Valentine Candy Totes and Cards

Once again, The Paper Pixie (Video instructions here) for a win with these easy to make, no special tools required totes that will hold 4 Nuggets or Treasures candies. This first one was my test and came out so well, I gave it and a card to the woman who cuts my hair. 

A view from above. This reminds me of the cartons that hold 4 glass bottles of root beer 

or 6 bottles of long necks, my preferred way to drink real beer. 

These additional totes are for family members. The hearts were cut from a Gina K die

 that had a hole in the upper left where I placed the pearls and gems. 

The print papers are from miscellaneous sources in my stash. 

I made identical cards for my sons using a Tim Holtz Circuit Multi-Level Embossing Folder 665372 

My granddaughter's card used an image from My Favorite Things stamp set Unicorns and Glitter BB-100 on a background made using Altenew Stencil set Shattered Cubes. The popped out base instructions can be found at Jennifer McGuire's easy box pop 

My grandson is almost 12 so he is outgrowing some of the cutesy stuff but understands my love of puns and just plain corny stuff. I downloaded an image of a ruler to print on kraft-colored cardstock. The You Rule is a die from Spellbinders Pack It Up die set. 

Valentines for my 3 guys and 1 girl

I spent a bit of time pondering how to make a Valentine Card for my 5 year old granddaughter who can't read most words yet. Connie Stewart from Simply Simple Stamping showcased this card fold on her site  (Click here) and I was sure Avery would like the layers to this card. I am currently in a sampler club from Scrapbook and Cards Today and that is where the birds and hearts print paper is from. The stamped birds on the front are from Lawn Fawn, the red and pink papers are from Stampin' Up.

Her brother is almost 11. He received this card with stamped images from the stamp set Hop, Flip, and Jump by My Favorite Things. The background was made with Gina K inks and cloud and grass stencils.

Their dad is my oldest son. Both he and his brother got cards made with die cuts from Sizzix/Tim Holtz. The first card used the man from The Park, the second card used The Gent. 

Other than the stamped sentiment on the MFT card, the cards for my guys only had a stamped Happy Valentine's Day greeting inside and then a personal note. 

Valentine touches around the house

It is a gray sky kind of morning. The snow is patchy and any snow near the street is dirty. Not the best look outside, but my home brings me comfort and changing small seasonal decor brings me pleasure. Not all of these are seasonal but all are about love.

This piece of furniture belonged to my parents and while I'm not sentimental about all furniture, this piece is one of my exceptions.  It usually holds some of my collections.

Like many of my collections, the first item purchased wasn't intended as item #1, the collections just sort of happened. When my husband retired, he built a few birdhouses. Watching birds was (and still is) fun. The first set of decorative birds are not in these photos. They and another pair are elsewhere in the house. I keep saying I am NOT going to buy more birds but then another set speaks to me and finds it way here. I'm hopeless.  Is it corny that I think of us as lovebirds or that I think of my sweetie whenever I see a cardinal now? Not all, not to me anyway, and that is what matters.

 

I also have a fondness for Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, and Disney too, especially characters from my childhood. These next three items and the first pair of birds above are all Jim Shore creations. Lady and the Tramp stay in place all year.

 

  

Boyd's Bears are another collection I have throughout the house. I don't keep as much out at one time these days, I rotate what I display. Some Boyd's Bears are actual plush bears. That company was acquired by a larger one and the whole line was retired in 2014.

 

I had to have this mouse because she not only plays with scissors (like me!), she has a ladybug, another one of my "things".

Both of the mice are Enesco products. I'm not sure this particular line is still in production. 

This is a shelf under my TV. The sign is out nearly all year, moved only for autumn and Christmas signs that fit there. The snowmen on either side are SnoWonders by Sarah's Attic, another company that no longer exists. 

This wall hanging is between my living room and kitchen, made a long time ago.

And last but not least, this hangs on my front door. It is beginning to show its age, but so am I.

Valentine treats

January was unusually mild for Michigan....until it wasn't. It was so cold last weekend, even my son who is rarely cold mentioned it. I've spent time reading or knitting, under an afghan, with the thermostat cranked up. I go upstairs early, not to go to bed, but because heat rises. Yesterday we had a break but the reprieve meant things began to melt and precipitation was rain that fell on top of ice. I am thankful that I didn't fall but I slid down the driveway sideways, stopped by the slight elevation of the expansion strip in the concrete driveway. The deep freeze returns this weekend and will hang around a while:

Those highs next Wednesday and Thursday of 1 and 4 really should have a 7 in front of them to make me happy. 

I've started making some Valentine treats, mainly because I have a new die and the plastic holders designed for this set. Hersey Nuggets fit in their perfectly. I'm trying to wrap Nuggets with the decorative papers and get them into these holders ASAP because my will power isn't strong and I love chocolate almost as much as I love coffee and Diet Coke. 

The dies used are from My Favorite Things, specifically Nugget Label Window and Frame MFT-1458, and Treat Tag MFT-1463. The Nugget Trio Pouches (10 to a pack) are Supply-4021

  

Here is the first one I assembled. L-R are the top tag with the window frame cut with tag topper and window frame (the floral paper) added. The second tag has the door to access the candy in it. The plastic is shaped to hold the Nuggets. 

These will be for my granddaughter and grandson, I just haven't figured out sentiments to add to the back of them yet. I moved the placement of the candy holder to the left side of the tag for the space-themed card so that I could use the Super Star on the bottom right corner.

Minnie was fussy cut from pattern paper and glued to dotted paper after I lightly marked where the door would be cut.

These are a lot of fun to make. I plan to make a few for my girlfriends because Valentines don't have to be just for romantic love.

A Valentine for hubby

This is the last of Valentine cards for this year, or at least the last designed for family members. This simple but striking one is for my husband. The heart is cut from a die called Heart of Flowers by Simon Says Stamp. I was originally planning to use a multi-colored background under the heart but my choice all seemed feminine until I tried this red glimmer paper.

The stamp is from Simon Says Stamp, the set's name is Hey Love. The exterior and interior message are part of one whole stamp but I couldn't fit the entire message on the front of this card so I masked off the second half of the sentiment to use inside.

This is looking through my MISTI. After determining where the sentiment would hit, I added a Post-It note the card stock and inked the upper half of the stamp. The yellow that you see is Washi tape wrapped around the magnets used with the MISTI.

With the lid of MISTI raised,  you see the stamped image on cardstock and partially on the Post-It.

 I did lose the bottom loops of the Y and F but I filled them in with a Copic multiliner.

For the inside greeting, I figured out where I wanted the stamp and added the Post-It to the upper half of the stamp, then inked the lower portion and stamped.

The small "Happy Valentine's Day" is from a miscellaneous set of stamps.

Super Valentine characters

Today's Valentine card features characters from Darcie's Hear and Home. The stamp set includes both figures and both sentiments. It is called Super Day. The hearts are from a miscellaneous set. The inside greeting is a hand lettered sentiment for my son and daughter-in-law.

I used Xpress-it paper and Copic markers to color these figures.
Skin tones were done with E21, E50 and her lips and cheeks have a bit of R02
His hair is D15, E39, and E 29.
Her hair is E43, Y32, and Y02.
Both figures have Copic colored multiliner details added, such as the emblem on his suit, her stars and a few streaks in her hair.
The reds and blues use in their clothing are R27 and R89, B24 and B29.
His belt and her rope are Y15.
His shorts and boots are C2, C4, and C7.

I used Wink of Stella pens in red on the large heart and on her boots, and a yellow Wink of Stella on her stars and the yellow border of the emblem on this shirt.

It is hard to show the subtle yet still noticeable bit of glimmer that Wink of Stella adds. It looks more like moisture here than glimmer, but it is there.

Light up Valentine greetings for my grandkids

I joined the Chibitronics bandwagon and oh, what fun! Click here for a 2-minute clip of what Chibitronics lights are and how they work.

This robot is from My Favorite Things. The stamp set is called Biotic Bits and includes the line "nuts over bolts about you". "A little message to say" and the script Valentine greeting are from Lawn Fawn's Love Letters stamp set.  The robot is colored with Prismacolor pencils.  I used a yellow light (part of the Chibi starter kit) behind the antenna on the robot's head and red light behind his heart. The second picture was taken in a dark room to show the strength of the lights.

The robot will be for my grandson, this pup will be for my granddaughter. Same schematics on this card with only one light used on the circuit. I used a white light this time. The dog and sentiment (the "I" was added by hand) are from Newton's Nook set called Fetching Friendship. 

I really enjoyed creating these cards. The Chibi starter kit has plenty of copper tape for more cards and came with a total of 12 lights (6 white, 2 red, 2 blue and 2 yellow) and two 3-volt button batteries. After pricing batteries locally, I ordered batteries from Amazon which came today. I will definitely make more cards this weekend!

Art Impressions Elephant Slider Valentine Card

The Art Impressions Elephant Slider stamp and die set seems to be intended for a birthday because of the hat and the candle on the top cupcake.  I used this set to make this Valentine card. There will probably be a name added to the blank white which is the slider, but that is not important for now, this post is about creating the card.

I stamped the elephant and stack of cupcakes from the set (4802 is the product number from Art Impressions) on Xpress-it paper and colored the images with Copic markers, some Prismacolor pencil and a clear gelly roll pen. I masked off the candle that was on the top cupcake and turned the square base of the candle into another cake sprinkle.

You could make your own sleeve for the slider but I used the die intended for this, product #4764. Shown below is the stamped wording that will behind the elephant (part of the stamp and die set), the metal slider die and the paper I used for that to the right.

Here are the dies for the elephant and cupcakes. The elephant die is in place, the other die shows where the candle was intended to be.

 This is how they came out of the Sizzix. I trimmed away the remaining white border and the candle

The Copic colors I used on the elephant were C2 and C4 for the body, R20 on the inner ear and nails with a light coat of C2 over it. The tray is also C2 and C4. The cupcake papers are RV11, RV23 and YR000 with some Prismacolor pencil Sienna #945 to take the down pinkness and create a different color from the icing. The icing Copic colors ar R00 and R02. The cherry is R27 and R46 with the same Prismacolor pencil on the stem. The chocolate chips are E37 and E47. The sprinkles are R27, B05 and a green that I forget to make note of. The hat is B05 and R27. A clear gelly roll pen was used on the elephant's eye, hat, on the tray, the sprinkles and the cherry.

I cut two strips of white paper. The first is the width and length of the paper cut from the slider die. The die provides scoring lines, shown here folded over, and with double-sided tape applied. I neglected to take a photo of the slider's frame in place over the paper with the sentiment.

There is a reason why the sentiment above is not centered. I knew that when the elephant is slid all the way the right (he is running over to the stack of cupcakes), some part of the sentiment might be hidden by his body if the words were centered in within this space.

The second strip of white paper is the actual sliding piece. It is cut a little narrower than the width of the frame. I later trimmed the right end. At the point in this photo, I wasn't sure how I was going to finish that side.

I used a narrow piece of double-sided tape to hold the cupcakes to the far right side of the frame.

Here the cupcakes are in place. The double-sided tape holds very well.

The elephant is attached to the sliding strip of paper, NOT the frame. I used foam tape to add just a bit of dimension so that the elephant would move freely through the window of the frame and not catch on anything.

 

After trimming the excess from the right-hand side of the panel, I punched out a 3/4" circle from the dotted paper and a 1/2" circle from the solid red, glued the red on top of the dotted paper, and glued that onto the far red edge of the sliding paper. I used wider double-sided tape on the back of the whole mechanism to adhere it to the red card base.

 

I have used the slider die over upright figures (Stackables by Art Impressions) but this is the first horizontal slide I've made. Other possibilities are in my head, both with Art Impression images, those of other stamps I own and even of personal photos with humorous or scenic images behind the slider.