Love Without the Frills

I'm still on the quest to create Valentine's Day cards for my son's Army unit -- with a goal of 75 cards, I've still got a bit to do to get these in the mail by the end of the week so they have time to mail them back to their sweeties.

So these have to be quick, clean and fairly easy. No bling, glitter, ribbons or anything too fussy.... the military isn't too fond of lumpy envelopes. I used this stamp from Designs Unlimited to create several cards using this image.  Even with a bit of copics coloring, they were fast to make and I love this no-fuss, tailored look. Here's just one version.

Clean, simple, elegant... that's my take at least.

I'm entering this in these challenges...

PIO - Anything Goes

AIFactory - Anything Goes

SSDS - Anything Goes

Pixie Cottage - Fave coloring method

Craft Your Days Away - Anything Goes

Simply Create - Use punches

2 Sisters - Flowers

Fairy-tale Challenge - Flowers

Copic Creations - Something New + Use Copics

Secret Crafter Saturday - With Love

Wags 'n Whiskers - With Love

Southern Girls - Totally Loved Up

Sassy Studio Design - Something old from your stash (stamp and sentiment)

Lexis Creations - Say it with Love

Bunny Zoe - Love is in the Air

Scrap Creations - Love is in the Air

Patties Creations - Anything Goes

Phindy's Place - Valentines or For a loved one

Stamp Something - Anything Goes (w/Stamps)

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends! Have a fantastic day.. I'll see you again tomorrow.

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!

A Masculine Valentine

I often hear most card-makers have a difficult time stocking up on masculine-type greeting cards.. I know I do.  There's just not a whole lot out there!

I didn't want to give my DH a valentine card that even came close to frilly. Using a bright and cheerful designer paper as my inspiration, I created this card and a matching envelope. The card size is 5.5 x 5.5" and the envelope is just slightly larger to accompany the bow and the heart that's popped up. Once I had a layout in mind, and selected coordinating papers that matched the colors in the DP, it was very simple to put together... and no coloring involved!

Even with a heart and a bow, it's not feminine looking because of the very untraditional colors I chose. The quail in the designer paper was perfect inside the heart.

Thanks for stopping by today.... I hope you have had a terrific day and a great weekend lined up with time for crafting. 'Til next time we visit, be safe in all you do.

Some Things from our Girl's Night Out

Okay... so maybe it's really "Girl's Night In"... 'cause we were all within the confines of the Wired Angel's Craft Grotto and it was REALLY cold outside. We might have to rename our craft nights!!

I've got a few things to show you today.  A friend wrote and asked if I would show the set of monogrammed cards that we did at our December Girls' Night Out... she loved them so much and wanted to show her Aunt. So here's a quick shot of what the set of six cards looked like once they were finished... (p.s... she needs to make a set of these for her Aunt.. don't you think?)

And here's another version of the entire boxed gift...

It makes a lovely gift... and it's quite easy-peasy. You can see my original post here.

At our January Girl's Night Out this was one of the items we made. It's a 5.5" square card with a hand-made designer paper envelope to match the card. We used some copics to color the heart wreath.. and the ladies just LOVED this project!!! It was a perfect Valentine's card for someone special.

I'll have more tomorrow to show you .....in the meantime, happy crafting.

And, until then, be safe in all you do!