Valentine's Day 2024 | Adorable Hedgehog

Penny Black released the cutest hedgehog stamps this year titled "Adorable"... and yes, I too, think these little hedgehogs are exactly that.

I started by stamping both hedgehog stamps (since I didn't know which one I was going to use for this card) from this set onto Paul Rubens hot press watercolor paper using Lawn Farm's Jet Black premium ink pad. I allowed the ink to dry about fifteen minutes to ensure the ink wouldn't bleed once I began the watercoloring process.

Using the Derwent Pastel Shades Paint Pan Set, I mixed Storm Grey and Silver Blue to create the color for the quills on the hedgehogs and then mixed a little bit of Picket Fence Distress Watercolor Pencil with my quill color to create a lighter, creamier color to paint the belly, feet, and front paws. I added just a touch of the Derwent Pink Flamingo color to dot some blush onto the cheeks. For the hearts on each stamped image, I used Iuile Watercolors' Apple paint pan to create sparkly, metallic red accents. Lastly, I used a black Sakura Glaze pen for the eyes and a Sakura Micron 03 pen to enhance the nose and mouth and made little "flicks" throughout the quills with a white Uni-ball Signo gel pen to add some interest. Since I didn't own the dies for this stamp set, I used my Brother Scan N Cut to cut out the image.

I cut a white card panel to measure 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" and used the Tim Holtz/Sizzix die set called "True Love" to cut a partial heart out of the left side each of the panel. I selected a cute piece of patterned cardstock from the Echo Park 6x6 Paper Pad called "Love Notes" and cut it to measure 4-1/8" x 5-1/4". I chose the "Happy Valentine's Day" stamp from Simon Says Stamp's "Love Notes" stamp set and stamped the sentiment at the top, right corner of the white card front using Simon Says Stamp's Cherry Pawsitively Saturated Ink. Then I added foam tape to the back of the white card panel and adhered it to the patterned paper panel. After that, I added foam squares to the back the hedgehog and adhered it on the card front inside the heart cut-out. Using the Scrapbook.com die set "Mini Heart Balloons", I cut the heart from a scrap of red cardstock and the string from black and adhered that to the card front to look like the little hedgehog was holding it in her hand, then added Ranger Glossy Accents to the balloon to make it shiny (for the life of me I couldn't get rid of the bubbles in my Glossy Accents so, alas, they had to stay).

I adhered the card front to an A2 top folding white card base and added some Scarlet Clear Drops from Pinkfresh Studio cascading down the card front.

That wraps up my first 2024 Valentine's Day card. I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time.... Happy Making!

Happy Valentine's Day | Valentine’s Day Series #3

Hi Friends! I’m here to share my third Valentine’s Day card with you for 2023. When Mama Elephant released this stamp set, I knew I had to have it. The critters as cupids are just so adorable!

For this card, I started out by stamping Dark Room Door’s Love Word Block Stamp onto a piece of off-white watercolor paper using Altenew’s Clear Embossing Ink and Hero Arts’ White Satin Pearl embossing powder. I heat set the embossing powder and used blue masking tape to temporarily adhere the embossed watercolor paper to a hard board. I applied a generous amount of water to the embossed panel and sopped silver Iuile watercolor paint and Cherry Pie and Wild Rose watercolor paint from Art Philosophy’s Confetti set. I set this aside to allow it to dry while I worked on the other card elements.

I stamped all the little critters from Mama Elephant’s “Love Cupids” stamp set onto some Canson XL Bristol Smooth cardstock using Lawn Fawn’s Jet Black ink. I colored the images using Copic markers, applied Nuvo Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to the cupids’ wings and cloud, then covered all the hearts with Ranger’s Glossy Accents. Lastly, the koala’s nose and all the critters’ eyes received a coating of black Sakura Glaze.

Using Trinity Stamp’s “Modern Embossed Rectangle Stack” dies, I die cut the black and water colored/stamped card panels for the card front. Next, I cut the Cardstock Warehouse Stardream Silver cardstock to a US A2 size panel (4-1/4” x 5-1/2”). I glued the three panels together and onto the A2 card base.

I used my Brother Scan ‘N Cut to cut out the images of the Mama Elephant critters since I didn’t own the coordinating dies and put Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares on the back of each of the elements I was going to use for the card. I also cut out the Happy Valentines Day sentiment from Paper Rose’s All Occasions Sentiment Sheets and put the same foam squares on the back of it. Lastly, all the critters and sentiment were adhered to the card front.

Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…

Love You Always | Valentine’s Day Series #2

Hi Friends! I want to share my second Valentine’s Day card with you that I created for 2023. This card was inspired by the Sizzix embossing folder of layered hearts that came with my new Sizzix Switch Plus die cutting machine.

I embossed a piece of red cardstock with the previously mentioned Sizzix embossing folder of layered hearts. I added Ranger Glossy Accents to random hearts on the embossed card front and covered all the Glossy Accents hearts with Tim Holtz Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter. I tapped off the excess glitter and returned it to the jar.

While the glittered hearts were drying, I stamped the bear with paper and envelope from Mama Elephant’s “To My Dearest” stamp set onto white cardstock and the “love you always…” stamp onto the paper below the bear’s paws using VersaFine Clair Nocture Ink. Next, I used Prismacolor Premier pencils to color the images.

Heart: PC923, PC925, PC1095

Envelope and Paper: PC1061, PC1059

Bear: PC945, PC946, PC1083, PC1014

After the colored pencil work was completed, I applied white Posca marker to the heart and colored the bear’s eyes and nose with a Sakura Black Glaze pen.

Using Trinity Stamp’s “Modern Embossed Rectangle Stack” dies, I die cut the red card panel and a piece of black glitter cardstock to mat the red panel. Just for fun, I used Simon Says Stamp’s “Pawsitively Velvet Snow White Luxury Cardstock for the card front’s A2 size panel and glued all three of the panels together with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive and then attached them with the same glue to the top folding, A2 size, white cardstock card base.

I decided there was too much undecorated space on my red card panel, so I used a Nuvo Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer pen to add shimmery goodness to more, but not all, of the embossed hearts on the panel. I popped both the colored bear image onto Simon Says Stamps 3D Foam Squares and adhered them to the card front.

I think the card turned out really cute, the glittered hearts were a touch of nostalgia and brought back memories of elementary school when we would all be given a little white bag to decorate with our names and other Valentine’s Day images for our classmates to place those tiny, pre-made Valentine’s Day cards in on February 14th – not sure if elementary school children still do this today, but a fun memory from my early school days.

Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…