Valentine's Day - already?!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this day! I, however, have been working on ideas for Valentine's Day, and how to incorporate new stuff into a card for my January Stamp Camps.

Valentine's Day is another one of those holidays I do not 'do', and up until now I have been fortunate not to have any craft shows around that time of year, so there has been very little pressure to succumb to the craze. But this year I have a decision to make: Do I make Valentine's Day cards for my etsy store, or not?

So what did I do? When I placed my SU pre-order, I got a bunch of (but not ALL of) the Valentine's AND Easter stuff. I do not celebrate Easter, so I do not 'do' it, either, but this year I do have a show in March, so that will also change. My world is turning on its ear!

Last night I played with the new SU "I {Heart} Hearts" set, along with the new "Well Scripted" words set and the Sweet Pea DSP. First up: the hearts.


I chose this one not only for its size, but because I love the pattern, and thought it would be very pretty embossed in white. I used White Craft ink to stamp it on the Pretty In Pink card stock, and the SU Detail White EP. Lovely!

You will notice the two hearts are cut out differently. The one on the left was hand-cut (it's crooked, of course) and the one on the right was punched out with the SU Heart punch. I knew the heart stamp image was not symmetrical, and that it would not punch out evenly, but given my cutting skills, I wanted to see just how far off it was. Not too. So I think I'll give The Ladies a choice: hand-cut or punch.

This is my card, so far:


I needed to use that satin ribbon, and let me tell you: it is LUSCIOUS! (OMG, I need to incorporate that into everything this spring! Good thing I bought it in every color! ) I played with the layout for quite some time, and this is where it stands right now. LOTS of new things here: paper, ribbon, two stamp sets, tiny heart punch and a Sizzix butterfly die. I am still trying to figure out why the flutterbys stick in the die, but they come out pretty easily when coaxed by the point of the paper snips.

Anyway, I love the flutterbys themselves, because of the different textures on each one. The first time I used the die I had the paper in backwards and punched the wrong side (I got green instead of pink), but they are so gorgeous, I'll just use them on another card! :-)

For my next trick, one of my Tweeple suggested bare, glittery branches for a Winter-type card, so I'll play with that today.

Enjoy your holiday, or your day off, and thanks for stopping by!