Krafty Valentines

Today I wanted to try something new to me.  I have three or four different styles of "Kraft" card stock.  You know the one - it's the color of a brown paper bag. Who knew those came in so many different colors?  I struggle to use mine at all and every time I've tried so far, I've been very unhappy with the results.  So I was asking around on a forum that I'm a member of and I was pointed toward Heather Nichols' Blog.  She has rightly been dubbed the "Queen of Kraft" and now I know why.

So after looking around her blog I decided to give it another go.  One thing I noticed is that I seem to really like Kraft with white accents or embossing.  I've even seen a few pastel embossing powders that I like, but I didn't try that today.

I pulled out my trusty Darkroom Door "French Script" Background Stamp. Laying it face up on my table I inked it up with Versamark.  Then I laid a piece of Kraft card stock on top of that and carefully holding it so as not to move or smudge it, I set a large acrylic block on top of that to press down.  There's less risk of me messing it up this way. The acrylic block glides over the surface of the paper without budging it, unlike my finger tips. I suppose it's all what you get used to doing and this is what works for me.  I heat set it using Simon Says Stamp White Embossing Powder and cut it with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle.

Next I cut a My Favorite Things Leaf Filled Flourish out of Stamper's Select White Card stock. That reminds me...Have y'all ever noticed that Stampers and Scrapbooker's call it Cardstock (1 word) vs. the rest of the world that calls it Card Stock (2 words) and even spell check wants to correct it?  Ha!  Just thought I'd mention that.  For the hearts I have an old Accucut Die that I have always loved. It has one part that goes on the front of the card stock and another than that goes on the back to make the deep impression.  It's a "hinged" die if that makes sense.  I cut those using Papertrey Ink's Berry Sorbet Cardstock.  I love this color.  It has been a replacement for me of my no-longer-available Cameo Coral and it has just the right touch of pink. I absolutely love Papertrey Ink's Cardstocks. They are 110# solid core and soooo smooooth! I only have 3 colors of these so far, but I will replace my SU colors with Papertrey Ink's as my supply is depleted which will be a while.

Using Ranger Multi Medium Matte, I adhered the flourish to the background panel then attached that to my Stamper's Select White Card Base.  I used Foam Squares on the back of the hearts and adhered them with one slightly on top of the other,  I cut the "love" greeting using a die from Little Yellow Bicycle that I got at Hobby Lobby using a scrap of gold foil card stock.  I glued the "l" onto one of the hearts and the other end to the flourish which also adds a bit of dimension to the card as well.

This card will be on it's way tomorrow to my grand girls and I feel it's my first success on Kraft Cardstock.  I'll definitely be trying it again but in the meantime I'll be linking this up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog for the "Have A Heart" theme.