Valentine's Inspirations!

Todays post is a little Valentine Inspiration and a bit of a challenge to you as well. I love to look for different surfaces and blank forms to become my canvas so to speak. Well the inspiration here is the little gift card box on the left, of which was on clearance at Superstore after the holidays at drastically reduced prices. I thought they were beautiful to begin with but of course I have to create my handmade touches. There were a variety of designs and colors, but this one caught my eye for Valentine's. I can see many uses for this little box besides using it as a gift card holder. Perhaps a gift of handmade tags or mini note cards. The first step was to transform the outside of the box.

I began by removing any traces of Christmas, which was easily accomplished without damaging the box. Try using a piece of dental floss and wiggling it under the embellishments or sometimes a little bit of heat with a heat tool is enough.

My next step was pulling out Valentine theme supplies.  One of my most favorite heart die template sets is one from Cheery Lynn Designs, which is DL128 Two of Hearts. I die cut the largest heart out of gold mirror cardstock. It was going to need a layer underneath so I chose another die template from Cheery Lynn, this particular die template is the Mini Fanciful Flourish B117S, so I die-cut two of these from white glossy cardstock and layered them under the gold heart. It needed just something else in the middle of the gold heart, nothing too large or elaborate. I chose this stitched heart from a Lawn Fawn set the Reverse Stitched Scalloped Circle windows set which has a tiny stitched heart in the set. This was also die-cut from glossy white cardstock. The last die-cut to use was a sentiment that would fit beautifully in the bottom right corner. One simple word "LOVE" was all that it needed. This die is from a Sizzix set by Stephanie Barnard #560025. I also die-cut the word from glossy white cardstock.

Yes, I am all about handmade, but sometimes it just makes sense to start off with something pre-made and add to it, especially if it makes dollar cents too! So don't be afraid to use pre-made items, note cards etc. and add to it in order to make it your own. I have also done this same thing with printed cards that are just begging for more dimension and design! I hope you are inspired to create and like the transformation and stay tuned to see what I end up designing for the inside of this box!
Creatively Yours,
Sharon