Valentines - Appreciate the chemistry

Valentine's Day Card - Appreciate the Chemistry

I found a chemistry themed stamp set in my stash, on closer inspection they were all centred around love so with valentines coming up I thought I'd make a Valentine's Day card. Now, I'm pretty sure I bought this "chemistry love" stamp set off AliExpress and it shows, the images are quite small and the text is tiny so you need to be careful when you stamp with them to make sure you get a clear image.

Click https://youtu.be/Eg9MA4H5mRw to go to my youTube channel and watch a process video on how I made this card.

Now for those who don't know me, I'm not a big Valentines Day celebrator. Well I say happy Valentines to my partner and maybe we'll have a nicer than normal dinner that night but otherwise we are pretty boring! However, the chemistry of this stamp set just tempted out and connected with the geek in me.

I wanted to use my Simon Say Stamp All the Thanks stamp set and I found a sentiment saying "I appreciate you so much" which is perfect for my partner as it's not something I would say too often to him but should probably do so as he does a lot for me. I also had some leftover diecut letters from the coordinating die cut that came with my Concord and 9th Simple Serif Alphabet Stamp Set so decided to make up 'happy valentine's' using those letters as well as the hearts that set comes with.

"Chemistry love" & Simple Serif Alphabet Stamp Sets

If you're wondering, I store my stamp (and die) sets in black envelopes with the full stamp set stamped on the front using white pigment ink.


Firstly though, I put a pink notecard into my stamping platform, then arranged lots of the images in the chemistry love stamp set all over the card. Then picked them up onto the platform's door and used Stampin' Up's Cherry Cobbler ink to stamp a background of the images onto the pink card.

I then arranged the letters to say happy valentine's so I could position the sentiment 'I appreciate you so much' between the two words. Used clear embossing ink to stamp the sentiment then heat embossed it with black embossing powder.

Using dots of PVA glue I adheres the die cut letters and hearts to the card as shown.

The pink notecard got a little warped from the glue (and because it's not the highest quality card) so to iron it out, I left it sandwich in my stamping platform with a heavy weight on top overnight.

Came back the next day to make a brown card base, then adhered the main notecard to the front of the brown card base using double-sided tape.

All done.

Happy Crafting!

Mel Crafting.

Birthday Card - Spinner - Bear

Birthday Bear Spinner Card

I found some images I'd stamped and watercolored using STA Aquarelle Brush Markers (a review for which can be found here) some time ago. They were pictures of the front and back of animals so perfect for spinner cards. Couple that with the fact that I needed to make some birthday cards in preparation for upcoming family birthday, this card was a good way to use up some of my crafty stash whilst making a card I'd have a use for!

In my internet travels, I stumbled across the Addicted to Stamps and More 'Make Your Mark' card challenge, since this card fit the rules as I used watercolor markers to water color the bear I thought I'd enter it for fun! You can find details of the challenge here.

 

My crafty stash also contains a bunch of die cut words that I've kept from the time I went crazy when I first got my Big Shot die cut machine. I don't like the idea of waste so I'm going to aim to use up as much of these as possible in future cards too.

I found a happy dies cut with matching shadow and placed that at the top of a purple notecard. I left it floating there so I could position the square diecut for the spinner element window. Once I'd decided on the position for the window I used masking tape to tape temporarily tape the notecard to a matching card base then run it through my die cut machine a couple of times (each layer separately to make sure I got a nice clean cutout).

I used my stamping platform to stamp the word 'BIRTHDAY' underneath 'Happy' with clear embossing ink. Then used black embossing powder to heat emboss it.

Then I used a toothpick to pickup little amounts of PVA glue to dot on the back of the black 'happy' diecut to stick it to its matching shadow cutout. Then did the same to adhere both to the card front.

Next was making the spinner element. I fussy cut around the bear images and went around the outside with a black alcohol marker to tidy up the edges. I then sandwiched some thin red string (clear nylon or fishing line would be better but I didn't have any) between the two images and stick them together using doubled sided tape. I taped down the ends of the string to the back of the notecard making sure to line up the bear inside the window and making sure the string is taught.

Using double-sided tape I adhered the front notecard to the card base, making sure to windows lined up. 

Trimmed the outside edges to make it look tidy and added a strip of masking tape to the fold of the card to give it a bit of reinforcing (unfortunately, I used quite low quality card stock and it felt quite flimsy without it - please don't judge me, I'm new to this card making thing, having lots of fun doing it but I'm still learning!)

And we are all done.

For a process video on how I make another spinner card check out the link below:

 

Happy Crafting!

Mel Crafting.

Birthday Beads Shaker Card

Birthday Bead Shaker Card

First birthday card I made for my niece. I also entered it into  a couple of card challenges: AAA Birthday card challenge - Click here for more details on the AAA Birthday "A shaker card" card challenge.

Also entered into CAS Watercolour card challenge. Click here for more details on the CAS Watercolour "Cool Colours" card challenge.

And if you want to watch a process video for this card, here is a link to a similar shaker card I made in a similar fashion.

It is actually a notecard (no folding card base used) where the message is written in white gel pen on the back of the card front you see in the photo. I wanted to use up stuff in my crafty stash including letters I made when testing an alphabet die I bought off AliExpress and an awesome watercolor painting my 3 year old made using STA Aquarelle Watercolor Brush markers ( a review for these markers can be found here.

Watercolor Painting by my 3 year old with niece's name

I used a glue stick to adhere the die cut letters of my niece's name to the watercolor painting. I then used doubled sided tape to adhere a piece of plastic to the inside of black cardstock with a circle cut out. I decided to make a shaker card so I'm making a circle window here looking through to Sophia's name on the water colour background.

Window Made, Beads Ready, Foam Tape Offset

I used some glass beads as the shaker elements and double layer of foam tape to add both dimension and some space for the beads to move around in. Removed the backing paper on the foam tape and placed the card front on top of the watercolor background and diecut name.

Card Front with Shaker Window

Then I used clear embossing ink to heat emboss happy birthday in silver under the shaker window.

Unfortunately, I should have done the heat embossing before attaching the plastic for the window as I accidentally melted a little hole in the window! That is why I had to place some grey star washi tape across the card front to disguise the hole.

To finish the card I adhered the card front to a black notecard, trimmed off any excess and gave the card a tester shake.

All done, and happy crafting!

Mel Crafting.