Be My Valentine Series Day 10 - Quick Yet Cute

For this last card I wanted to challenge myself to make a card in 10 minutes that I would still be happy to give to someone.  

I often find both sketches & color challenges to be good starting points for any card.  They also give me a great plan when trying to make a quick card like this one! For this card I combined the current MarkerPop color challenge with the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge.

I was inspired by my crafty friend Kevin Bray and his use of stacked washi tape strips to create a quick background!  Next I cut out a cute Pix image from Mama Elephant Pix's Favorites, I had painted her with Zig Clean Color Markers & Distress Markers.  I found a shimmery bit of vellum and used the Sizzix nesting hearts to cut out two to place Pix on... they really weren't distinct as two so I inked the smaller heart with Cranberry Ink from Lawn Fawn.  I still felt the vellum heart wasn't really distinct against the washi so I trimmed the card base down so it would hang off the side a bit and draw your eye.  

The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Because You Stamp Set and was embossed with white on black before being die cut with a banner from Blueprints 27.  To finish the card I added sequins, both cupped & hearts with some Multi Matte Medium!

Phew, that was 9 min and 36 sec, a total record for me!!!!

Thank you so much for joining me!  I would love to see any cards you created that were inspired by this series, be sure to tag me @modernmamabear on Instagram!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 8 - Dynamite Dies

Some people just aren't stampers, I get it as I wasn't always either.  So today I went back to my first love... die cuts!  Each of these cards was created using only die cuts and really they could be used for any occasion but are perfectly suited for Valentine's Day!

The card above features dies from Lawn Fawn, the heart die from the Stitched Party Banners and  a few of the smiley faces from the Make Me Smile die set!  I used some micropore tape to hold the smiles in place for die cutting and it worked perfectly to keep them in just the right spot on the hearts!

The next card features a water colored background done with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers on some Canson XL watercolor paper.  This amazing Heart Beat die is from SugarPea Designs; I used it on both the background and a piece of black cardstock to create the inlaid panel!

My final card features the Rose Background Die from Wplus9, I love that this die covers the entire card front!  I cut it from some Doodlebug bubblegum crushed velvet cardstock (I have been hoarding this paper for the last 9 years so it was high time I used it!  But wait, Joann.com still has it in packs, I need more, it is so darn awesome.  You can click the link above to order.)  I then spritzed a black card base with Shimmer spray and adhered it using the 3L adhesive sheets!  This card is so stunning in person but very hard to get a good photo of.

I hope you feel inspired to break out those dies and create a Valentine for your loved one!  See you soon with a few more days of heartfelt cards.

Be My Valentine Series - Day 7 - Outdoorsman

I had really wanted to share some cute lunch box love notes that I created but they have disappeared! I even tried to recreate them but I can't find the die anywhere... it is a BIG die... I am feeling beyond frustrated.  I hope to find them in time for Day 10, but if not I will share a variation on that theme.

Today's card is on the more masculine side.  My hubby isn't one for sequins and roses so I created this card with some great wood grain texture and the adorable squirrels from My Favorite Nut by Neat & Tangled!  The images were all painted using my daughter's Crayola watercolors since I was painting with her at the time, oddly they have a bit of sheen to them but I am pleasantly surprised at how well they did work for blending and creating colors!

See you back here tomorrow to spread more love!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 6 - Darling Deer

I am enamored with images that have a mid-century modern feel and these deer from the Kitsch Christmas Stamp Set by Caryn Davies for Avery Elle are right up my alley!

I was browsing through cards on my Pinterest boards and I came across this gem by Caryn Davies!  I think these deer are slightly flirty and therefore perfect for a Valentine's Day card so I grabbed one from my CCC "Colored Critters Cache"  (I colored a ton of these around Christmas time so I had a few leftover, yes, I REALLY love these deer!) and I set about recreating this card with a romantic feel.

I used the My Favorite Things Die-namics Stitched Mini Scallop Circle Stax and the Die-namics Inside & Out Stitched Circle Stax to create the base of my focal point. Next I used a stencil brush to blend some Festive Berries Distress Ink on the inner white circle. I used Avery Elle Laurels Stamps and Dies to create the flower and leaf accents around the edge. They were all stamped with various Altenew Inks (Cotton Candy, Ruby Red, Coral Berry, Peach Perfect, Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades).

After laying everything out in my MISTI I positioned the little starburst stamps and stamped them with Versamark and heat embossed them using Ranger's Princess Gold Embossing Powder, this is my favorite gold powder.  I then stamped my greeting from Avery Elle's Fabulous Florals Stamp Set and heat embossed that as well.  Finally I assembled all of the pieces together and Voila, Darling Deer!

I will be back with a post featuring Lunch Box Love Notes!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 5 - Minimal Cards

Today's cards use minimal supplies, minimal time and mini stamp sets to help you send big love!  Each of these cards uses the following supplies:

• 1 Mini Stamp Set from Lawn Fawn - Whale You Be Mine, Love You Tons and Cutie Pie (I also used the coordinating Lawn Cuts but you could easily cut these by hand)
• 2 Colors of Lawn Fawn Ink - Sunflower & Hippo, Wild Rose & Cranberry, Merman & Deep Sea
• 1 Die Cut Set from Lawn Fawn - Stitched Party Banners (heart and circle used)
• 1 pinch of clear micro-fine glitter
• 2 Colors of Cardstock (I used some from my scraps stash)
• 1 White Card Front Panel
• 1 Colored Card Base
• 1 4x6" adhesive sheet from Scrapbook Adhesives (I only used one for all the cards)
• 1 Epoxy Heart (from my stash & totally optional)

It only took about 10 minutes to create each card; I definitely became faster as I went too!  

1. Place your sentiment stamp on an acrylic block and fill the white card panel, using the lighter of the two ink colors, leave room in between the sentiments for a cute heart!
2. Stamp your hearts in between each sentiment with the darker ink color
3. Adhere your card front to the matching card base.
4. Place your circle die on the darker piece of cardstock and tape in place, now center your heart die inside the circle and tape in place, run through your die cutting machine!
5. Remove just the circle die from the darker paper and place on your lighter paper and cut one circle
6. Place the lighter circle on the adhesive sheet, rub well to transfer the adhesive and remove the cover sheet exposing the adhesive, adhere the darker circle with the heart on top, your negative heart shape should now be sticky!  
7. Place a pinch of glitter inside the heart and burnish it onto the adhesive with your finger, brush off any excess with a large dry paintbrush.
8. Using foam tape, or squares, attach the circle in the middle of the card front.
9. Stamp your images and color.  Cut your images and adhere to the card front overlapping the circle edges.
10. If you want to place an epoxy heart in the center of the glittery heart!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 4

Hi there, sorry but I wasn't able to get this posted yesterday... my littlest has decided that sleeping alone just isn't for her anymore :(  It has been a rough couple of weeks and I am so tired that I keep falling asleep in my big cozy chair in her room, which means I am snoring instead of creating!  No worries though, I still plan to get all ten cards up before February 4th and hopefully you will feel inspired to create your own cards this year too!

Today's card features Altenew products!  Altenew is a newer company and they make some AMAZING layering stamps,  inks sets, dies and their sentiment sets are a must have!  Today I used the Vintage Roses stamp set and coordinating dies, the Red Cosmos ink set, the Green Fields ink set and the Shutter Cover Die.  I was going for a card that had a vintage glam feel with a modern edginess to it; I am really happy with the outcome!

To create the card I started by cutting the cover die with both black and gray cardstock. Before removing the paper from the die I smoothed some Press n' Seal wrap over the back to keep the negative and positive pieces together.  Once it was all out of the die I peeled away the main portion of the gray piece and adhered it to my white card front.  I then randomly selected black and gray pieces to inlay into the background and adhered them with some thin lines of liquid adhesive.  Die cut inlay is so beautiful and not nearly as time consuming as you may think, I urge you to give it a try!

I then stamped all of my images onto some Neenah cardstock and cut them with the coordinating dies. After I adhered them to my card front I added lots of beautiful sequins from Craft Medley and Pretty Pink Posh and a few gems from my stash.  I didn't want to cover up any of this gorgeous glam with a large sentiment so I pulled out some stickers from my stash, found a great sentiment, trimmed it out and matted it with a piece of white cardstock before adhering it to the front of my card.

Thanks for stopping by to share in my Valentine's Day fun, if you have any questions about the cards featured so far feel free to ask me in the comments section.  Off to create while she is finally napping!

Be My Valentine Series - Day 3

Critters in love, what could be cuter!?

Today's card features some adorable Lawn Fawn critters in love!  This card was inspired by this fantastic card by Nichol Spohr. I think her use of the washi tape with this polaroid die cut is just too cute!

Each set of critters was colored with Copic markers and then die cut with this adorable Polaroid Fun die from Mama Elephant!  I did run each die cut through my Big Shot with a piece of 110lb cardstock to smooth them out and help them to fit together without gaps.

I wanted to showcase these cute couples so I chose a deep black cardstock for my background.  Once I laid out my design I used the new Lawn Fawn Valentine Borders to cut out the row of hearts which I backed with a piece of pinkinsh red paper.  I did end up adhering a few of the black hearts back into the card as I felt this looked better under the die cut sentiment. The sentiment is created using the hello stamp from Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby stamp set and their fantastic Scripty Love die.  I glued three individual cuts of the love die together to create a bit of dimension. Finally I adhered everything down and added some cute heart washi from my stash!

Stamps sets used in this card:  Happy Howldays, Merry Christmouse, Baaah Humbug, Flamingo Together and Sunny Skies So sorry some of these were exclusive Stamptember sets and one is retired, I did link those that are still available.