Inkspiration for Stamping and Scrapbooking

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stampin' Up! recently shared this bit of Valentine's Day-related information and validation with us on the demonstrator website. I thought it was interesting, so I'm sharing it with you, and then I'll share a few Valentine's ideas!

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
--Victor Hugo

This week, millions of romantics--and even some who aren't--will celebrate Valentine's Day, a special holiday set aside to express love for special people in our lives. While the history of this holiday is uncertain (it is named after at least one of several different St. Valentines), current traditions are certainly not! We send an estimated 1 billion cards on this holiday, to remind those around us that they are loved.

Special days such as Valentine's Day are a reminder of one of the central reasons Stampin' Up! exists--we believe in caring for others, and sharing that concern through heartfelt and handmade expressions of our love. With the flood of commercialism that has overtaken our society, handmade valentines are becoming the exception rather than the rule. This only means that hand-stamped cards become even more treasured by those who receive them.

This Valentine's Day we express our appreciation for you. We care deeply for you and strive every day to show that concern in the decisions we make. We want you to feel important, and we want you to know that you are a valuable part of our Stampin' Up! family.

In addition, we want to emphasize the importance of what we are doing. Together, we are showing and sharing with other people different ways they can discover and express their own creativity, while strengthening their relationships. Nothing matters more in our lives than relationships, and we encourage you to take a moment this week and send Valentine's greetings to those you love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

And, my dear stampin' friends, I want you to know that I appreciate you!

Without further blah, blah, blah, here are some Valentine's cards for you to check out:

This is the card Brian and I are giving to Sarah when she gets home from school. No, I didn't make it today - got it done last night actually, but Brian wanted to be here when she opens it. I don't think I've gotten the idea for it anywhere. What I mean by that is, very often I decide what set I want to use, and then browse some of my favourite galleries and blogs for ideas. This one is, I believe, entirely an Ann original - who knew I could have an original idea or any creative mojo of my own - ha ha ha ha!

I stamped the mouse stamp from Happy Heart Day on white cardstock, coloured it in with markers, and cut just the mouse out. I stamped the mouse stamp a second time on Pretty in Pink Designer Series paper and cut it out. The coloured one is layered over the patterned paper one and adhered to Whisper White cardstock. I used the Sahara Sand marker to create a shadow beneath the heart and mouse. The flower on the heart is accentuated with the new cosmo glitter in rose pink.

Here's the rest of the recipe:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: Basic Black

Other: Black grosgrain, tag and small tag punches, horizontal punch, cosmo glitter, designer series prints: pretty in pink and real red, white gel pen, non-SU heart-shaped brad

The next one I'm going to show you is one Sarah made for her teacher. She saw the peppermint patty holders I made before Christmas for the advent swap. If you missed it, you can see them here. We decided to make one with a chocolate heart instead of the peppermint patty. I helped her a bit, but Sarah did a lot of the creative work herself.

Here's her card/candy holder closed.

Here she is, proudly displaying it opened.

Here's a close-up of the front:

Acck - that's more blurry than it looked in editing, sorry!

Anyway, the polka dot heart is created using the Pick a Petal set. Get out - it's true! She stamped one petal with Real Red on Whisper White, inked up again and stamped the second  petal overlapping the first at the point. Neat, eh? 2 way glue and dazzling diamonds add lots of sparkle to this card.

We used a marker to just get the sentiment from the tag stamp in the Happy Heart Day set and she used the white gel pen to colur in the hearts.

Didn't she do a fabulous job? Leave her a comment and let her know what you think!

OK - I've got one more to show you today. It's the masculine Valentine's card for, you guessed it! My dear wonderful husband of almost 9 and a half years - can't believe he's put up with me that long!

I saw a card sort of similar to this on Split Coast by LoveStamping!!!!!!! But I changed it and did my thing to make this my own. The card is 5 x 5. I am really enjoying working on a square instead of the usual 4.25 x 5.5 rectangle - it's a nice change and it offers some different creative choices.

This starts with a Creamy Caramel base, with Chocolate Chip and Real Red to accent. Lots of dtp with Chocolate Chip ink help to make this look masculine. Both the Creamy Caramel base and the Real Red square are stamped with the Canvas background stamp for visual texture. The Chocolate Chip and Real Red square layers have their corners nicked off with the Ticket Corner punch. The zigzag stitching on the outside edge is faux, created with the All in a Row stamp set - me, sew?! Ha Ha Ha. The focal piece is 2 Round Tag punchouts layered on top of each other, a Scallop circle punchout layered on top and stamped with stamps from the Priceless set - because he is Priceless, in the best possible way! Chocolate chip narrow grosgrain (retired) and a sentiment he'll appreciate finish off the card. No glitter, no bling - just masculine.

What do you think? Did I achieve the masculine look I was going for? Leave a comment for me or for Sarah! And let the ones you love know you love them, not just on Valentine's Day!

Happy Stampin' and Blessings! - Ann

P.S. I heard a radio dj refer to today as Singles Awareness Day. It can be a painful day for those who are discontentedly single, so be sensitive to that today. AND to those  who are single, remember there is Someone whose Love is Perfect and He Loves You! It's a better love than you'll ever find here on earth. God bless.

I don't remember if I showed you this one yet...

Elephants may never forget, but I do!

I don't remember if I shared this card with you, yet.

This is one I made for a little swap I hosted featuring sets that are new in this catalogue. The images are stamped in Staz-On on shimmery white cardstock. I coloured the images with Watercolour Crayons and then blended the colours using the AquaPainter.

I love the Berry Bliss paper, so I used those colours to inspire this card with a Pomegranate base, a Close to Cocoa layer and the Pomegranate double stitched ribbon for accent. Although we don't have a Pomegranate crayon, the Rose Red works in a pinch - it's fairly close though not quite as rich.

I get quite a lot of natural light in my studio, but last week was a rather dull week, and I couldn't get the lighting right on this photo - so my apologies for the shadow of the camera, and the slightly too bright contrast on this one. I'm getting better, though!

I've shown you a few things done with Watercolour Crayons.I love how versatile they are - and how many different looks you can achieve using them! And that you can get them in all 48 colours + the neutrals. If you've thought about investing in the Wonderful Watercolour Crayons, Sale-A-Bration is a great time to do it! Each of the 4 colour families is $24.13. The Neutrals are $12.04 and the AquaPainters is $20.41 for 2 (different tips).  Add in a package of Shimmery White cardstock and a package of Watercolour paper and you have the watercolouring supplies on hand whenever you need to colour your line-art images. AND if you splurge on it during Sale-A-Bration, you will also receive 2 free items from the Sale-A-Bration brochure. Sets like Merci and Friendship Blooms would allow you to put your new watercolouring supplies to use right away! Feel free to contact me if you'd like to place an order (Canada only).

Happy Hearts Elephant

Isn't this elephant adorable?

This is from the Happy Heart Day set, a really cute little set ideal for the colourer in you! I VERY carefully cut the greetings off the elephant and the mouse and mounted them on the ends of the blocks to increase the versatility of this set. Last week, my mom used this elephant to make a very sweet baby card (sorry, I forgot to get a photo...)

The image is stamped on SU!'s watercolour paper in Staz-On. I coloured directly on the paper with the Wonderful Watercolour Crayons and then used the Aquapainter to blend the colours. I love how you can layer on the colour with these crayons. AFTER blending with the Aquapainters, I realized this elephant needed a little colour in the cheeks, so I added in the Pretty in Pink crayon over the gray - and look how nicely in shows up.

I traced the butterfly outline with the white crayon but found it doesn't blend much on the Basic Gray cardstock. Truly the watercolour paper allows you to play!

Other cardstock colours are Going Gray and Purely Pomegranate. The card is finished with a length of wide Rose grosgrain.

Remember you can take advantage of SU!'s Happy Heart bundle for just under a week. You can get this set, the ribbon I used here, a bolt of wide red grosgrain, and a package of small cello bags (great for treats) for just $39.94. That's 27% off the original catalogue price - it's almost like getting a roll of ribbon and the bags for free! Contact me to order your bundle - I can ship anywhere in Canada.

Til next time, Blessings & Happy Stampin'! - Ann