Foiled Rose Valentine Card

Recently, I've been playing with my Spellbinder foiling machine again in the hopes of creating some Valentine cards.  I was still having a hard time getting clear images from some of the metal foiling design plates.  The thin edged designs transferred well but the bigger solid areas had some freckled missing foil spots.  I solved the problem by adding a cardboard shim before rolling the platform with metal plate into my Big Shot.  This gave more pressure onto the design, eliminating the spotting on the resulting image. I absolutely love the rose hot foiling plate and die set and I can see many uses for it.  The large-letter LOVE foil plate seemed like it would make a bold background for a variety of cards.  However, after foiling many times on a variety of printed and solid card stocks, the result was always a very faint design.  I was about to throw out the seemingly useless papers with barely visible designs, when I was struck with an idea....why not use the throw-aways for backgrounds?  This card was the result of a less-than-perfect foiled card stock. Hopefully, I will post other foiled cards in the coming weeks before Valentine's Day.  Oh yes, the gold foil words on the card were made with a sticker (from my old stash).  If my high school French memory is still clear, 'je t'aime' means 'I love you' so this foiled phrase adds a bit of elegance to my simple Valentine card.  Je t'aime for visiting my blog site!

 

Punny Mini Valentine Calendars

I love word puns so I naturally gravitate to the Dandelion Designs stamp sets.  Recently, a crafty friend sent me a DD stamp set that I didn't have (the shoyu one) so I was inspired to make these calendars (my last three for 2023),  

These were so easy to whip up because the small images required very little coloring....the fussy cutting was a little more involved.  

For information about how to construct these calendars please visit my previous post.

I decided to show the backs of these calendars so that you are aware that printed card stock selection is important so that the back of the calendar design is not upside-down (middle calendar)...hahaha!

These Dandelion Design stamp sets (plus others) are available at HM Ben Franklin Crafts. Have a PUN time shopping and crafting!
 

Winnie-the-Pooh 2023 Mini Calendars

Since I had extra mini calendars (purchased from Vippies but possibly available at HM BFC), I decided to use them up before the year flies by....again!  I chose a Valentine card stock with conversation hearts printed on it.  Be sure to select a design which has printed hearts that can be used upside down too, for the back of the calendar. Three calendars can be made from one 12x12 sheet.  Start by cutting a strip 3-1/2" wide and folding at 3-1/2" and 7". Then continue to make a fold at 7-3/4", 8-1/2", and 9-1/4".  Accordion fold the pleats, cut off the extra paper and glue down the flap. (See bottom photo.)  Glue the images to some plain white card stock before fussy cutting them out and attaching them with foam dots to the calendars. Super simple and so cute! These mini calendars are perfect for tucking into Valentine treat bags or leaving on the desk of someone special. Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Winnie-the-Pooh Shaker Card

This Winnie-the-Pooh shaker card was super simple to make because the characters didn't have to be stamped and colored.  The images of Pooh and Piglet were cut from an envelope that was in a stationery set purchased at Daiso.  There are eight sheets of paper and four envelopes in the set so there are many images.  I glued the Pooh and Piglet onto a plain white card stock paper before fussy cutting them out so that they would be sturdier as the envelope was made of a thin vellum-like paper.  The heart opening in the printed heart background card stock was cut with a Spellbinders die before a small sheet of acetate was attached to the back of the heart opening.  Foam tape was used around the back of the heart to form a well into which the Daiso heart sequins were deposited.  The protective tape from around the heart opening was removed before a small piece of printed heart card stock was adhered to the back of the shaker element to seal in the sequins.  More foam tape was attached along the edges of the main heart printed card stock so that it could be adhered to the white card blank. Finally, the Pooh and Piglet images were glued to the front of the card. Voila!...a cute Valentine's Day card for just pennies!  You can create and save by shopping at HM Ben Franklin Crafts and Daiso!

 

Decorated Daiso Glass Jar and Wooden Spoons

 As promised, this post shows two Daiso products that I decorated for Valentine's Day.  (Visit my previous post to see the Daiso items before they were decorated.)  I glued some red heart sequins on one wooden spoon, applied UV-LED Padico resin (hard)over the sequins and then put the spoon under the UV light. (Before you glue the sequins, be sure to glue a sample on paper first because some glues make the color on the sequins bleed.)  For the second spoon I simply wrapped washi tape around the handle before applying and curing the resin.  On the wooden top of the Daiso glass jar I glued four heart-shaped plastic beads (use a strong jewelry glue from HM BFC).  Around the jar I applied some washi tape with heart designs before I painted over the tape with resin. Using the UV light (available at HM Ben Franklin Crafts) I set the resin. The resin makes the spoons and jar waterproof but I'm not sure if the resin is food safe so don't apply it in the jar or the part of the spoons that will touch the food.  Please check out both Daiso and HM Ben Franklin Crafts for products that you can use to create some sweet Valentine gifts.

Daiso Shopping and Crafting

Most people shop at Daiso for the great prices on unique products (almost everything is only $1.75); I do too, but I am also always on the lookout for items for crafting.  Recently, I discovered a lot of Daiso items that are perfect for Valentine's Day. I plan to use the heart confetti in my shaker cards and of course the heart design washi tapes will be useful on my projects all year.

I also found some wooden spoons, ceramic tile magnets and hair ornaments that I will turn into Valentine gifts.  I will post the projects when they are done.

Daiso had some really cute stationery products.  Many of them had rabbit images on them because it is the Year of the Rabbit.  Rather than use them as gift money envelopes, I plan to incorporate them onto greeting cards.

The assortment of Daiso origami paper packs and stationery are amazing and will most likely be fashioned into cards or used to decorate bags and boxes. I will post the finished products.

Finally, I purchased some super cute pouches and zippered bags.  I think I will use them to make matching sets of greeting cards or tags to give as small gifts to friends.  The recipient will then be able to use the stationery and then have a pouch to use to hold other items.  Anyway, I really had fun shopping at Daiso and thinking of creative ways to use the products in craft projects.  I hope that you will shop at Daiso to take advantage of the great prices and unique products. I know that you will be able to make something fun from what you purchase.  Happy shopping and crafting!
 

Year of the Rabbit Mochi Pounding Card

While in Japan, I excitedly purchased two rabbit stamps. I thought the rabbits pounding mochi and the subsequent rabbit shaped mochi were just too funny and sweet to pass up. I knew that I could use them in Year of the Rabbit cards.  Using only two small  sheets of printed origami paper from a pack (HM Ben Franklin Crafts and Daiso have lots to choose from), I was able to make these cards.  The small hexagon pieces were cut with a Spellbinders die (from a set).  The pounding rabbits were stamped with permanent black ink (some brands work better with Japanese stamps that are made from a white rubber) and then colored in a bit with white and pink watercolor pencils. The grey paper has a rough texture that matches well with the muslin card purchased in a Paper Arts pack from HM Ben Franklin Crafts.

The small gold character stamp (celebration) was not heat embossed onto the card but done on a separate paper and fussy cut out before gluing to the card....safer than taking a chance and messing up the final step.  Because the origami sheets had an all over print you can see that each card will be slightly different depending upon which section of the paper you use. Each card will be an original one-of-a- kind!

P.S. The mochi rabbits were stamped and added to the inside of the cards.  They still make me smile!