Nontraditional Valentine’s Card

In our house Valentine’s Day really takes a back seat. Between my husband’s crazy work schedule, classroom parties, and just getting recovered from the Christmas holidays we really let Valentine’s Day slide.

I do like to leave a card for my husband though, just to let him know I’m thinking of him. However, I don’t want to go and buy a Valentine’s stamp set for one card. So what I do is try and find creative ways to use stamp sets I already have. This is what I’ve done for your today.

I will be using a stamp set from Avery Elle called Berry Good. This is one of those stamp sets that can have a number of uses, one which is a Love card, which I will be showing you today. I will be sure to show you future uses for this stamp set in the future though so check back in!

So let’s get started on today’s card!

Here’s my process:

Here is a photo of the stamp set that I used. Again, here is the link of the to the set “Berry Good” by Avery Elle.

I started my card by prepping a piece of white cardstock that measured    4″ X 5 1/4″ with my Embossing Bag. I stamped the lemon image in Versafine Onyx Black Ink onto the upper middle portion of the panel using my MISTI, of course!

Since I used a pigment ink I was able to cover the image in Ranger’s Clear Superfine Detail Embossing Powder and then heat emboss it using my heat gun.

I then colored in my image using my trusty Crayola and Cra-Z-Art colored pencils! As always, I just kept building up the layers of wax/color until I got the color and blend that I wanted.

Here is a close up of the coloring.

Next, I wanted to add a little bit of interest to card but also make sure to highlight and draw attention to the colored image. What I decided to do was take two nesting circle dies and, instead of using them to cut, I embossed them into my cardstock.

To do this I simply put about four layers of felt, you can also use an Embossing Mat, underneath my panel with the dies taped into place. Then I ran that through my Big Shot like I would an embossing folder.

Here is a photo of the beautiful embossing you get with this technique!

I wanted to create a banner for the sentiment on this card. I know you can cut your own banner, but I can never get mine even! For that reason I always turn to this this die set from My Favorite Things. I did some partial die cutting with the thin banner in the die set so it was a bit shorter to fit the “Pucker Up” sentiment included in the stamp set. I should mention that I cut it from some Bazzill Date Swirl Cardstock, but you can use any black cardstock you may have.

After the banner was cut, I dusted it with my embossing bag to prep the surface of the cardstock. Then, I used my MISTI again, to stamp the sentiment in Versamark Ink. I used this ink so I would be able to cover the ink in Stampin’ Up’s White Embossing Powder. I then used my heat tool to melt the powder.

To finish this card off I simply popped up the sentiment banner using some foam tape. Then, I popped the entire front panel up with some fun foam and Scor-Tape onto a card base that I made out of the same black cardstock I used before. My card base is a standard A2 sized which i s 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″. And my card was finished!

Here are a few more images of the finished card.

Thank you for looking and Happy Crafting!