Clean and Simple Valentines

I've been putting together Valentine's Day cards to mail to my son's Army unit so they have special cards to mail to their loveys! And, this is just one of the styles I've created. I'll have more to share with you throughout the next few weeks.

Although they are all hand-colored, I kept the design very simple for mailing purposes. I'm entering this in these challenges today...

These Penny Black Hedgehogs are always so cute.

Aly's Sunday Challenge - Anything Goes

Catch The Bug - Embossing

CES - Creatures great and small

Craft Your Days Away - Anything Goes

Marks Finest Papers/Speedy's Friends - Embossing Folder

PaperTake Weekly- Anything Goes
Secret Crafter - Texture
Simple Doodles - Embossing
Southern Girls - Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown - Embossing

See you manana, friends! 'Til then, have a great day.. stay warm and be safe.

The Colors of Easter

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you are having a terrific day with a bit of time for crafting.

I've been checking out several challenges this week and had to jump in with both feet. There's so much Spring and Easter inspiration right now at so many blogs. So I had to pull out this image from Penny Black as it begged for soft pastel colors.

I'm entering this in several challenges...

Charisma Cardz - Spring theme
Colour Create Challenge - Pastel colors with an extra option of Spring or Easter
Trimmies Craft Challenge - Easter theme
Cute Card Thursday - Add dimensions and layers
Crafty Creations Challenges - Babies
Penny Black Friends - Butterflies & bees
The Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge - Pink, green and flowers
Sweet Stop Sketches - Sketch
Scrap Pile - 3 designer (scrap) papers
Sew Many Challenges - Punches
Daring Card Makers - Egg-citing
No Time To Stamp - Easter
Fussy and Fancy Challenge - Easter

Wow.. that was fun.. that's got to be my all-time record!  Think about checking out some of these challenges... there's so much great stuff to see. Thanks for stopping by today. 'Til next time, be safe in all you do.

 

Details: Penny Black stamp (title unknown), Neenah Solar White cardstock, SU pink and yellow cardstock, various DP's from my stash, Nesties butterfly die, MS fence punch, QuikKutz grass die, SU border punch, Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils, white gel pen, miniatures from my collection.

A Valentine and Quick Tutorial

Happy Sunday everyone... well it's not Sunday just yet, but by the time I finish typing up this post it will be.

So... a bit of our typical business regarding obscure holidays... Sunday, February 7th is "Wave All Your Fingers At Your Neighbor Day". Hey folks.. the emphasis is on ALL your fingers.. not just some select ones. And, it's also "Send a Card To A Friend Day"... now that's much more palatable.

After leaving the dentist's office last week my car kept pulling right and I found myself at my local Archiver's. So what's a girl to do? I had to go inside and make sure everyone was working hard and supplies were in place, countertops clean and tidy.. well, you get the picture. While visiting, I found this stamp. I know what you are thinking... 'she still buys stamps??' Well, every now and then I just can't resist some cute little creation and this one qualified. I really prefer digis though because the possibilities are endless. Besides, why cut a few trees down for wood blocks! Save them for our cardstock and designer paper, right?

This hedgehog is a Penny Black image and I love coloring these little critters. They have smile impact...they are guaranteed to bring an instant smile to the recipient. This has a definite orange cast in this photo, but it's truly a perfect Valentine red.

I wanted to use a rectangle nestability on this image so I could have an embossed edge... but one was way too small and narrow.. and another much too large. So here's what I did to get my way compromise. This is so easy, even a caveman can do it.

I lined up my image so the top was where I wanted it in the Nesties.

And ran it through my Big Shot

Then, keeping the edges within the brass frame, moved the image down to cut off and emboss the bottom edge...

to get this...

And here's a comparison of my final piece and the Nesties that I used to trim it down.

Try this... just remember to line up and fit your cardstock within the Nestie frame when you are ready to run it through the Big Shot the second time.

This card was made with the following challenges in mind.

Lucy's Card Challenge - Polka Dots
Corrosive Challenge - It's All About Love
Papertake Weekly - Love Actually
Die Cut Dreams - Red, Black and Love
Stamp Something - Love
Crazy 4 Challenges - Be My Valentine

Until next time.. enjoy your day... happy crafting and be safe in all you do! Don't forget to wave ALL your fingers at your neighbor!