Hey Love -- Your Heart Is My Home

Hello Everyone!  This is my last post as the Designer in the Spotlight for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge in January 2017. I have a super fun project for you today featuring items available in the Simon Says Stamp Store.

If you've been to my blog before, you probably know I really love using gold on most of my projects.  It instantly adds an elegant touch to anything. It's pretty easy to find foiled Designer Paper at your local craft store but they are often white with gold foil which always makes me think of a wedding.*Ü* If they come in a color other than white, they are often difficult to match to supplies you already have on hand.

For today's card, I used one of my "go-to" techniques which is to ink blend on the white paper and get a match for whatever color I'm planning to use. In this case I used some Simon Says Stamp Teeny Bikini Ink with a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool to color the paper in the shade I wanted. Once I had the ink blended to the depth of color I wanted, I gave it an all over spray with some Tsukineko Sheer Gold Shimmer Spritz and set it aside to dry while I worked on the rest of my card.  So far, I've never messed up a piece of the foiled paper but on the off chance that I might, I do cut the large sheet down to 6 x 6 sheets once I get it home and store it that way. Once I did get a bit carried away and bent the foiled paper, but I was able to smooth it out with my Teflon Bone Folder and salvage it.  I've just been a bit more careful since then not to do it again.

I've also done this ink blending technique with some other foiled papers I have in my stash have that are colored.  If you use a darker shade of ink in the same tone, it works great without having to have an exact match in colored cardstock. I tried this technique in desperation once to get a match for a project and I've been doing it on purpose since then. If I see a white and gold foiled paper I like, I don't hesitate to buy it because I can make it match whatever color I need it to.

Each time I look at this Heartstrings Die from Concord & 9th, I think of the saying that "Home is where the heart is".  I wanted a clever way to use this die for a Valentine's Day card for my hubby because no matter where I am, he needs to be there for it to feel like home.  To keep all the pieces together after die cutting, I used some Micro-Pore tape on the back side after I had cut it out.  You could also use Washi Tape or Painter's Tape.  My banner sentiment came from the Simon Says Stamp Love Makes a Home Stamp Set and the love die is, of course, Kristina's Love Die in Kristina Werner's fantastic handwriting. I can hardly wait to see what Kristina Werner designs this year for Simon Says Stamp although there are a few more dies that have already been released that I'd like to have. All of the word dies from the Hey Love Release are designed to mix and match and work with each other except for the Love 2 Set.

For the sentiment banner, I used Versamark Ink to stamp it then heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. This is my go-to choice for embossing powder.  I love metallic gold, but not if it is really yellow gold so I opt for Antique Gold tones. I attached the background panel to a Bazzill Marshmallow Card Shoppe Card Base using Scor-Tape. If your background panel gets a bit warped you can flatten it out by running it through your die cutting machine with an embossing sandwich (minus the embossing folder). Next, I attached the Heartstrings Die Cut onto a slightly smaller heart shape made of Fun Foam and then attached that to my card base using Ranger Multi Medium Matte. The smaller heart is attached using two of the small sized Thin 3D Foam Squares.

The Concord & 9th Heartstrings Die is in two pieces so you can set the inside piece how you want it.  For my first card, I offset it quite a bit to make it seem like the strings were being "tugged" closer to the heart. I centered it more for the 2nd and 3rd cards I'm showing here.  The small center heart was inked up using the same ink on a scrap of the same paper.

For my second card, I inked up the designer paper with Simon Says Stamp Merlot Ink on what was originally an ivory colored stripe. You can really make it any color you want. I also centered the inside of the heart rather than off setting it. On my third card, I inked it up using Simon Says Stamp Island Blue and assembled everything on on a Navy Card Base but I kept the banner and word die white. The Heartstrings Die and the Love Shadow were cut from the same Die Cuts With a View Gold Foiled Cardstock although it might be a bit hard to see here.

I hope I've inspired you to give this a try next time you need a certain color but don't have the time or inclination to go looking for it at your local craft store.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. I've so enjoyed being on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog this past month. Thanks to Heidi and the gang at Simon Says Stamp as well as Lols and all of my teammies! It's been a blast! Don't forget to create your own project and enter it at the link-up for your chance to win a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store.