No Time To Stamp?

I’ll start with the Chit Chat tonight!!

The Ultimate Valentine Challenge: Do you remember a month or more ago I posted about Pat Adam (The Rubber Maid)needing to come up with 1,000 Valentines for Children’s Hospital in Detroit? The Ultimate Valentine Challenge was issued in the hopes of helping Pat achieve what seemed to be an almost impossible goal. Well, well, well - I could NOT believe when I read on Pat’s blog earlier that she not only met, but FAR exceeded that goal! I was totally blown away to read that she recieved a total of 5,682 Valentines!!! And you know where they all came from - FROM YOU — those of you who read blogs and were willing to pitch in and help — oh my goodness!!! It just brings me almost to tears to think of what can be done when everyone pitches in — this is just so, so amazing!!! Why don’t you pop on over to Pat’s Blog to check out the pictures she’s posted of the hospital and while you’rethere, thank her for coordinating this monumentous effort!!! GREAT JOB, PAT!!! What you have taken on and accomplished just warms my heart, inside and out!!!

6 x 6 Pad Storage: And next, just a few days ago I posed a question on my post, asking you all how you store your 6 x 6 Basic Grey pads, especially once they get torn apart with a lot of loose and small papers. Well, my friend, Michelle Woerner, Stop and Stamp the Roses, just did a post yesterday on her system for 6 x 6 paper storage. She has some nice little cubes and what she is doing looks much more functional than what I’ve been doing with my ziplock bag system. The next time I go shopping I’m going to look for some of these cubes and give it a try. You can check out Michelle’s post here. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing the info — MUCH appreciated!!! Oh, and check out her beautiful Mother’s Day cards once you’re there!!! Sooooo pretty!!

My card for today: After getting home very late from a basketball game tonight, I still needed to come up with a Valentine card for our Youth Group teens to make tomorrow morning, for delivery in the afternoon (nothing like doing these ahead of time!). I decided to check out theInspiration Challenge at SCS for inspiration and HOW FUN!!! The inspiration pieces are all heavily decorated bras (YES — to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness). You MUST pop over there to check them out — so fun!!! The bra I chose for my inspiration is on page 2, called Still in Bloom. It is mostly pink and white with texture, as is my card, butthe bra hassome green and purple added, which you will see popping up in my 2nd photo below!!! Anyway, here’s my Valentine that the Youth Group teens will make tomorrow — there’s only a few of the teens and they will make about 12 cards:

Simple for them to make, and I hope they like them! It won’t take long as I’ll have everything precut, embossed and stamped, so all they really need to do is adhere them together and add the heart/button/ribbon focal image. I hope they have fun putting them together!

Here are some of the other colors/patterns they will use. Personally, I think the purple heart/buttons with the Eva paper is going to be my favorite!!! All of my buttons are from Wal-Mart. They come in little bags on the spinny rack in the sewing section. They are SO cheap and I have had really great luck matching them to my SU and Prism cardstocks! I’ve been totally pleased with them!!!

Stamps: Verve Visual Plain Janes, Psalm 37:4

Paper: PTI White, SU Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Eggplant Envy, Prints DP; Basic Grey Euphoria and Eva

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: Heart Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Lace Punch, Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots Folder, Wal-Mart Buttons, Variety of Ribbons, Glue Glider, Mounting Squares.

Note: The Heart Nesties, Basic Grey Paper, Glue Glider and Mounting Squares are available at Joan’s Garden.

Thanks so much for stopping in this weekend! Remember, my Stamp Simply Challenge from yesterday is still there, waiting for you to play with a monogram!!! I so appreciate you taking the time to check in — thank you so much!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, EVERYONE!!!

Keyword ssnotime73 -There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload yourproject at Splitcoastand/or your Blog, anytime at all! You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!)can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!! Please link back here.

LET’S GET NEGATIVE - with negative images that is!!! You can do this challenge by using negative images of punches or die cuts OR by using a negative image, or reversed out, stamp. (When punching out a shape, the negative image is the sheet left over with the hole in it, rather than the object punched. A negative image stamp is one where the main image or words are left unstamped, but all the surrounding area is stamped - just the opposite of a normal stamp) To clarify, you MAY use the punched or die cut shape ALONG WITH your negative image if you desire, as long as the negative image is used as well. Same with stamps — you may use a regular stamp, as long as a negative image stampis used. As long as there is one negative image on your card it’s OK, you need not incorporate both stamps and punches, but you have the option to use either, or both. So, today it’s totally OK to be Negative!!! Let’s go for it — can’t wait to see what you all do!!!

I’dlike to offer aHUGE THANKS to Deb Saaranen (Dream in Color) for being our Guest Designer for the month of January. Deb graced us with many beautiful samples — thank you so much, Deb!!! Be sure to check in at Deb’s Blog often so you won’t miss her wonderful creations!!!!

And with a new month beginning, I’d like to extend a WARM WELCOME to Heather Telford (bits and pieces) who will serve as our February Guest Designer! You will all remember Heather from our Stamp Simply Celebrates! event when she graced us with so many beautiful creations. So happy to have you back this month, Heather - thank you so much!!!

Some great samples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today can be seen on the blogs of these designers:Heather, Dee, Tammy, Janine, AJ,Julie and Jennifer. Becky is taking the week off, but she’ll be back next week! Please bear with us as we are all uploading and linking on Thursday night.

You can see all Gallery Submissions here.

What wonderful samples!!! Thank you girls!!! Much appreciated!!!

I went super simple with my card today — SUPER SIMPLE — LOL!!! Here it is:

My negative image die cut Nestie heart is the card front. I just opened up my card, placed the heart Nestie where I wanted it, ran it through my Cuttlebug to cut and once again to emboss. I had a beautiful heart shaped opening in seconds flat!!! Fun!!! Then, using my Scor-It, I embossed (or scored) 1/2″ from all 4 edges of the card — really finished it off nicely!!! I then cut a smaller heart from pink, embossed it, and adhered to my card inside. I added a single pearl (I love the pure white pearls by Kaiser — they are called Snow), a little satin bow and I’m good!!! Quick, simple, FUN, and I think pretty!!! What more can you ask!!!

Here’s the card standing and open so you can see the negative heart cutout. This card is 5.5″ high x 5″ wide. My bow is adhered with a mini glue dot.

Here’s the opened view of the inside. When signing the card one must be careful where you write as you don’t want your writing to show through the card front. I know this looks like a Valentine, and it certainly could be, but I have a baby shower on Saturday and I do believe they know it’s a girl, so I may just use this for a baby shower card!

Stamps: None

Paper: PTI White, SU Pink Pirouette

Ink: None

Accessories: Heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Scor-It, Snow White Kaiser Pearls, Offray 1/4″ Satin Ribbon, Glue Glider, SU Mini Glue Dots.

Note: The Heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders, the Scor-It, Kaiser Pearls and Glue Glider are available at Joan’s Garden.

Thanks much for checking in again today. This is a fun challenge and I hope you have time to give it a try!!! I think you’ll enjoy it!!! Be sure to check out the designers linked above for a lot more creative ways to use negatives. Hope you can find time to enjoy your weekend ahead!!! See you all soon!!!

Since I had my velvet out yesterday, I couldn’t bear to put it away without trying to emboss on it. I had done this years ago using a rubber stamp, but the heart image I wanted to try today was an acrylic stamp, and it worked wonderfully!!! I used the Lace Heart by Flourishes and embossed it on red dressmaker velvet. Here’s my card:

Before I go any further, I want to say that this is a birthday card for my good friend, Deb, over at Dream in Color. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEB!!! Hope you are having a good one!!!

This is a 5.5″ square card. The background is stamped using one of the Plain Jane Christian sentiments by Verve, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4. The white and black panel are edged in gold.

Here are the steps to embossing on velvet. You’ll need an iron, and the fewer steam holes on the bottom the better, a spritzer bottle of water, a stamp with good line images and velvet fabric. My velvet is a leftover piece so I don’t know what type of velvet it is, but it worked great!!!

1. Lay your stamp right side up on ironing board.

2. Cover your stamp with the velvet, fuzzy side down.

3. Spritz the velvet with water over the area where the stamp is.

4. With a DRY iron set to Cotton/Wool, try to place it on the velvet over the stamp with NO or as few holes as possible on the velvet/stamp. Hold firmly in place for 10 - 20 seconds. I did 20 seconds. Check to see if the velvet is dry. If still damp, hold longer. Be very careful that the velvet does not move under your iron or your image will be messed up.

5. Carefully peel the velvet off the stamp and it should look GREAT!!!

I then placed my Heart Nestability over my embossed velvet heart, taped it into place so it would not shift, and ran it through the Cuttlebug. I ran it through twice to make sure it cut and it did. This time I only had 1 little string to snip with scissors. Just as I did yesterday, I turned my heart upside down and gave it a good spray with spray glue, especially around the edges in an effort to prevent the edges from fraying. I then adhered my embossed velvet heart to my larger heart cut from Black Mirricard from Marco’s Paper. It is highly reflective and looks great against the velvet heart. I added a stick pin and adhered to my card front. A fairly easy card again!!!

I made a card with a black velvet heart yesterday, using a slightly different method that you can read about here if you like. Having fun with velvet this week!!

Stamps: Plain Jane Sentiment by Verve Visual; Lace Heart by Flourishes

Paper: PTI White; SU Black

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black, Gold Calligraphy Pen by Marvy Uchida

Accessories: Classic Heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders; SU Pretties Kit; Black Sheer Ribbon; Glue Dots, Glue Glider, Dimensionals, Iron, Water Spritzer, Velvet Fabric, Spray Glue

Note: Joan’s Garden has the Heart Nestabilities and theGlue Glider.

Thanks much for stopping in again today!!! Tomorrow we have our usual Stamp Simply Challenge up and I’m excited about this one. It’s one I’m going to be especially excited to see all your creations from!!! Hope you’ll have time to check in!!! As always, wishing you all a wonderful week!!!

Funny title!! But I’m using JustRite product to be introduced at CHA, the card is for a Dirty Girl Challenge(click to see all uploads, they’ll be coming in all day long), and the challenge is to make a valentine using texture — thus the velvet!!! So maybe now it’ll make more sense — LOL!!! Each month the Dirty Girls run a challenge amongst themselves and this month it is to make a Valentine with texture, but NO red, so I went pink and black and used the velvet for my texture, among other things. Here it is:

I truly do love this and it was fairly easy to make. It is 5.5″ square, but looks a bit misshapen due to the angle of my photo. I was trying to show all the texture. My heart is black dressmaker velvet fabric. I first adhered dressmaker Pellon Fusible Interfacing to the back of the velvetwith the iron according to the package instructions, and then I ran it through the Cuttlebug with the largest Classic Heart Nestability by Spellbinders. It pretty much cut through. I had to use the scissors to snip a few threads here and there, but I have no complaints. And I might add that my Cuttlebug has gotten very loose, so you may have no problem at all. I was then worried that the raw edges of the velvet may fray and ravel and make a mess on my card, so to try to prevent that I turned the heart upside down and gave it a good spray with Spray Glue, hoping it would keep my edges from fraying. I does appear to have worked, at least initially. I guess time will tell as this card gets packaged and handled if it’ll fray or not — I hope it doesn’t!!! We’ll see –

To add texture to the top black portion of the card, I made a little background stamp on an acrylic block by combining two little swirlies from a Crafty Secrets set and stamped it repeatedly to get my pattern, then black embossed. It does add a very nice texture to the black paper. I got some additional texture on my cardby adding ribbon and pearls, and of course the stick pin and scallops on the heart provide more texture. Hope I *texturized* it enough for those Dirty Girls — LOL!!!

Here’s some of the detail. There’s a light background stamping on the small heart achieved by using a gray ink and stamping off once first. The *True Love* sentiment on my small heart is made using a combination of Times New Roman Font by JustRite and the soon to be available Lowercase Times New Roman Font, both in 25 pt. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that JustRite is making lowercase font available — I just love the more professional and finished look we can achieve with the addition of the lowercase font to their line.

I created my *True Love* on the smaller of my Harmony Rectangle Stampers. The Lowercase Times New Roman font is shown and as you can see it is also available in all 3 sizes to coordinate with the original uppercase font sets — 95 pt., 50 pt. and 25 pt. Again, I used 25 pt. today, but yesterday’s post used the 95 pt. You can see it here if you’d like to see the huge size difference. Love that we have all sizes available with the purchase of one box of font!!!

Stamps: Times New Roman Font and new Lowercase Times New Roman Font, used on the Harmony Rectangle Stamper, all by JustRite. Cherish by Crafty Secrets. Anna Griffin background by All Night Media.

Paper: SU Black, Pink Pirouette. PTI White. Crafty Secrets Classic Heartwarming Vintage Collection Pad.

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black. Palette Charcoal. Versa Mark.

Accessories: Classic and Scallops Heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders; SU Taffeta Ribbon, Pretties Kit, Corner Rounder; Kaiser Pearls; Black Embossing Powder; Glue Glider, Glue Dots, Dimensionals, Mounting Squares, Dressmaker Velvet Fabric, Pellon Fusible Interfacing, Iron, Spray Glue.

(NOTE: I got my Cherish by CraftySecrets, myKaiser Pearls and Glue Glider from Joan’s Garden.)

Please remember to check out the JustRite Blog each day this week — with 2 uploads each day there is a lot of see, drool over and be inspired by over there! New product is being revealed daily and fabulous projects by Guest Designer Barb Schram are being posted daily as well!!! You won’t want to miss Barb’s designs!!!

And if you’re going to be at CHA, be sure to stop at the JustRite booth. Debbie Olson and Sharon Harnist will be providing Make-and-Take projects that you won’t want to miss!!!

Thanks much for stopping in today!!! Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!

I made this card for today’s Featured Stamper Challengeat SCS– Lori Craig!!! How fun!!! Congrats Lori!!! For my card I used some new product beingintroduced at CHA next week by JustRite– their new Vertical Stamper and the Lower Case Times New Roman Font — GREAT additions to the JustRiteline. How happy I am to be able to create vertical words and have them be perfectly straight and lined up. Like the original Harmony Rectangle Stampers, the new Vertical Stampershave the grooves in which you insert the letters so there is NEVER a problem — always straight, always perfect!!! A product I am super excited about!!! I’ll show you below, but first my card:

For my LOVE panel, I used the new Vertical Stamper by JustRite to easily get a perfectly straight sentiment!!! Since I was casing Lori’s card, where she had the image of the woman, I used some tiny floral images from an Inkadinkado set and then adorned them with rhinestones. I cut and embossed my LOVE panel with Long Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, first edging each layer with a gold paint pen. All DP’s used are by Crafty Secrets.

Here’s a closer look where you can see the detail a bit better. I love being able to use lower case font for sentiments. The *Love You* uses Times New Roman Font in 25 pt. and the new Lower Case Times New Roman Font in 25 pt. as well. The LOVE is 95 pt. Times New Roman Font, perfectly aligned with the new Vertical Stamper soon to be available!!! How fun for everyone!!! This is a super versatile stamper, allowing you to make words in a vertical orientation as I have, or you can use it to make a long narrow sentiment using smaller font. I can see this being so fun to use to make sentiments for bookmarks!!! Take a look at this new Vertical Stamper:

See my perfectly aligned LOVE? No mistakes or crooked letters here!!! It has the same grooved base as the other stampers, just in a tall and thin vertical orientation which gives us all so many more options!!! And more options means more fun!!! And my *Love You* using both upper and lower case Times New Roman Font is on the smaller of the Harmony Rectangle Stampers. I really do love the look of the sentiments when both upper and lower case letters are combined!!!

PLEASE HEAD ON OVER TO THE JUSTRITE BLOG each day this week. Fun things are happening there!!! Two posts will go up each day — one post will be with projectsdone by Guest Blogger, Barb Schram!!! Barb does some of the MOST FAB work EVER — her 3-D projects are always so very out of the boxand cool!!! You will NOT want to miss her!!! JustRite is also revealing new product each day — how FUN to see whatis coming for us all to play with — can’twait to see!!! I LOVE what they just posted!!! Go take a peek!!!

Thank you so much for checking in again. I truly do appreciate you stopping in to see what I’m up to — and I do want to give you all a GREAT BIG THANK YOU!!! for all the warm and wonderful birthday wishes extended to me over the past few days!!! Turning 55 ended up being a GREAT thing — LOL!!!! Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!!! See you soon!!!

When I saw the Inspiration Challenge today at SCS, I fell in love with the fresh and clean feel of the first teenagers bedroom pictured. I love the colors and thebreath of fresh air itmade me feel, so that’s what inspired my card. A clean and simple thank you card with a valentine theme, butI am still sending out Christmas thank yous, so I’ll use it now. Here it is:

The brown was the wall color, theaqua/tealishcolor was the bedspread, the pillow and other accent pieces were pink, and there was a black monogram on the wall. The lattice represents the circle features in the bed. This went together very simply and quickly and I am pleased with the results — fresh and clean — just what I was after!

Thank you so much for stopping in today!!! Our temps are warming a bit, and that’s a GOOD thing! It’s been way too cold!!! Hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend.

Keyword ssnotime70 -There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload yourproject at Splitcoastand/or your Blog, anytime at all! You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!)can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!! Please link back here.

This weeks challenge is all about having fun with ourselves!!! And I hope no one takes offense with this challenge as it certainly was not intended that way — the intent is merely to have fun and be able to enjoy where we are in life — wherever that may be!!!

Today is my birthday, my 55th birthday!!! Oh good gracious, how did that happen!!! I don’t feel a day over 25 (most of the time)!!! So today we will make a card that is suitable to give to a Senior Citizen!!! Yes, I know Senior Citizens like ALL types of cards, but today let’s try to make a card that when we look at it we think — gee, that sure looks like an *Old Lady* card — LOL!!! (or Old Man, if you prefer). This is totally open to your interpretation — you could go vintage, you could go humorous, or anything else you can dream up — WHATEVER strikes your fancy!!! Most importantly, have fun!!! Can’t wait to see what you do!!!

Some great samples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today can be seen on the blogs of these designers:Julie, Janine, Jennifer, Tammy, Dee, Becky, AJ,and Deb. Please bear with us as we are all uploading and linking tonight.

You can see all Gallery Submissions here.

What wonderful samples!!! Thank you girls!!! Much appreciated!!!

Heres myproject for todays challenge:

Think an Old Lady would like this — LOL!!! I had fun making it. I used one of my favorite products that I just don’t use all that often — Cotton Scraps by Crafty Secrets – FUN little swatches of fabric with all these gorgeous images. Today I fringed mine and sewed it onto the pink panel behind it, then distressed the paper edges.

The *Love You* on the heart was made using the new lower case font being introduced by JustRite at CHA next week. I LOVE that we now will have lower case font to add to our upper case font, giving us so many more options for sentiments!!!

I used Trompe Script Font for my first letters and then switched to the new Times New Roman Lower Case Font for the remaining letters — fun to do!!! They are mounted on the smaller of the rectangle stampers in the Harmony Rectangle Stamper Set. Here’s a closeup look at the sentiment:

Isnt’ it pretty AND Old-Ladyish — LOL!!! The elements I incorporated into this card that I thought would appeal to an older woman are:

A larger sized card (this is 5.25 x 7.75″)

Soft Pinks and Browns

Stick Pin and Pearls

Cotton Scraps & Sewing (reminds me of quilts)

Vintage Style (though clean vintage)

Pretty Designer Paper with vintage feel

Lace and Scallop Borders

Stamps: Trompe Script Font, Times New Roman Lower Case Font, used on the Harmony Rectangle Stamper, all by JustRite. Anna Griffin Background by All Night Media.

Paper: PTI Vintage Cream; SU Pink Pirouette, Prism Suede Brown Medium, Crafty Secrets Classic Heartwarming Vintage Collection Pad.

Ink: Color Box Chalk in Chestnut Roan; Palette in Burnt Umber; SU Pretty in Pink.

Accessories: Crafty Secrets Cotton Scraps (Family); SU Taffeta Ribbon; Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities; Cuttlebug Border Die; Martha Stewart Scallop Punch; 1/8 hand held punch; Stick pin, pearls (JoAnns and SU); Kaiser Pearls; SU Distressing Tool; Sewing Machine and Thread; Glue Pen; Glue Glider; SU Dimensionals , Mounting Squares , Scor-It.

Again, I just want to say thanks for stopping in!!! I hope you can find time to play if this challenge interests you — I can’t wait to see what all the players feel are Old Lady cards — LOL!!! We are having very, very cold temps — wishing for a bit of a warm up! Hope you are warm and cozy and off to a safe weekend!!!

TodayI havea little sneak peek at some new product from JustRite to be showcased at CHA. We have all fallen in love with the font sets available by JustRite and those incredibly fabulous Rectangle Stampers — well, it is getting better!!! JustRite will be introducing lower case font for us to use along with our upper case font — how totally cool is this!!! I LOVE being able to use lower case font on my sentiments, and that’s what I did today — I created a Valentine sentiment for my altered box, usingBraytonUpper Case Font and Times New RomanLowerCase font. Take a look –

Isn’t that new lower case font just wonderful!!! I love it and it opens up many doors for fun sentiments we can make!!! I’m so excited with this new release by JustRite!!! Let’s look at what I did here.

This is how this project started. And now to show you this, I must confess — YES, I purchased store bought cards this Christmas, many boxes of them — BUT the really good thing is that they came in these wonderful boxes that are perfect for altering! The cards are from Wal-Mart, by Day Spring, as shown on the left. They were all nice cards with Christian Christmas sentiments on them, so that pleased me. An empty box is shown on the right, and the boxes are made of striped gold and black mirrored paper, so they are highly reflective and rather difficult to get a good photo of, but I think you can get a good idea.

This is a photo of the box after I adhered on the decorative paper. The left is the box top and on the right the inside of the box is shown. All I had to do to the box base was insert a sheet of DP on the box bottom. I left the black and gold mirrored paper as is. After all, it was very pretty and one of the reasons my eye went to these cards in the store. Now that our box has some pretty paper on it, lets see what I used to finish it off and decorate it up:

I used both the BraytonUppercase Fontand thesoon to beintroduced Times New RomanLower Case fontto create my sentiments on the Harmony Rectangle Stampers. On the larger block *Be My Valentine* is in 95 pt. and the *I Love You* on the smaller rectangle is in 25 pt.

Above are all the pieces I made to embellish my box. The *Be My Valentine* that was black embossedis cut with the Curved Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, sponged while still in the die and then edged with a gold paint pen. It is matted with a larger shape cut with black Mirri Card from Marco’s Paper. The black on the box is exactly the same as the black Mirri Card at Marco’s Paper. I also used Nested Birds and Classic and ScallopedHeart Nestabilities and a Tag die as well for the *I Love You*.

Here’s a closer look! I was really pleasedwith how this turned out — I think it’s pretty and rather sophisticated — not quite like the traditional red and pink Valentine’s Day themed items and projects. And here’s a view of the side of the box so you can see why I didn’t want to cover up much of this box:

This was a fun project and unusually simple to make with rather dramatic results — and that’s always a good thing!!!

Stamps: Brayton Uppercase andTimes New RomanLowercase Font, used on the Harmony Rectangle Stampers, all by JustRite

Paper: SU River Rock, Black Mirri Card from Marcos Paper, Once Upon a Time Stack by DCWV

Ink: Versa Mark and Versa Fine Onyx Black, SU River Rock

Accessories: Spellbinders: Curved Rectangle, Classic and Scalloped Hearts, and Nested Birds Nestabilities and Tag Dies. Kaiser Pearls, May Arts Ribbon, Marvy Uchida Gold Calligraphy Pen, Black Embossing Powder, Fire Mountain Pin with clutch added, Sponge, Glue Glider, Foam Mounting Tape, SU Dimensionals(Joan’s Garden has some of the Spellbinders product, Kaiser Pearls and Glue Glider)

Thank you so much for stopping in today. I do so appreciate all your visits and comments. Hope you are having a good week and that you can check in again to see my future projects!!! Thanks much!!!

Today’s Altered Valentine Tin coordinates with the Valentine Accordion Card I uploaded yesterday. Here’s the completed tin, with instructions to follow:

This was a fun recycling project as I used a tube shaped tin that had cookies in it. Here’s the before shot:

I’m not including any measurements for this project as they will be different for each can you use, but the first thing I did was to determine the size of my base red paper, remembering that I need it to be wider than the measurement around the can as I plan to score it to create embossed lines and when we score a lot it eats up length. My can was about 10″ around, so I left my paper at the 11″ length.

I used my Scor-It to create the embossed lines in my paper, scoring every 1/2″. I love adding these embossed lines to the base paper on the can — it really just adds a bit of richness that I love. And when you score thepaper repeatedly like this, it takes on a natural rounded shaping, making it so easy to wrap it around the can. Here’s an older photo of a sheet scored on my Scor-It from another similar project:

Once my base paper is scored I adhere it around the can using red sticky tape. And then it is just a matter of making my focal image, my topper, determing what ribbons, etc. I want to use to pretty it all up!!! I’ll take it section by section.

I used stamps by JustRite for my focal image and my can topper. The Harmony Classic Circle Stamper III Ensemble was used for the focal image on the can front. And notice how this is the largest of the round stmapers, over 3″. Well, you can look below and see that my focal image is oval shaped, not round. No problem — just stamp the center image ONLY onto cardstock and then cut out in any shape you desire. I thought the oval suited this image well and also suited my project. Just wanted to share that versatility tip with you! Take a look:

Doesn’t it make a perfect oval? I thought so! I used my Petite Oval Nestabilites to cut, mat and frame this Just Rite image and further added a few Kaiser pearls — fun!! The can is also wrapped with a layer of white, thenmy Bella Rose DP, and then mywide checked ribbon by May Arts. After adhering the image, I then attached a sheer ribbon bow with a glue dot. I wrapped the very bottom of the can with the red sticky tape and adhered some velvet ribbon to finish off the bottom! Here’s a look at the upper can:

This was a great can with a nice lid that slips on — love when I find those! I made the white lacey strip with my Martha Stewart Lace Punch. After adhering it over the red, it just looked a bit bare, so I added a band of red velvet and it seemed to do the trick. As for the lid, the side is also wrapped with the red velvet and a topper was made and adhered. Take a look:

Just simple layers stamped using my Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II Ensembleby JustRite. I stamped the center (With Love) and the border (hearts) in two differnet applications and then cut them with my Petite Circle Nestabilities and layer them to form my topper. The top 2 layers are up on SU Dimensionals. And here’s a view of the back of the can:

My bows, or knots, are all staggered intentionally, just for interest. There is red sticky tape under the velvet and Glue Glider tape under the checked ribbon so everything is nice and snug. With so many layers on this can there are many overlap seams on the back. I was just trying to pretty it up and take away from all those seams. And don’t the embossed lines add a nice touch! Here’s a pic of this altered can along with the Valentine Accordion Card I made yesterday.

What a fun Valentine card and little treat box! Hope the recipient likes it!!! A full tutorial on the Valentine Accordion Card can be seen here.

Stamps: Harmony Classic Circle Stamper III Ensemble and Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II Ensemble, both by JustRite

Paper: PTI White; SU Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Bella Rose DP

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: Scor-It, Petite Circle and Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Martha Stewart Lace Punch, Piercer and Mat Pack by SU, Kaiser Rhinestones, May Arts Ribbons, Red Sticky Tape, Glue Glider, SU Dimensionals, Zots

You can read about the Scor-It at the Scor-It site, but you do need to locate a retailer to purchase. A large list of retailers is available on the Scor-It site, but I know Joan over at Joans Gardenhas listed the Scor-It, so you may want to check it out. She always has fun things to share! She has the Glue Glider andKaiser Pearlsup today, too! I know Marcos Paper also always has a good supply of Scor-Its on hand and thats another great site to shop!!!

Thank you so much for the time you spent here today — so much appreciated!!! I still am working on Valentine themed projects this week, so there’s more in store!!! Hope you can stop back in!!! Hope your week is going well!!!

Accordion tags or cards are high on my list of fun things I enjoy making, so I thought Id start my Valentine series of posts with a small 3-panel accordion card. I made this using mostly SU product. Im running low on my Bella Rose DP so Im trying to stretch it by using some red Designer Print Series papers I had. I know the Bella Rose is designed to go with the Riding Hood Red, but I enjoy using it with Real Red it gives me a lot more options for ribbons and embellishments. Here it is:

Isnt it fun! Both the checked ribbon and the sheer dotted ribbon are by May Arts. The I Love You is from a set by Papertrey Ink and the To: and From: are from a Crafty Secrets set. I used Long Rectangle Nestabilites on the *I* and *U* and I used them again to make my scallop border between my 2 DP patterns. I used the Heart Nestabilities on my heart.

To start I cut my Pink paper 10.5 x 5.25. Each panel is 3.5 so using my Scor-It I scored first at 3.5, then I flipped it over as we want mountain and valley folds on our accordion tag, and I lined my score line up at 3.5 and scored again, essentially scoring at 7. Done!

To create the shape on top I used a template I had from another project and just cut my corners with scissors. I then decided I wanted a flat top rather than a point, so I went to the cutting board and cut so my panel ended up at 4.5 high.

Then it was just a matter of making all my pieces. I used my Long Rectangle Nestabilities to make my scallops. This is so quick and easy for a scalloped edge. I used the longest Scalloped Rectangle in the full set. I cut and embossed it I have white in the sample but ended up using red on my card. Once it is cut, use the 2 long edges for your scallop. Just cut off what you need. In this case I cut off just about , and using my GlueGlider I adhered my scallop to my red DP. After the floral DP was adhered to the red panel, I then adhered it on top quick easy scallops for a fun look!

Heres all my pieces before I adhered them to the card base. I *I* and *U* were stamped with Letterpress Alphabet by SU. The heart is from Simply Said by SU.

Once all pieces were adhered together, I added a Jumbo Pewter Eyelet on top, ran my checked ribbon through, made up my little tags and tied them on with the dotted sheer ribbon. The main image pieces are popped up with foam mounting tape. Heres a close up of the center panel.

Stamps: SU Simply Said and Letterpress Alphabet, Papertrey Ink Out on a Limb Sentiments, Crafty Secrets Vintage Christmas

Paper: PTI White, SU Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Bella Rose DP, Red Prints DP

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black, SU Real Red, SU Markers

Accessories: Scor-It; Spellbinders: Long Rectangle Nestabilities, Heart Nestabilities, Tag Die; SU Large and Small Tag Punches; Cropadile; SU Jumbo Eyelet, Brad, Eyelet; May Arts Ribbons; Glue Glider, Mounting Tape

These accordion projects are so fun and easy, especially if youuse a good scoring tool.This project could have easily been done on either the fullsized or MiniScor-It. You can read about the Scor-It at the Scor-It site, but you do need to locate a retailer to purchase. A large list of retailers is available on the Scor-It site, but I know Joan over at Joan’s Gardenhas listed the Scor-It today, so you may want to check it out. She always has fun things to share on Mondays! She has the Glue Glider and Long Nesties up today, too! I know Marco’s Paper also always has a good supply of Scor-It’s on hand and that’s another great site to shop!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in again today! I plan to feature Valentine Projects all week long, so if that interests you, please stop back in. Hope you are off to a good week ahead!!!

Please accept my apologies for this tiny print tonight. I had major issues here tonight and as far as I can figure this is only fixable by re-doing the entire thing — so I’m leaving it — I’ll have my regular size type up tomorrow!!! Thanks for understanding!!!