Valentine Cards Anyone?

Hello Friend!  Glad you stopped by today.  I have been busy making cards for the shut-ins here from church.  I think I've found my little niche again.  There are 29 shut-ins this month, so I've been busy with Valentine cards for everyone.  It's interesting to try not to make the cards too mushy and sweet, because honestly I've never met these people.  Usually, I make special cards for family and friends that I try to fit to each person.  Not so much this time around.  I figured it wouldn't make any difference whether I used current or retired products, so the cards are a mixture of both.  It was great even using up some of my stash of DSP that tends to get out of hand.  Of course, you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?  I mostly used one layout for the cards, then when that DSP ran out, I switched to a different DSP and a different layout for the card.  Hope these cards spark your imagination and you try out the layouts for many different cards.  These are very basic, go-to layouts that work for many different occasions.  Just change up the DSP and stamping and away you go.

Here's an overview of most of the cards that were made.  There were a couple odds and ends from figuring out the DSP I wanted to use, or just playing around with different stamps that ended up being way too time consuming or too frilly for making 29 cards.  Some of these cards are being sent to men, so you know - no flowers and ribbons and lace, etc.

It was interesting trying to find all the different DSP's and stamps that I used.  I wasn't really going to post these cards, so each one of the items was put away after using.  Hence having to find them all again!  Silly me, I really should know better!

This is the idea I planned to use for all 29 cards.  After cutting all the pink Butterfly Bijou DSP into strips that measured 2" x 5 1/2", there wasn't enough of the DSP to make all of the cards. I decided to work with what I had and go on from there.  The circles were cut with the largest Stylish Shapes circle die.  I stamped this Adorable Owls (Sale-a-bration freebie!) stamp on the center of each of them using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I also used strips of Basic White cardstock to stamp the sentiment which comes from the new set - Country Bouquet found on pages 9-10 in the January - April Mini Catalog.  The sentiments were die-cut using the new Something Fancy Bundle found on pages 15 & 17 in the same Mini Catalog.  I love the words, fonts, dies, everything about this bundle! 

The owls were all colored with Stampin'Blends in Crumb Cake Light & Dark, Mango Melody Dark, and Old Olive Light for the eyes.  A heart was punched from Polished Pink cardstock to match the layer behind the DSP.  The card base was Blushing Bride.

After coloring nine of those little owls, I needed a break.  They didn't take very long to color, but I was getting bored doing the same thing over and over. So, I decided to just stamp and punch hearts to go on some of the card fronts.  I used the Country Bouquet set for this.  The hearts were stamped with Polished Pink and punched out with the coordinating Country Bouquet punch.  It needed another heart, so I added one that was punched directly from Polished Pink cardstock for some contrast.  The hearts and sentiment were all attached with Mini Dimensionals.

Ok, more done, but this is where I ran out of my DSP that I wanted to use.  On to something else...

Look what I found when I was going through my stamps and DSP stash!  Don't you love it?  There are two different DSP packs used here - the background pieces are from the Ice Cream Corner DSP and the heart is punched from a piece of the Pleased As Punch DSP.  I think these are both from last year, but they could be older.  

I love the heart used with the sentiment from the Sweet Ice Cream set.  And I even dug out my remaining TerraCotta Tile cardstock for the base of the card.  I totally love and miss using this color.  It was one of my forever favorites.  The ink I used for the sentiment is Cinnamon Cider because it goes so well with the "sugar cone" background.  It was punched using the Double Oval Punch that is in the current Annual Catalog.

That's about it for most of the cards that were made.  How did you like the "blast from the past"?  Do you still own some these items?  Or do you purge all the leftovers that you haven't used for awhile?  I'm glad I held onto my things.  It's fun to go through your stash and find just the right item for making the idea that's dancing around in your imagination.  It was also fun planning out these cards for the shut-ins.  This reminds me so much of making the cards to send to the military.  I loved getting together with all you wonderful ladies and doing a lot of visiting while putting the cards together.  My goodness, did we ever make a lot of cards over those ten years!!

Well, thanks for coming back to see what I've been doing lately.  Don't forget there is still one month of Sale-a-bration to take advantage of those freebies.  I know you are a savvy shopper and want to make those dollars spread as far as possible.  Sale-a-bration is a great time to make your purchases to get the added benefits.  Thanks for all you do!  I love hearing from you when you call or write.  You are so special to me!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon