Countdown to Valentine's Day!

Card project designed by Sharon M. Reinhart February 2019

Stopping by with another sweet Valentine! This is another sweet and simple Valentine card. This card is a white side-fold A2 base. For those of you who may be new to card making, an A2 size card is 4-1/4 x 5 1/2 inches in its folded form. That being said it can be made by beginning with an 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 inch piece of cardstock and scoring and folding in half at 4-1/4, of it can be a gate-fold with an opening in the center scoring at 2-1/8 from each side. An A2 card may also be made beginning with a 4-1/4 x 11 inch piece of cardstock and scoring at 5-1/2 inches and folding in half. They can all be made as a side fold or a top fold although the most effective gate folds in order to still display are side folds.

Onwards with this particular card. The printed paper layer base is a Recollection paper that has been trimmed slightly leaving just a small border of plain white. The sizes I typically use for this type of layering is either 5-1/4 x 4 or 5 x 3-3/4 inches. Next is a layer of coral cardstock followed by a narrow strip of the word "love". This narrow strip is cut from a Canvas Corp paper. I love to create notched ribbon ends and find the quickest and most efficient method is to use either my hexagon or square punches, utilizing a corner area within the punch. Okay, folks, pull out your retro card making supplies that have been banished to the back of the cupboard! In order to create the black decorative edge strip I have used my mini scalloped edge scissors from Fiskars! I still love them! I begin with a larger width than required which results in two useable decorative strips once the cut is completed.

Die-cut or punch a couple of heart shapes. This particular heart is an older one from Stampin' Up that cuts and creates the Swiss dot effect at the same time.  A plain heart works equally as well, it can always be embossed with an embossing folder. Or if you do not have the tools in order to emboss, try stamping a texture on the hearts, or adding score lines to create an embossed design. Where there is a will there is a way! Wrap thread (this beautiful thread is from Wonderfil) a few times around fingers and secure with tape and then sandwich in between the two hearts. One heart has been adhered with double-sided tape and the other with foam mounting tape.

Die cut, punch or stamp "LOVE" and "YOU" and adhere to the heart shapes. These particular words are from a Sizzix set by Stephanie Barnard, #560025. This sweet Valentine is good to go! Hope you have been inspired to create!
Creatively Yours,
Sharon

Heartstrings Valentine!

Card project designed by Sharon M. Reinhart February 2019

Hi everyone! Stopping by with a simple yet striking Valentine card suitable for either a guy or gal!

This card is made with a side-fold A2 size (begin with 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches and score and fold in half) white shimmer cardstock base. A 2-inch x 5-1/2 inch piece of "love" cardstock from Canvas Corp has been layered onto two red scalloped strips at each side. The beautiful scalloped edge has been created with a Lawn Fawn die set called Stitched Scalloped Borders. An alternative would be any scalloped border die or punch, punched circles layered on top of each other or scalloped-edge scissors.

The next layer is created with 3 thread wrapped cardstock hearts. These particular hearts have been die-cut using a Spellbinders Scalloped-edge Nestablilities die template. The thread is a beautiful cream/gold thread from Wonderfil. I find it best to work from the spool while completing thread wrapped pieces. First tape the end of the thread to the back of the heart shape close to the top. My first wrap begins through the first valley to the right of center on the top of the heart and continues along through the first valley to the left at the bottom of the heart. Continue wrapping in an anti-clockwise manner until complete, trimming thread from spool and adhering to the back with tape.

The center heart has been adhered with foam mounting tape allowing further dimension and the top and bottom hearts are adhered with double sided tape. A gold heart, punched using a Fiskars punch adorns the center heart followed by three mini adhesive black rhinestones.

The finish on this card is a die-cut heart from the printed paper using a die from Penny Black that has 5 decorative hearts and 1 plain heart in the set and is called All My Hearts #51-180. Layered on top of this is a gold die-cut word "LOVE" which has been created with a Sizzix set by Stephanie Barnard #560025.

I like to add a bit of the décor to the inside of the card, so I just simply added a strip of red cardstock followed by a stamped greeting punched out with a circle punch. There are so many ways of carrying the design from the front to the inside, just add some of the same colors or images that have been used on the front. It is amazing how just a strip of cardstock and a little element such as a punched heart or greeting finishes the inside! Hope you like this card and are inspired to create!
Creatively Yours,
Sharon

Recycled Gift Bag

Gift bag repurposing project by Sharon M. Reinhart January 2019



Stopping by with a cute recycling project. I have a collection of little gift bags that are too cute to send to the recycling bin and with Valentine's Day being the next special occasion, I thought why not re-purpose these cute bags. The original bag is white with black printing and cording handles and rose pink colored ribbon.

I chose to trim the rose pink ribbon away and utilize it for something else, it wasn't quite the right pink to go with the printed paper I had selected. The next step is to measure the width of the bag and also the height of the printed area on the bag. Remember to do everything times two so that you can decorate both sides of the bag. Next cut your papers to your measurements and layer. I love the cardstock from Canvas Corp, it is simply a 12 inch piece of cardstock with a black base that has the word love printed in white with a pretty script font throughout the paper. I have chosen to cut two narrow strips to accent the top and bottom of the printed pink and white paper. This also co-ordinates with the black cording that came on the bag. Next I cut different heart shapes and layered them on top adding a second heart to the center one and also at the top of the bag where the rose pink ribbon was trimmed away. Voila! a quick but cute project that I am sure will be used for some treat giving this Valentine's! Hope you are inspired to create!
Creatively yours,
Sharon

Happy Valentine's Day!

Project design by Sharon M. Reinhart may be used for personal use.

Another card coming your way on this Valentine's Day! This one makes use of an A2 size white card base that has been embossed using a wonderful embossing folder by Spellbinders -- the Quilt It SES 013. That being said, there are many wonderful embossing folders that would also work nicely with this card design. Embossed hearts or swirls would look lovely and whichever you use remember to emboss the black cardstock hearts to add a little visual interest. A piece of printed cardstock in the center creates a wonderful base for layering die-cut hearts and other elements such as the stamped and punched greeting from Stampin' Up or the die-cut word. If you do not have any suitable printed cardstock (this particular one I believe was from Canvas Corp) try stamping with a word stamp and repeating the design until the panel is full or even a page from a book or romantic novel would work great. Hope you have been inspired to create something wonderful today!
Creatively Yours,
Sharon