Masculine Valentine

It's been ages since I have post to my blog. Even though I am continuing to stamp, I haven't had the opportunity to take photos and share my projects. I am hoping that will change and that I can at least post once a week.

Here is a card I created for our stamp group. I wanted to make a card that I could give to my husband and one that didn't have the traditional valentine colors. I wanted a clean simple look but decided to give it some dimension by recessing the heart a few layers down.

Valentine's day is my son's birthday so I will be working on a card for him. I just ordered some stamps that are to arrive today and I can't wait to use them.

Paper - basic black, whisper white, daffodil delight, coastal cabana, island indigo and smoky slate
Stamps - TAWS Good Point, TAWS Iconic, Alphabet
Accessories - black brads, circle dies

RMH Valentine Treat Bags

Here are some cute little treat bags I made for our local Ronald McDonald House for Valentine's Day. I CASEd this project from Carol at Happiness Blooms. Her bags are just darling and caught my attention right away. She has much more detail to her bags and her papers are just beautiful. This is such a versatile project she created and it works beautifully with cello bags. I used the Big Top Birthday DSP for my bags as well as a little Twitterpated. 

Stamps - (MDS) PS I Love You

Paper - Twitterpated, Big Top Birthday DSP, real red, whisper white, marina mist card stock

Accessories - Heart Punch, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, cellophane bags, Crop-A-Dile

Valentine Themed Stamp Club

Last night our stamp club met and we made items for Valentine's Day. Since I have all ladies in my group, I wanted to make a masculine Valentine Card. As you can see, these are not traditional Valentine colors but I did get a heart in there. This is another My Digitial Studio Hybrid. The upper right panel and sentiment were printed using MDS.

I have such a hard time choosing accessories for masculine cards and find that I use the same items over and over. What is your favorite masculine accessory? I would love to hear what you use  - so please leave me a comment.

Stamps - Sense of Time, French Foliage, My Digital Studio Stamps
Paper - Well Worn DSP, basic gray, early espresso, crumb cake, not quite nave card stock
Ink - early espresso, crumb cake, chocolate chip
Accessories - vintage brads, mini vintage tags, linen thread, dimensionals

Here are the other 2 quick Valentine Treat Projects We Created

Lollipop Flower
Stamps - Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink - Real Red
Paper - Soft Subtles, Bold Brights DSP, pear pizzaz ( on bottom of flower) whisper white card stock
Accessories - Flower Folds Die, Blossom Punch ( on bottom of flower to create "leaves")

Smarties Butterfly
Stamps - Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink - Real Red
Paper - Everyday Enchantment DSP, whisper white card stock
Accessories - Beautiful Butterflies die, Word Window Punch, Glue Dots

UstampwithDawnandFriends Big Shot Round Up - Valentine Decor

My project for UStampwithDawnandFriends is an early release so I can share it with you. This round of USWDAF is focusing on the Big Shot and all the wonderful things you can do with it.  I made a tabletop decoration for Valentine's Day featuring  the new Framelits Label Dies and Serif Essentials Alphabet. I will be posting another project during this series using the new Edgelits Dies and Adorning Accents Embossing Folders.

Join us for this special round of UstampWithDawnandFriends and treat yourself to 40+ projects using the Big Shot. Just click the blink below to join.

Stampin' Celebration #38 and Paper Players

For our stamping club tomorrow we will be making a card similar to this, but in very soft feminine colors. When I was putting the card together I started thinking about how it would look in bold colors and came up with this version. They also happen to be in inspiration colors for this week's Stampin' Celebration Challenge.   I am in a flowery mood these days so I created some more quilled rosettes and stamped some musical notes for a very romantic Valentine card. MMM - flowers, music, all we need is some wine and perhaps a bit of chocolate. Romance is the theme at the  Paper Players challenge this week so I thought this would be appropriate for that challenge as well.   I was in a hurry to complete this card before the Superbowl, so unfortunately, there is red glitter everywhere in my craft closet. Now I'm off to clean up the glittery mess:)

Stamps - Friends 24-7, Holiday Best(retired)
Ink - Basic Black Real red
Paper - whisper white, real red and basic black card stock
Accessoires - real red satin ribbon, scallop border punch, circle and scallop dies, Perfect Polka-dot embossing folder, real red glitter, glue dots

A Valentine for Him

This is a masculine Valentine that we will be making this weekend in my Valentine class. Since all my stampers are women I wanted to focus on a Valentine for their husband or boyfriend. We will also be making some cute and fun Valentines for the kids or other sweeties as well.

This is actually a layout from a Stampin' 411 challenge last year. I like the clean, simple look and just updated it with this year's papers and stamps. I also used a circle "window" and popped up the heart to give the card some depth and a little somethin' somethin'.

Paper - Love Letter (of course!), basic black, cherry cobbler and very vanilla card stock
Stamps - Artistic Etchings, Tiny Tags
Ink - basic black
Accessories - vintage brads, cherry cobbler seam binding, 1 3/4" circle punch, heart to heart punch, dimensionals, black floss

Stampin' Celebration with some Mojo

I have found a new challenge this week, Stampin' Celebration. The inspiration picture was so lush and yummy "chocolate and flowers" - a perfect theme for Valentine's Day. AND on Valentine's day a little bling doesn't hurt. I used the layout from this week's Mojo Monday challenge , which always has FABULOUS sketches, to create this chocolatey, flowery card. 

Stamps - Full of Life, Artistic Etchings

Ink - pink pirouette, chocolate chip

Paper - Botanical Gazette DSP, early espresso, pink pirouette, whisper white card stock

Accessories - Finial Press embossing folder, 1" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, rhinestone jewels, sticky strip, quilling tool, circle die, scallop die

Another Valentine - Best Bots Forever

Here is another Valentine that turned out a bot different than I intended ( that is not a spelling error). After creating the more sophisticated card from my previous post, I wanted to make something bright and fun. I just love this stamp set Best Bots Forever with the cute interchangeable robot parts.  I had imagined this card with softer colors, more modern and with only circles, but once I started working with my Color Coach, I decided to go with bolder colors. After I had stenciled the circles on , I wanted more dimension and to somehow incorporate the cogs into the card. This one I am happy with even though, again, it morphed into something a bit different than I imagined.

Stamps - Best Bots

Ink - basic black, tempting turquoise, pear pizzaz, peach parfait, real red, basic grey

Paper - whisper white, basic black, tempting turquoise, pear pizzaz, real red peach parfait card stock

Accessories - Cogs punch, heart to heart punch, real red glitter, 1 3/8" punch, 1 " punch, 3/4" punch, circle dies. blender pens, sponges, dimensionals

PPA Inspiration Challenge - Valentine

I have had the image of this emboss resist heart in my head for awhile. (funny how that happens with me) I was finally able to sit and stamp this morning and it was such a joy. Although not a traditional Valentine, I think this would work for a masculine recipient.

I used my Versamark pen to scribble around the stamped crown and the punched heart to create an irregular shape.  In order to keep a more masculine feel, I used the sueded technique for paper which has a very matte texture in lieu of a satin ribbon. And yes, I did stamp on the patterned paper. I wanted just a bit more texture to the card so I stamped the corners. Although it is not exactly what I had in mind, I think it turned out interesting.

Stamps - Tiny Tags, Baroque Motifs, Artistic Etchings
Ink - basic black, cherry cobbler
Paper - Love Note DSP (one of my favs), cherry cobbler, very vanilla, basic black card stock
Accessories - clear embossing powder, Versamark pen, heat tool, heart to heart punch, brayer, jewelry tag punch, dimensionals, sticky strip, black brad, black jewel

Masculine Valentine

Here's my take on a masculine Valentine card. I kept thinking about a heart tattoo and how to convey it to a card. Although not that rugged, the tattoo also needs a leather studded band to go with it.

Paper - Night and Day DSP (retired),  black, whisper white and real red card stock
Stamps - Yummy (retired)
Ink - black
Accessories - full heart punch,  daubers, jumbo eyelets, vintage brads, black Stampin' Write marker

Stamping 411 - PPA25 Again - An Accidental Design

Yesterday during my stamp class, I was showing my gals the new clear-mount stamps and I stamped the circle from the Vintage Labels stamp set on a piece of paper. A few minutes later a heart that I had punched landed in the circle and I thought. Hey! that looks nice together. So I had to create a card using the "accidental" design. I incorporated the 411 sketch shown to the right and the colors from PP25 to make this card.

Stamps - Tiny Tags, Vintage Labels

Paper - Sweet Pea DSP, chocolate chip, whisper white, real red card stock

Accessories - scallop circle punch, heart to heart punch, perfect polka dots embossing folder, real red satin ribbon