - free with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine a good while back

- the border across the card was punched using Martha Stewart's 'Zigzag' edge punch and topped with a a snippet of orange ribbon

- the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, popped onto a punched oval

Ha, I bet he guesses I had a little paw in the making though, if he doesn't then I'll begin to worry! :)

Di
x

Hearts away for Valentine's Day'

First of all my dear blogging friends, please forgive me but my hopping around WOYWW had to be put on hold, we had to do a little casualty rescue mission and are still reeling a bit. Our lovely little neighbour took a turn for the worst and Len jumped into his trusty steed like a knight in shining armour and charged off to casualty whilst I sort of ran around the house here wondering what was going on.

Abi is home again but it's not the end of it and, to be honest, I managed to cook dinner and then fell asleep from sheer exhaustion :( I will hop round in slow time I promise! Please send positive thoughts for a lovely teenager going through a tough time right now.

Today I've promised to take a friend out to Reading for some retail therapy and don't want to let her down. Even though I feel I could truthfully sleep for a week - but the trip will probably be good for me : (

Anyhow, I had to rustle up a Valentine's Day card super fast yesterday for Len while he was out playing Robin Hood at archery - yesterday morning - last minute as always:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white card stock

- Penny Black stamp called 'Hearts away', another stamp I've had for ages and never used - shame on me, coloured with Pro Markers then die cut with a Nesties heart, layered onto a scalloped Nesties heart, die cut from black card

- black card from the snippets folder

- red card with white glittered hearts on, also from the snippets folder (I think it came from Hobbycraft ages ago)

- sentiment by Hero Arts, layered onto a SU punched scallop oval - using a little snippet of red Core'dinations card

- Josy Rose red heart nail heads

Phew, it was a rush in case he came home early - that'll teach me to leave things right to the end stop :(

And then yesterday evening after things had been tough, he even went and brought out the lovely bouquet he'd hidden for Valentine's Day to make me smile again - what a guy!!

I'm entering this card into the following challenge:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - where the theme is 'Love and Marriage'

Happy Valentine's Day Len - my knight in shining armour!!

Di
x

Valentine's Day card for someone special

As soon as I saw the Penny Black stamp I've used on this card I just HAD to have it!

 My OH has five guitars so you can see why this little hedgie image caught my eye. It's a Penny Black of course and called 'Hmm' which is very appropriate if you have a rose clenched between your teeth!

I coloured the hedgie image using Aquamarkers and then layered the die cut image (using square Nestie label set) onto some yummy sparkly heart design card with a heart shaped doily behind it, which was in turn layered onto a black A5 card with silver foiling round the edges.

As it's for a chap I didn't add flowers and ribbon for a change - just a couple of charms (one is a guitar of course!) and a Bazzil Basics Half The Edge strip in black which is topped off with a couple of glittered white heart shaped buttons. They took AGES to dry and I had to keep my craftroom door firmly closed - they were then threaded with with red and silver embroidery thread. I printed the sentiment and then die cut it...and in case you're wondering what the rest of it says, here's the insert .......rubbish photo though :)

Aaaah, doesn't Valentine's Day bring out the romantic in all of us!!

Di
x