One last Valentine....

So I am stuck at home today because of the yucky rain (I thought it wasn't supposed to rain in Southern California!!), but I'm making the best of it. I whipped up some yummy dark chocolate covered strawberries for our special meal tonight and then made my last Valentine card for hubby. This card is totally inspired by a baby card designed by kwerner, you should check out her videos - they are great. So a nice card, chocolate strawberries and a good bottle of red wine, all to share with my husband.... what more does a girl need on Valentine's Day?

For the card I used textured Real Red cardstock, pieces of Designer Series paper from the retired "Elementary" Simply Scrappin Kit, Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon, a chipboard heart and the "love" rub on from the Sale-A-Bration rub-on set.

For the strawberries, I used some 73% dark chocolate from Trader Joes, melted slowly in a double boiler. I dipped the strawberries and then let them set up on a piece of wax paper. Simple and delicious!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Happy Valentine's Day

I have a lot of fun things in store for my guys today, but they were able to get a little taste of the fun yesterday. The boys and I made Valentine's cupcakes after school and we had a great time! They both love helping in the kitchen, especially when in comes to measuring and stirring. Here are a few pictures of our baking lesson....

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Simple, yet Stylish

I have a varied style of card making. Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I really like intricate, very detailed designs with lots of work involved to get the end product I'm looking for. But other times, I like the simplicity of an easy, yet stylish card. My latest addition is one of those simple cards.

I like using the Designer Series paper for these sort of designs. The double-sided designs make it even simpler to coordinate and add different, yet complimentary designs to your creation. So this card is just a few strips cut from the DSP "East Coast Prep" with a ribbon added around the belly of the card. To mimic the dots in the center strip of paper, I added some paper punched holes in two of the cards corners. Finally, I added a sentiment (this one from "It's Your Birthday") and presto.... a simple, stylish birthday card. Enjoy!

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The Valentine's Collection

I was able to squeeze in a little time in my craft room this weekend and I finished out the collection of little cards I'm leaving for my sweetheart this week. Amazingly, there is not one bit of stamping, but I enjoyed creating them nonetheless. Like I said in my previous post, I used the sheet of VDay rub-ons that I picked up at Target last week. The little mailbox is from the $1 spot at Target also. I decided not to alter the mailbox now.... Ray is a simple guy and I think he'll appreciate it this way; but, I will be taking back this little cutie and putting my spin on it after Valentine's.

Just a few added supplies with the new cards.....

I imagine I would have passed Ray a love note like this little one had I known him in 3rd grade. I made it look like notebook paper by drawing lines with my Brocade Blue and Real Red markers, then used the index punch to add the side details, finally I "scuffed up" the edges using my unmanicured fingernails. On the third card I used little scraps of East Coast Prep designer series paper to add some color. The final little goodie is a candy sandwiched between two scallop punches with a little detail on top. I saw this cute idea for the candies in Jami's gallery over at Splitcoast.

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My Little Valentine

I'm feeling really crafty today... so here's another little bit....

I ran across these really cool rub-ons at Target the other day; they are by K & Company, in the Marcella line. It's a long sheet of various little Valentine transfers and I couldn't resist. Ray and I have never really been big into "V-Day", but I thought I'd surprise him with a few little cards and goodies on the days leading up. Here's my little creation, much easier than making actual cupcakes!

Supplies:
Whisper white, Green Galore and Real Red cardstock
Real Red grosgrain
Silver cord
little silver tag I had in my stash
K & Company Cupcake transfers
1" and 3/4" circle punches

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To Teacher... with love

I've had my eye on some of the great acetate projects I've seen over on Splitcoast, so I wanted to give one a try for myself. This is simply a 2-4-6-8 box made from a clear transparency instead of cardstock. The top and bottom are just box ends made from the Berry Bliss DP. I'm not sure if I could make too many of these because they are a little trickier than I thought, but I know Connor's Kindergarten teacher will appreciate it. It's filled with those wonderful little Dove chocolate hearts.

Supplies Used:

Berry Bliss Designer Series paper

acetate sheet

Chocolate Chip satin ribbon

Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White cardstock

Chocolate Chip and Purely Pomegranate ink

"Riveting" set

Scallop, 1 3/8, 1 1/4 and 1" circle punches

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Makin' the world a cuter place....

I'm trying out something new; new to me at least. I'm going to work on a 8 1/2 x 11 landscape album. I've never scrapbooked this size, but I like the updated version of turing in lengthwise. For now, I'm just going to catch up on a few random layouts. Here's the first:
He is sure doing his part, isn't he! For this layout, I used Taken with Teal cardstock, the new and fabulous East Coast Prep Designer Series paper and some More Mustard cardstock. I *love* Stampin' Up's new rub-ons; in this layout I used the circle sentiment and the star from the "Anchored" collection. Other accessories include the photo corner punch, 1 3/8 circle, 1 1/4 circle, Crafter's Toolkit and the coluzzle cutting system. With the little bit of stamping on this page, done color on color in the background, I used the Classic Background set. To stick everything down, I used the Tombow Multi purpose and some dimensionals to give a little pop. Here's a close up on the corner embellishment.

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