A CTO Valentine

I still have a couple of valentines to post.  I am having trouble deciding which one to use for the Celebrate the Occasion challenge #50 - Valentine's Day (must use a heart).  I have one with a cut heart and one with an embossed heart.  Hmmm...

Okay, cut heart it is.  I cut this from Doodlecharms in white with a red shadow.  I wanted to duplicate the "holey" look of the paper so I punched little holes on each side but it didn't look just right.  When in doubt, pull out some bling.  I added 3 red stones in the punched holes on the top and it looked so much better, to me at least.  The picture doesn't really do it justice.  I need to work on better lighting.

This is a CAS card which is the way I like them, but also I needed to make all my valentines in a hurry.  In case you haven't seen my previous posts, I had to leave my trusty Expression at home when my husband and I left for the winter months on the gulf coast.  That meant all my cards, including a large number of birthdays, had to be done before we left.  The best way to accomplish that was to do clean and simple.  I like them that way anyway and since I had to mail them I'm sure the USPS does too. 

One month left and then I'll be home to make cards again.  Meanwhile, I've still been creating, just not cards.  I'll show a few of those things in later posts.

New Valentine

The challenge at My Sheri Crafts this week is "Use something new."  It can be ANYTHING - paper, technique, tool, whatever.  That shouldn't be hard for most of us since we always seem to be buying something new to craft with.

This may not look like anything is new but.....The paper is new.  I bought it recently at JoAnn's just to make some valentines.  And I used a new punch on the bottom.  It's from EKSuccess and is a flowing wave with little holes punched along it.  It fits in well with the paper although in the picture it looks like part of the paper.  Believe me that row of white dots along the bottom is actually punched out.  The heart is a textured paper and cut from Doodlecharms.  I printed the sentiment on the white cardstock before adding the background paper.  S I M P L E.  Now I just have to decide which of my grandchildren will get this one.

Polka dot Valentine

Yay!  A challenge I can enter this week.  I made an assortment of valentines to send out while spending 2 months on the gulf.  It will be hit or miss whether any of them will work for a challenge and today is a hit.  Celebrate the Occasion has issued an "Any Occasion - but must use polka dots" challenge.  I just hope it doesn't have to have a sentiment on the front because mine doesn't but it is a valentine card - it say's so inside.  lol

The pink polka dot paper came from a stack of dots from PTI and is mounted on a white card base with the bottom corners chomped.  I cut the scalloped heart and white shadow from Doodlecharms.  The lacy strip is from a MS punch, backed with a lavendar cardstock scrap.  The pink heart was dry embossed with a heart CB folder.  I used my tiny paper punch to punch holds in 7 of the scallops and then added lavendar stones in the holes.  I didn't like it with just the white showing through.  It needed something and that something was a little bling.

Our dulcimer group met for practice yesterday and it was really a workout.  I don't have a group back home to play with so this is so much fun.  I have two new songs to learn by next Monday.  I'd better get practicing.

I've Been Inspired

This has been a week of inpirations for me.  Last Sunday I went to a hammered dulcimer concert at a nearby assisted living facility.  That inspired me to start practicing mine.  I haven't touched it since I played in church in late August.

I went to a couple of quilt shows this afternoon and got inspired again.  I may have to stop cardmaking for a while and get busy with a quilt.  Well, maybe not yet.  I usually reserve my quilt making for when we go south in the winter.  It's easier to transport my sewing machine and fabric than my Cricut and cartridges and paper and ribbon and glue and, well you get the picture.  I do plan to get enough cards made by then to be able to post while I'm gone, though.

Just like the concert and quilt show inpired me, I also get inspired by all the terrific bloggers out there.  Even if the cards are not my style, I can still be inspired by their creativity and/or beauty.  If only there were more time in a day to check out more blogs but then I'd never get anything done for myself. 

My card inspiration for today is the sketch from Mojo Monday .

Cooking with Cricut asked for a card with a cake, cupcake or teddy bear on it.  I decided the combine the two to make a birthday card.

The three printed papers are from a 6 x 12 stack from Cricut called Celebrations.  I found a matching blue and yellow to make the rest of the card.  The scalloped piece was cut from MS Elegant Cakes and embossed with Swiss Dots,  The cupcake is from Doodlecharms and the frosting is embossed with Divine Swirls.  I also heat embossed the swirls with clear embossing powder.   The lines on the cupcake paper are made with my Score-board.   The "happy" square and the cupcake are mounted at different levels with dimensionals.