Mr. Cardmaker is (Nearly) Heartless

So, weird thing-

Heart-shaped things are not my groove. Just don't feel the whole heart shape thing.
Give me a square, a circle (yes!), even a rhombus. Hearts? You can keep those, but thanks just the same.

So, it makes Valentines day sort of difficult.
I did, years ago, break down and get the triple heart punch from Stampin' Up, but I find that being without heart dies is making V-Day creativity harder and harder. I may have to suck it up and find some used dies, somewhere. Anybody overloaded with heart dies out there? Helloooooo...?

Anyway, I managed to come up with a Valentine for my Honey--

I made this--

Well, I started with a deep discount bin stamp on the background of my card base. I then sponged a scrap of the same card stock with some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, letting it fade out at the bottom, and die cut my "love" with a Little Yellow Bicycle die.

Well, this is where I had to start being creative. I could've folded and hand cut some hearts like we did in grade school, but my little eye spied the negative of my die cut, which caused ol' Inspiration to slap me upside my head.

Stencil! Yup, yup, yup!
A sponge dauber and some more ink, and away I went, all over the background.
I was really happy I hadn't popped out the little chad things from my die cut's letters, because when the time came to mount it, I was happy it looked more like the background stencil.

So, finally, it was time to pull out that heart punch o'mine. I had this hot pink, glittered paper saved from a gift bag given to me ages ago, and it was the perfect time to make use of it. I lined a bunch of hearts up on a banner shaped piece of pink striped paper, popped that up on top of a gold foiled banner piece, and layered all of that on top of a sweet 4" doily.

Doilies must have been super cheap when I was coming through grade school, because memories of them when we made valentines sure do fill my brain. I love them on a valentine!

I popped up the die cut "love" with some foam tape, and to give it more presence, I coated it with a thick layer of Glossy Accents. I do love me some shine!

I felt like the left side of the card was a bit of a snore, so at the last second, I stamped a textured stripe, and hit it with some gold embossing powder. Because, shiny...

And there you have it!

My sweet Charlie sure did love it, as I loved the ARMLOAD of roses, both yellow and red, he brought home to me!
I'm not worthy....

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day, and if you get the day off tomorrow for Presidents Day, enjoy it! (Go make something!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Comes a Glimmer...

Well, after all the wretched photos of Christmas cards I foisted upon you, I actually have a decent photo of ONE card that I did for a shoebox swap with some very wonderful crafters at my dear friend Liz Ballard's home.

JUST ONE!

We had one person not able to come to the party, and so I had her kit left over. I assembled it, and THIS is what I made--

So, this is still not the VERY best of photos, but you can at least SEE the thing.

I like that this is sort of on the masculine side, even with glitter and rhinestones. I think the skinny red racing stripe look with the wood grain stripe is what makes me think that.

The subtle background is done with SU's Winter Wishes set, and the sentiment panel is done with SU's Cozy Christmas set. These were 2015 Stampin' Up Holiday Catalog sets, and they really blew it out of the park with stamp sets this year! LOVED the whole catalog!

I loved it so much, that I signed up to be a demo! I do this every once in a while, usually during the Sale-a-bration time that happens to be going n RIGHT NOW. I find that I moss out on much of the great Christmas stuff, because the Holiday catalog tends to be gone by then, but the deal is amazing!

The Occasions catalog is out now, as is the Annual catalog.
The big thing right now, though is the Sale-a-bration brochure, which has FREE stuff that you can choose from for every $50.00 dollars you spend.
NOW is the time to sign up for Stampin' Up, too, because new recruits get $155.00 of product for $99.00,with no shipping! (That's an extra $30.00!!)
I think that's an amazing deal.

Anyway, if you get a moment to browse these catalogs, and you find you can't possibly live without something, I would be SO pleased to help get these things into your crafty little hands. You can email me (link in profile), or go through the website and list me as your demonstrator. That's me, Richard Breaks in Westborough, MA.
No pressure; just want to be available for you.

Anyway, just wanted to share my card, really.
Hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard