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.  

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!