Valentine Bundle

Hello everyone!  This is my third week in the Designer Spotlight at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for January 2017 and this week's theme is "Anything but a card" featuring We R Memory Keepers products.  You don't have to use them to play in the challenge, but if you have some, we would love to see them used.

For my Valentine Bundle, I used a We R Memory Keepers Next Level Embossing Folder in Gemstone for the large gold heart die cut and the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to make my goodie bag.  I also used the Simon Says Stamp "Kristina's Love" Die to add to my gift bag and the Simon Says Stamp Happy Valentine's Day Die for one of the hearts on the card. Both of these dies are from the Simon Says Stamp Hey Love Release. The large hearts are cut from scraps of cardstock using Little B Hearts Designer Cutting Dies. For the goodie bag, you can use scrapbook paper or gift wrap that you already have around which is what I did.

While my project does include a card, I created a Valentine's Day Bundle for my hubby.  My favorite color combination for a masculine Valentine's Day is red, grey, black and white with some touches of gold and silver in there as well. Metallics always seem to be a great choice for the men in my life. I wanted to make a little gift sack for some sweet treats that I can pop into his lunch box.  I made a few gift bags over Christmas and I wanted something similar although this one was a bit easier because I kept it flat. I used a piece of paper that had foiling on it and made a bag by scoring the paper with my Score Tool, then using the envelope punch board centered along the score lines.  Once that was done, I scored along the bottom 1 inch and folded toward the inside to create the "bag". You just need a bit of glue or double sided tape all along the side and bottom seams.
Because I didn't think I was doing a very good job of explaining what I did, I made another bag so I could take step by step pictures to show you how I did it.

I made my first score line at 10.5 inches on an 11 inch wide x 8.5 inch tall piece of patterned paper. I creased that fold well. Then I folded the remaining width in half up to the first score line and creased that well. Using the Envelope Punch Board, I cut the notches on each end and at the center fold/score line.

Next I put quarter inch Scor-Tape on the edges where the bag would be adhered.  I cut the small flap of excess paper away for a smoother fold and put the bottoms together removing the release paper. You could use any kind of double sided tape or adhesive.  I just happen to like Scor-Tape because it is strong and holds well. Next I tucked in the side flap and pulled away the release paper from the Scor-Tape to make my basic bag shape.

I used a scallop border die to cut across the top for the decorative edge.  This is another die that I have had for a number of years, but you can find these beautiful scallop border dies at Simon Says Stamp. Now we have a gift sack or bag that can be made from any paper you already have.  I chose to make this sample one in a bright/different color than the rest of my project so you could see how I did it (I hope).

On my Valentine Project, I used a 12 x 12 piece of patterned paper so I cut away the 2.5 inches of excess paper from the top of my gift sack before I cut the scalloped edge and used those pieces to make a paper medallion to go behind the embossed heart. The heart is an old die I have had for a number of years and has always been a favorite of mine.  It "lives" in a dish on my die cutting table. I cut it from Gold Foiled Cardstock and used some of the stretchy gold cord to make the hanger for my paper medallion. Hot Glue is the best adhesive for this particular thing because it is super sturdy and dries super fast. I used Silver & Black wired ribbon to tie around my food treat bags because it was the right color, not because it was wired. *Ü*  Those Pink, Red & White treats are Jumbo M&M's with Valentine sayings on them like "Hug Me", "Kiss Me" etc.  I'd never seen them before but I thought they were super cute! There's even a heart shaped lollipop in the gift bag.


Make sure to stop over at the Simon Says Stamp Blog to see all the projects from the design team and also to check out all the entries over at the Link-Up.  There will be so many interpretations for this theme and my favorite part is seeing how everyone else interpreted it.  I always get new ideas from this!