Hello, dear blog friends! January is nearly gone already and Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Can you believe it? Slow down, Time! We're here with another Heartfelt Creations blog hop, and I know you'll enjoy all of the gorgeous creations from our alumni design team members, but also receive some incentive and inspiration to get stamping and creating! What better way to spend these gray, dreary days of winter, than doing what you love? These ladies never fail to amaze me! Don't forget to visit the Heartfelt Creations blog each Wednesday to see the current design team's projects, and watch for new products being introduced!
The hop starts on Tuesday, January 31st, at 8:00 a.m. EST - it will close on Friday, February 3rd, at midnight.
There will be one lucky person chosen at random from all the comments on the blog hop to receive a $25 gift certificate from Heartfelt Creations! All you have to do is visit each designer's blog and leave some love in the comments section! Emma Lou at HFC will do the rest, and we'll all try to announce the winner on our blogs, on Saturday, February 4th. If you're the lucky one, just email her with "winner of alumni hop Jan 31" in the subject line. Good luck to each of you!
Here's the list of Heartfelt Creations alumni designers - just leave a comment on each blog after you enjoy the creative beauty of each entry. I know I can speak for all of us - we love your comments, and look forward to hearing from you! We are also thankful for each of you!
The blog started here:
Olga http://craftieodamae.blogspot.com
Selma http://selmasstampingcorner.blogspot.com/
Loretta http://lovetocreate.blogspot.com/
You are here: Clare http://clarespaperworks.blogspot.com
My encouragement card is 4 7/8" wide by 6 1/4" high, and was very easy to make! I started with plain white cardstock scored and folded to the above measurements. I cut a piece of black cardstock 3 5/8" wide by 6 1/4" high and adhered that to the left side of the front of the white card base. I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a sponge dauber to "age" the remaining white cs showing on the right side of the front panel.
Prior to assembling the card base and panels, I made the flowers, and set them aside to dry. I used Heartfelt Creations HCPC 2293 Aztec Gold Sunflowers 2 Precut Set (2 of smallest) and HCPC 2294 Aztec Gold Sunflowers 1 Precut Set (2 of largest, 3 of medium, and 3 of small) to stamp the flowers in Versafine Onyx ink on fuchsia cardstock from the Black Currant Stack by DCWV. (This is gorgeous cs!) I hand-cut (or some call it fussy-cutting) the flowers, since I don't own the Blossom 2 Nestabilities dies from Spellbinders that matches these stamps. I used pink glitter nailpolish on the tips of each flower petal (and the butterfly's antenna) then painted all the flowers but 1 med and 1 small of Precut Set 1, with glossy Mod Podge, and let dry. On two of the smallest flowers, I glued black chunky glitter to the centers.
I cut a piece of the floral foiled cs from the Black Currant stack, 6" high by 4 1/2" wide. Before adhering it to the front of the white cardstock base, I glued a scrap piece of the fuchsia cs (measuring 1" high by 4 1/2" wide, across the bottom of the floral foiled piece, about 2/3 down from the top. About 1/3 of the way down on the front of the floral cs, I glued a piece of black scrap cs 3 1/2" wide by 1 1/2" high horizontally on the left side, with the right edge trimmed with fancy scissors. I adhered a piece of pink vellum vertically down the center of the card front, measuring 6" high by 1 7/8" wide. Over this I glued a stem and leaves diecut, which was cut from white cs, and I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink to "age" the paper. I cut a 9" length of 7/8" wide black grosgrain ribbon, tied one side into a bow, and looped part around the stem diecut, loosely twisting it and taping both loose ends to the back of the floral foil panel.
At the tips of the leaf stems, I glued the flower bases, and used dimensional pop-dots to layer all of the flower layers. Two largest, two medium, one small, one smallest, and the smaller flower was one small and one of the smallest glued together. The two smallest are the ones with the black chunky glitter. My good friend, Donna, was kind enough to diecut the leaf stem and the butterfly layers for me! These really added a nice touch to this card. Thank you, Donna! I glued the white butterfly diecut just in the center of the body to the pink base, and applied the tiny pink rhinestone. I gently bent the white wings up. The antenna had been previously painted with pink glitter nailpolish. (I like using nailpolish, because of its acrylic base, and unlike glue and glitter alone, when the polish is dry, the glitter doesn't flake off) I adhered the butterfly with Aleene's Tacky Glue just on the points of the butterfly where it came into contact with the larger flower. Adhere entire front panel to card base centering it on all sides, leaving a 1/8" border all around.
On the inside of the card, I used a next to largest Spellbinders die from the Labels 5 set to cut the white cs panel. Then I used the small and medium stamp from the precut set 2 along with Stampin' Up's Marvelous Magenta classic ink to stamp the flowers on it. I used the Psalm 3:3 stamp from my stash for the sentiment. For layering, I cut one of the largest diecuts from the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Motifs set out of the pink vellum, and applied it to the center of the left inside. Adhere the sentiment piece offset to the lower right, and glue flat the two accent flowers. The black cs border is punched with a Martha Steward punch from a scrap.
I had a lot of fun making this card. I really like making the 3D images. Thanks again, Donna, for the diecuts! If you have any questions at all, please contact me!
Next up is the uber-talented and creative Carla - just click on her link to go to her blog and see her beautiful creations!
Carla http://carlasstampingspot.blogspot.com
Marsha http://www.stampingdownsouth.blogspot.com/
Linda http://paynehollercards.blogspot.com
I have another posting I need to get done, so I'll close for now - I just want to wish you good luck, and happy stamping! Thank you, Heartfelt Creations!
