For the boys....

Trying to do Valentine's Day cards for boys is tough for me because I always want to make them too "frilly"!!  When I ran across this Stampendous stamp set, I thought ... maybe the monkeys will be a little less girly??

 
I tried to keep them as simple as I could....which isn't as easy as it sounds!!! Adding some bling here and there and a couple of hearts was about all I could safely get away with and still keep them un-girly!  I used the Nestabilities die to cut out hearts in cork and black felt to add something a little different to the norm.

I the first one did as a 'gate' card. These always turn out so well for some reason! I layered the cardstock & paper then stitched around before adhering to the card base. I did the same treatment to the inside and used Spellbinders Labels 16 for the sentiment and layered it on another cut of the same die in black cardstock. A little sponging around the edges and I was super happy with the way this one turned out! (I probably should've stuck with a square die since I was trying not to get too 'girly' - guess I kind of forgot my main goal! Oh well!)

Note that both of these cards are A-2 size, which I seldom ever do these days. I seem to automatically create square cards without so much as a thought to do otherwise!

The other card was super easy peasy! I actually used a layout that I saw on the Stampendous site for this set and just changed up the paper. I liked this paper a lot and thought it worked really well with this card.  I didn't even do any stitching on this one! I cut out the hearts from the same paper used on the front and put them inside. Here's what the inside of the other card looks like. Simple but sweet!

Both cards were colored with Copics and some shading done with Prismacolor pencils & gamsol.  I used paper from the Basic Grey Cupcake collection for the gate-card and I'm not sure about the other paper. I cut off the end with the name and threw it out before I made note of it - sorry! 

Now it's off to the Post Office to get these into the mail so my little munchkins will receive them on Monday!!

Have a great weekend and a Happy Valentine's Day!! 

Love Owls and Dreamy Eyes....

Oh I am in love!! I found these adorable "Love Owls" at the DigiStamp Boutique and just had to color them up for Valentine's Day!  I want to do them in lots of colors and send them to everyone!!  But, of course, I can't do that! I'll have to use some other images because I can't send the same one to all three of my grandchildren that live in the same household...that would never do!! (hee! hee!)

I printed them out on Bella's Bestest paper (as always!), colored them with Copics, cut them out with my oval Nestabilities, sponged with some chalk ink around the edges, then matted them on a piece of cork cut out with the big scalloped oval Nestabilities.  Don't you just LOVE the dreamy eyes on these two with some Glossy Accents added?!! 

The red felt heart was cut out with yet another Nestability, cardstock run thru the Cuttlebug for some dots, double loop punched on both the Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip cardstock, then the button and ribbon added. The sentiment "Owl Always Love You" is from another set I had from last year's stash. I like how the different textures work together: bumpy dots, cork, felt, gloss, stitching... much more 'stuff' than I'm used to doing on my cards, but I really like how it turned out!!

Now back to the drawing board!!  Just three more cards to go and I'll at least have the grandkids covered for Valentine's Day!! 

Snowmen are pretty appropriate today!

Okay...I know everyone else is busy working on Valentine's Day cards now, but it's taken me this long to finish what I started with the snowmen! Here's the problem...my craft area is in the basement..and it's COLD down there! (brrrrrr) It's not usually bad but when the temps are in the single digits, it is definitely not a warm, cuddly place to be.

Anyway....here are my last snowmen! I wanted to try a gate-card for this one. Colored him up with my Prismacolor pencils/gamsol and added some Martha Stewart chunky snow and some stickles. The ribbon is SU and the snowflake....not sure, but it came on an acetate sheet, some having a blue rhinestone, some having a clear one. I used coordinating paper from the same collection on the inside. These are always fun to do!

The other two cards are pretty simple...just done in different color schemes.

Wouldn't you know it? In my haste to get these done, I forgot to sew them! So I did some faux stitching to the blue & brown card and some Martha Stewart Chunky Snow and Stickles.  I did a bunch of these, but promise I won't bore you with any more!!!

On to the Valentine's Day cards!!! 

So - we're expecting about a foot of snow where I live tonight. We're really hoping our electricity stays on through the night!  I hope you live somewhere warm and don't have to deal with this storm!  Keep warm!