Valentine's Card for Swap 09

This card was inspired by the red lacy die cut heart.

Materials:

• Red & White patterned papers
• Red glimmer paper
• White card stock
• White heart doilies
• "Love & Five Hearts" cutting dies (HOTP)
• Scalloped Hearts nesting cutting dies (Spellbinders)
• "Vintage Labels & Banners" cutting dies (JustRite)
• "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamps (JustRite) 
• "Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine" (JustRite)
• Striped ribbon
• 1/8" red satin ribbon
• White Jewel Dazzles (HOTP)

Card Front:

• Background & Border: Cut a piece of red patterned paper just smaller than the card front.  Cut two pieces of striped ribbon & glue top & bottom (wrap ends around back) before gluing background to the card front.
• Focal/Sentiment: Cut a scalloped heart & center on the doily heart.  Glue all in place near the top of the card at a slight angle.  Cut lacy edges & center from red glimmer paper & plain center heart from white card stock.  Cut mat from white patterned paper.  Layer & glue in place near the bottom of the card at an angle.  Add red bow as shown.  Cut banner from red glimmer paper & stamp/heat emboss using fine white embossing powder.  Add with foam tape to center of doily heart.
• Finishing: Add three Jewel Dazzles in each of the upper left & lower right corners.

Inside:

• Background & Sentiment: Cut a piece of white patterned paper just smaller than the inside of the card.  Then use a cutting die to cut a large rectangle out of the center.  Ink all edges & glue in place.  Stamp the sentiment with red ink just a little above center.
• Heart Exploding Banner: Cut 4 medium hearts from the red patterned paper & 3 from the white.  Fold each in half and stack - alternating red/white/red/etc.  Glue stack of hearts together just along the outer edge leaving lower edge & inside free. Fold back into their accordion fold-type stack.  Place glue on outer halves of heart stack and place stack in upper right corner of inside of card.  Carefully fold card closed to adhere the other side of the heart stack in the proper place.  Ensure the card opens & closes correctly.
• Finishing: Cut a medium heart from red patterned paper and a smaller one from white. Ink the edges of the white and then layer the two near the bottom right corner.

Valentine's Card for Swap 08

This card was inspired by the printed label (HOTP).

Materials:

• Printed label (HOTP)
• White card stock
• Purple card stock
• Lavender patterned paper
• "Delicate Trellis" die (Crafter's Companion)
• Scalloped Hearts nesting dies (Spellbinders)
• "Vintage Labels & Banners" dies(JustRite) 
• "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamps (JustRite)
• "Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine" stamps (JustRite)
• Purple ink
• White embossing powder
• Purple ribbon from stash

Card Front: 

• Card Structure: Start with a piece of white card stock that is 7" x 10" (or a standard 5" x 7" card blank).  Lay it horizontally in front of you and score 2 1/2" from left side & right side.  Fold to meet in the middle to form a "Gate-fold" card.
• Background: Cut 2 pieces of purple card stock approx 2 1/4" x 6 3/4" (just smaller than each side of the card front). Center on each side & glue in place. Cut two pieces of white card stock the same size & die cut the lacy trellis from each.  Cut away edges as shown.  Glue to each side with just a sliver of purple showing in the center of the card as shown.
• Focal & Ribbon: Die cut purple heart from card stock.  Glue label to a piece of white card stock for added stability & fussy cut around it before gluing it in place on the heart.  Punch each side of the label through both tag & card stock heart.  Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to wrap all the way around the card & tie a bow.  Thread ribbon through heart/label holes, hold heart in place while you wrap ribbon around the back in such a way that approximately the same length of ribbon is showing on the two ends - both extending beyond the right edge.  Glue the ribbon where it runs across the back of the card & glue JUST THE LEFT SIDE of the heart.  Place heart in the center of the card and make sure it ONLY ADHERES to the LEFT SIDE of the card front so it can open. Glue ribbon in place in the back of the card & cover with a strip of white card stock if you wish (I did this as the glue was a bit messy).  Tie closed with a bow AFTER YOU COMPLETE THE INSIDE!

Inside:

• Background: Cut a piece of patterned paper just smaller than the inside of the card & ink the edges before gluing in place.
• Focal & Sentiment: Cut and emboss a heart from white card stock & ink the border with the die in place so a white edge is left.  Cut a mat from the purple card stock (I used the "magic matter" to get a nice 1/4" border).  Stamp the sentiment using purple ink, and glue in place.
• Decorative Border & Greeting: Die cut the lacy trellis from a piece of white card stock & trim edges before gluing to the top of the card as shown.  Cut the banner, stamp the sentiment, & heat emboss with white powder.  Glue in place on the lacy border.

Valentine's Card for Swap 07

This card was inspired by the foil paper tole.

Materials:

• Patterned Paper (Slice paper pad - a fairly thick paper - almost card stock)
• White card stock
• White glimmer paper
• Black paper & card stock
• Silver glimmer paper
• "Fancy Hearts" foil papier tole (HOTP
• "Love & Five Hearts" dies (HOTP)
• "Bodacious Blooms" dies (HOTP)
• "Vintage Label & Banner" dies (JustRite)
• "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamps (JustRite)
• "Hearts Background" embossing folder (Darice)
• tiny silver raindrop stickers

Card Front:

• Background: Cut black paper a bit smaller than card front (for mat) and patterned paper a bit smaller than that.  Layer in place.
• Border: Cut a strip of black paper (approx 3/4") and adhere about 3/4" from bottom of card front.
• Focal: Cut lacy edge & lacy center heart from black card stock.  Cut mat from white glimmer paper.  Glue lacy pieces in place & then adhere near the left edge of the card at a very slight angle.  Add the largest papier tole piece overlapping that on the right side.
• Sentiment: Cut banner from silver glimmer paper, stamp & heat emboss with fine black powder.  Add with foam squares as shown.
• Embellishments: Complete the border by adding 3 small silver hearts (from papier tole) to the right side of the border.  For the "flower" on the left, die cut a piece from white glimmer paper (bodacious blooms die) and then layer the papier tole piece on that before adding to the border as shown.

Inside:

• Border: Cut a 1 3/4" strip of black card stock & emboss it with the hearts background.  Glue it about 1" from the bottom of card.  Add narrow strips of the patterned paper on either side.  Add flower created the same way as for the card front.
• Focal: Add the next largest piece of papier tole to the left as shown.
• Butterfly: Add one of the extra butterflies (from papier tole) and create a "flight path" using small stickers.

Valentine's Card for Swap 06

This card was inspired by the lacy die cut for the focal.

Materials:

• Patterned paper (Slice Paper Pad) - this is a heavy weight paper - almost a card stock
• White card stock
• Black card stock
• "Hearts Background" embossing folder (Darice)
• "Love & 5 Hearts" cutting dies (HOTP)
• "Vintage Label & Banner" cutting dies (JustRite)
• "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamps (JustRite) 
• VersaMark Ink
• Fine black embossing powder
• Stickers from stash
• glitter ribbon from stash

 Card Front:

• Background: take the standard 5" x 7" card blank & score the card front in half horizontally.  Fold along the original score line & the one you just made. Unfold the one you just made leaving the card folded like a normal card & put the whole thing in an embossing folder. 
• Focal: Cut a piece of patterned paper 4" x 4 1/4", align the narrowest edge 1/4" below the top of the card front & then glue the bottom part ONLY just up to the score line you made.  Cut lacy border & inner lacy heart from white card stock.  Cut mat piece from black card stock.  Glue white pieces on black and glue to Mat and lower part of the card ONLY. Make sure that the focal is only attached to the lower half of the card front so you can fold it as an easel card. Finish focal with a sentiment - die cut from white card stock, stamped & embossed with fine black powder, and glued to the patterned paper ONLY (make sure it doesn't have stray glue that will stick to the card itself).
• Borders:  Glue a strip of the glitter ribbon to either side of the card front for borders.

Inside:

Cut a piece of black card stock 2 3/4" by 7" and glue to center of inside of card.  Cut 1/2" strips of the patterned paper & line either side of the black.  Mat the sticker greeting to a piece of black cardstock & attach it with foam tape (to hold the easel).  Add heart sticker to upper right corner.  For personal greeting you can either write with a white gel pen OR type a sentiment on white paper, trim it, and glue to the black strip.

Valentine's Card for Swap 05

Today's card was also inspired by the Fancy Hearts Foil Papier Tole (HOTP).

Materials:

• Foil Papier Tole "Fancy Hearts" (HOTP)
• white heart doily
• white card stock
• pink card stock
• "Heart Background" embossing folder (Darice) 
• "Love & Five Hearts" die set (HOTP)
• "Vintage Label and Banner" die set (JustRite)
• "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamps (JustRite) 
• Silver ink
• VersaMark ink
• Fine white embossing powder

Card Front:

• Card Base: This card was made in 2 pieces.  The first (for the focal) was an 8" x 3" piece scored at 4" and folded in half.  The second (for the steps) was a 8" x 6" piece scored at 1", 2", 5" and accordion folded to create the side steps. 
• Background Focal: I placed the folded card base in the heart background embossing folder and embossed it.
• Background Steps: After opening it up, I embossed all but the first 2 inches (this required running through twice as the piece was wider than my embossing folder).
• Assembly: I glued the focal piece to the OUTSIDE of the first step and the OUTSIDE of the back step (gluing just the bottom inch or so), leaving the steps sandwiched inside the focal piece. 
• Decorating: I inked the white heart doily with pink ink, centered a silver glimmer paper die cut (from Love & Five Hearts die set) on top and adhered this to the card focal piece near the top.  I added the papier tole piece near the bottom, but only added a couple of layers with foam tape.  The remaining pieces were glued or foam taped to the first step of this card. 
• Greeting: two layers - cut from pink card stock using a die from the "Vintage Label & Banner" set), stamped with VersaMark & heat embossed with fine white embossing powder & layered with foam squares.

Inside:

For the inside I just took a rectangular piece of pink card stock, inked the edges with silver & stamped a greeting in silver.

Valentine's Card for Swap 04

Today's card was inspired by the Foil Paper Tole (HOTP).

Materials:

• Foil Papier Tole "Fancy Hearts" (HOTP)
• patterned paper (HOTP)
• white heart doily
• white card stock
• pink card stock
• "Heart Background" embossing folder (Darice)
• "Vintage Label and Banner" die set (JustRite)
• "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamps (JustRite) 
• Pink ink
• VersaMark ink
• Sterling embossing powder

Card Front:

• Card Base: This card was made in 2 pieces.  The first (for the focal) was an 8" x 3" piece scored at 4" and folded in half.  The second (for the steps) was a 6" x 11" piece scored at 1", 2", 4", 6", 8 1/2" and accordion folded to create the side steps. 
• Background Focal: I placed the folded card base in the heart background embossing folder and embossed it.
• Background Steps: I cut pieces of patterned paper just smaller than the steps and inked the edges before gluing to the front of the steps.
• Assembly: I glued the OUTSIDE of the front of the focal piece to the INSIDE of the first step.  Then I glued the INSIDE of the back of the focal piece to the OUTSIDE of the back step (gluing just the bottom inch or so).
• Decorating: For the focal I backed a heart doily from my stash with pink card stock and then  layered the "fancy heart" on top of it (adding it's layers with foam tape).  I had a leftover piece from another one that I put on the back step and used the extra art pieces on the front two steps.  I finished it with a tag cut from pink card stock using a die from "Vintage Label & Banner", stamped with VersaMark & heat embossed with sterling embossing powder - added with foam tape.

This style doesn't really open up for an "inside", but you can put a message on the back.

Valentine's Card for Swap 03

This card started with the heart shaped die cut focal.

Materials:

• Patterned paper (HOTP)
• Red glimmer paper
• Dies: "Love & Five Hearts" (HOTP), "Vintage Label & Banner" (JustRite)
• Stamps: "Antique Valentine Tags One" (JustRite), "Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine (JustRite) 
• Ribbon (white 1/2" grosgrain, red 1/2" grosgrain, red & white 1/8" satin ribbon
• red ink
• clear embossing powder
• heart-shaped paper doily
• red die cut from stash

Card Front:

• Card Base: before folding card, make new score lines & cutting lines as per instructions here EXCEPT I made the bottom 1" tall, and the sides 1 1/4" wide 
• Background: I cut the background from red patterned paper.  I first cut a piece that was 6 3/4" x 4 3/4".  Then I removed the side pieces - cutting in 1 3/8" on each side, leaving 3/4" at the bottom.
• Focal: The focal was cut using the "Love & 5 Hearts Dies" - cutting the lacy border & center from white card stock and the center from red glimmer paper. These were layered and glued in place as shown.  Then a banner was cut using a die from "Vintage Label & Banner" stamped in red with a stamp from "Antique Valentine Tags One" and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  It was then added to the focal using foam squares for dimension.
• Borders: For the side borders I cut pieces of white patterned paper slightly smaller than the card sides and inked the edges.  I then glued a wide red ribbon & narrow white ribbon over this, tucking the ends to the back before gluing to the card.  The bottom border was done similarly with wide white ribbon and narrow red, ends tucked to the back before the background was glued to the card base.  A small red bow was added in the center.

Inside:

• 2 strips of the red paper form borders
• The center of a white heart doily was cut out and glued in place, then a die cut from my stash was added.  I decided to make the heart a little more visible by taking a red fine-line pen and marking the holes around the border of the heart.
• Final touch was adding a sentiment from "Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine" stamp set using red ink.

Valentine's Card for Swap 02

The inspiration for this card was the pretty foiled patterned card stock. 

Materials:

• Patterned card stock (Me & My Big Ideas)
• Pink Mirri card stock (Hunkydory)
• White glimmer paper
• Dies: Love & Five Hearts (HOTP), Fancy Tags One (Spellbinders)
• Stamps: Janie's Girls (HOTP), Antique Valentine Tags One (JustRite), Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine (JustRite)
• Ribbon from my stash
• Double-sided adhesive (roll from Elizabeth Crafts) 
• VersaMark ink
• Fine White embossing powder (Hero Arts)

Card Front:

• Background: Patterned card stock matted with Mirri (with heart & tag cut from the center before mounting).
• Focal: Using the Love & Five Hearts dies, I cut the lacy border & inner plain heart from the pink Mirri.  I backed a piece of white glimmer paper with some double stick adhesive before cutting the inner lacy piece.  That made it easy to peel and stick to the mirri as you see it here.
• Border: After cutting the tag from the pink mirri card stock, I stamped it carefully (stamp from Janie's Girls) with VersaMark & heat embossed it with fine white powder (Hero Arts).  Then I threaded ribbon through it and wrapped the ends behind the background card stock.

Inside:

Here I cut a strip of Mirri to form the bottom border & then fussy cut 3 hearts from the printed card stock to add to it.  The center portion was simply a second lacy heart outline cut from Mirri with a stamped message added in the center ("Special Gifts Labels Twenty-Nine").  The banner at the top was stamped in pink ink using a stamp from "Antique Valentine Tags One"

Valentine's Card for Swap 01

This card started with a printed tag from HOTP.  I believe the patterned paper might have been from them too, but I'm not sure.

Materials:

• white card stock
• printed tag and patterned paper
• purple glimmer paper
• white glimmer paper 
• purple ink
• clear embossing powder
• Dies: Labels One, Edgeabilities, Fancy Ribbon Threader (Card Creator) (all Spellbinders dies), Vintage Label & Banner (JustRite), Heart Doily (We R Memory Keepers)
• Stamps: "Ornate Happiness Squares" and "Antique Valentine Tags One" (both from JustRite)
• white ribbon from stash
• white Jewel Dazzles (HOTP)

Card Front:

• Background: panel cut from patterned paper and matted on purple glimmer paper.  Before matting, the fancy ribbon threader was cut from the center where it wouldn't show & saved for the inside of the card.
• Focal:  Purple square was cut and embossed using a Lables One die.  White was cut using heart doily die and layered on top. Label was added to that with a couple of white Jewel Dazzles to simulate brads holding it.
• Border: Border was cut with edgeability dies (one for the center, another used for each edge).  A white strip of paper was cut from the glimmer paper for faux ribbon that got threaded through the border.  Then a white bow was added using ribbon from my stash.

Inside:

Once again, a white strip of paper was threaded through, and a ribbon bow added.  A piece of white paper was inked around the edges & added to the card. A sentiment was added using purple ink & a stamp from JustRite's "Ornate Happiness Squares".  The banner was cut from white card stock using a die from the Vintage Label & Banner set (JustRite) and stamped with a stamp from their "Antique Valentine Tags One" stamp set.