Love Is In The Air!

I have been making Valentines like You.Would.Not.Believe!!  Since yesterday afternoon I have made 15 Valentines.  Are you making Valentines this year?  Time is running out.  There are only 9 days left.

Need some inspiration?  I found inspiration for lots of my cards on Pinterest.  However I did come up with my own design on some of the cards.  Here is one that I just got through making.  Isn't this adorable??

Supplies:  cardstock - Bazzill Basics

background stamp - Stampin' Up En Francais

balloon strings & sentiment - Lil' Inkers Balloon Builders stamp set

balloon die cuts - Lil' Inkers Balloon Dies

balloons - Bo Bunny and stash paper

 

I used to enter card challenges on a somewhat frequent basis but have gotten out of the habit over the last year or so.  But I plan on entering this card in both the Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge #169 and the Tombow Valentine's Day challenge.  Tombow is my "go to" for adhesive.  This is my fave adhesive for paper crafting.....

I plan on posting more of the Valentines that I made in a few days.  Quick!  Go get your Valentine craft on!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Earlier in the month I posted a photo of some Valentines that I had made.  As promised in that post, here are detailed photos of the cards.

 

 

sentiment says: Love You More (Stampin' Up)

 

sentiment says: hello sweet friend

Will You Be Mine?

Lookie what I've been working on yesterday and today......Valentines!

But wait!  Why are they partially hidden?  Because the recipient may be you and I want you to be surprised when you open your Valentine snail mail.  So.....will you be mine?  The first six people to comment on this blog or to leave me a Facebook comment will get one of these handmade Valentines.  (I'll email you if I need your mailing address.)

I'll show full photos of the Valentines in a future blog post.  

A Valentine for Judy

Last year about this time, a friend asked if I would stitch a valentine design for her.  Here is how the piece looked when I got through with the cross-stitch.

The designer of the pattern is Isobel Argante of The Primitive Hare.  (You really need to take a look at her blog to see the gorgeous patterns that she designs.)

Okay so I finished the stitching......now I had to finish it into a "postcard".  There was a lot of time involved in cross-stitching the piece and that made me a little nervous about the finishing process.  What if I messed up?  So I did what I usually do when it comes to finishing a project.....I procrastinated.  The cross-stitch was finished in October and just last week I finally got my nerve up to finish the project.  I prepared myself by reviewing a few websites dedicated to finishing techniques.  

My first step was to cut out the front and back of the stitched "postcard".  

Each of the pieces have a backstitched border.  The backsides of the above pieces were matched up with wrong sides facing each other.  I aligned the backstitches from the two pieces and connected them using a whip stitch.  Not sure what a whip stitch is?  I slipped my needle upward, under the backstitch on the bottom piece, then under the backstitch on the top piece....."whipping" them together.  After whip stitching two sides, I inserted a piece of mounting board covered with thin batting on each side of the mounting board.  Then I continued whip stitching around the two remaining sides.  

After all four sides had been whip stitched, the project was finally done!  I breathed a sign of relief.  

And yes, I do have photos of the finished Valentine Postcard.

Pattern:  Small Valentines by The Primitive Hare

Fabric:  30 count linen

Thread:  DMC 

Itty Bitty Card

Moxie Fab World is having several card challenges.  One is an itty bitty card challenge.  How big is an itty bitty card?  The rules say that it can not be bigger than 3" x 3".  So, here is my take on the itty bitty card for the Make an Itty Bitty Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

As you can see in the following picture, my card measures 2" x 2". 

And, here is the inside greeting............

Supplies used:

red cardstock - Bazzill Basics
gray/white stripe and gray lace (circle) - My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 - Ruby collection
red/white stripe (heart) - Bazzill Basics - Red Devil collection
Happy Valentine's Day stamp - Stampin' Up - Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set
Sending all my love stamp - stash

I even made an itty bitty envelope!!!!

Are you ready to get your "itty bitty" craft on?

Sending You My Love

The Christmas decorations have been put away and now our thoughts turn to hearts, hearts, hearts! 

A favorite verse of mine from Proverbs is "A merry HEART doeth good like a medicine...." (Prov. 17:22).  How true!  Why not surprise a friend who is hurting (physically or emotionally) by sending her a Valentine to show how much you care.  I don't know about you but when I open the mailbox and see an envelope with a friend's handwriting, I immediately smile.  Someone has taken the time to mail me a blessing in the form of a handwritten note and that makes my heart merry. 

I started working on Valentines this week.  Here is one that I made for the Valentine swap that Bazzill Paper is sponsoring.

Actually, I made 11 of them!  Ten will be mailed to Bazzill for the card swap and one goes in my card "stash"....hmmmm, wonder who I need to mail it to?

Supplies used: 
striped ribbon  - Stampin' Up
Love stamp - Stampin' Up, You Are Loved stamp set
Red card stock - Bazzill Paper
Patterned paper - Bazzill Paper, Red Devil Collection
white button - stash

I am also entering this card in the Word Art Wednesday Challenge #62 - Hearts/Anything Goes. 

Valentine's Day will be here in 5 short weeks so........go get your craft on!