Making a Valentine for my Valentine!

 

I am not much of a card-maker and have always been a scrapping girl through and through.  However, having done PL this last year and continuing with it this year I have found that I do enjoy working on a smaller scale than the traditional 12x12 layouts that I am accustomed to.  So I thought with Valentines Day coming up and having quite a few bits and pieces to hand (and a massive stash that needs to be used up) that I would give it a go to see what kind of Valentines Day card I could create.

 

It's probably not as good as some of the phenomenally talented card-makers out there but I think it is a good job for my first official attempt.  With the "3-D" heart I wanted to create something similar to those old style tissue paper hearts & bells you used to see at weddings.  They would come flat, just two pieces of card and a wedge of tissue paper but once you clipped the front & back card together, voila - you had yourself a very cheap but easily made, somewhat... tacky craft paper decoration that looked like it came from your 8th grade home economics classroom.  Don't expect you see those much now at current day weddings.   Although in saying that, those giant tissue paper flowers are quite popular right now.

 

 

 I wanted to try my hand at sewing on the card as well as I need to improve my sewing skills (having just received
 my mini sewing machine at Christmas), so thought it would be cute to create bunting with heart shapes and banners along the top of the card.  For any of you who are more than decent at sewing, you will be able to see that I probably need loads more practice, but I just decided to embrace the crappiness of it and go with it!

For the main bit of card I simply cut a 12x12 white piece of Bazzill cardstock down to 5 1/2 by 11.  For the pink strip across the bottom of the card that I placed the Love letters on, as an afterthought I am now thinking that I should have distressed it or added something to it as it seems quite plain compared to the rest of the card.  Maybe something to experiment with next time.

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Valentines Day! x
Christine

 

SUPPLIES | Bazzill cardstock - white, pink and red. The brown & pink polka dot paper is by Making Memories - Love Struck, for the pink and white polka dot paper I don't have the manufacturer, just the name which is Up in the Trees and the "Love" lettering are Thickers by American Crafts called Jewelry Box. The "True" letters were in my Studio Calico PL Sugar Rush kit. The red glitter puffy heart is a no name brand and something that was sent to me by my best friend last Valentines Day. The background paper for the card is from a no-name kit that I picked up at TK Maxx so don't have a manufacturer there either.

 

Valentine Cards - Free Printables

 

The source/credit for this great vintage Valentine!

 http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/free-vintage-printable-sweet-vintage.html

Remember those old style vintage Valentine cards with the cherub faced kids, reminiscent of Campbell's Soup kids, all sweetness and light, with a tag line that was a very cheeky play on words.  I used to love getting those cards when I was a kid, the highlight of Valentines Day!  You could keep the candy hearts or sweethearts, it was the cards I was interested in.  See, even then I loved paper!  In the week leading up to Valentines Day in school we would spend our time making a personalised little construction paper and cardboard mailbox, decorated with glue, glitter, sequins, paint, yarn and whatever crafty items the teacher managed to have in her craft kitty.  Then on that all important day, everyone would come to school with loads of pink and red envelopes stuffed in their book bag, bulging to capacity, excited about not only giving out those Valentines but also receiving them!

 

So, my post today is in honour of Valentines Day.  I have included some free Valentine themed insert cards below.  Now I know they're nowhere near as good as most of the PL cards out there, made by numerous designers and manufacturers but sometimes I like to be creative in other ways with my PL rather than just inserting pre-printed cards or photos.  I just like to play around and see what I can create.  As sharing is another good thing, something else we learned in grade school, I thought I would do so here!

 

Please feel free to download and use in your pocket scrapbooking albums or in whatever way your crafty creativity strikes you!

 

You can download the free printable here:

 

 

I am still learning about all things technical so if the link does not work, please post a comment here and I will try to sort it out for you.

 

If  you do download them, I would love to see how you use these in your albums!

 

What are some of your memories about childhood Valentines? I would love to hear about them.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Christine x

 

January Project Life (part 1)

Well, this is my first official post for my Project Life (with Simple Stories Sn@p Albums) for January.  So far so good!!  Let's hope I can keep on top of documenting my life in a more timely manner this year.  Probably wishful thinking there on my part!  Below is my wonderful and beautiful (I jest) title page.  At this point you're thinking  - "not too exciting" this post.  Yes, I know I've only got my background paper in there so far and nothing else.  I need to get some pics taken of myself, Simon and Rupert and create what already exists in my head. 

Moving along swiftly!

 Okay, so this is my first official "completed" page of the year, walking Rupert at Braywick Park, the day after New Years day.  As I already have quite a few pictures of us walking at Braywick I wanted to capture something from a different perspective. 

Supplies | "What's Happening" sticker is by MME, Cut & Paste.  The stars are from a sticker sheet called Urban Traveller by Simple Stories. Polka dot paper is a Bazzill Basics.

On this next page is an adorable picture of Rupert desperately wanting to go for a walk on New Years day.  He has a funny habit (when we are about to go on a walk) of picking up the proper end of the lead, even when the other end isn't clipped to his collar and walks out the front door with it in his mouth, like he is taking himself for a walk.  Very cute!  And smart!  So this was his very subtle way of telling us that he wanted to go for a walk.

Supplies | 3x4 "Today" card is from the SC Double Scoop PL Kit.  The "Genuine" sticker along with the star sticker and the 4x6 "Life as we Know It" insert card are all Simple Stories. Not sure about the brand for the striped paper on the top pocket has this as been in my stash for quite some time but I believe it was called Skate Shoppe (maybe old Bo Bunny) and the cloud paper in the bottom pocket is from the SC Double Scoop Scrapbook kit by MME, Cut & Paste design by Jen Allyson.

 

This next page actually wasn't really a planned page so let me give you a bit of background. When I first moved to the UK I had to purge all my belongings (as we were moving into a much smaller house here) and surprisingly in the end I found the purging very cathartic.  Every year since then I do a clear out now at the start of the new year as I still find it so freeing.  Plus it helps eliminate clutter, or at least that is what I am telling myself.  As I was clearing out the winter wardrobe I found some old scarves of Simon's that I was going to donate to charity as he no longer wears them.  As I was putting them in the box to go to the charity shop, for a laugh, I decided to put one of the scarves on Rupert as he was sitting there watching me expectantly whilst I went about my task.  Surprisingly he just sat there with it on and as I found it so totally adorable I decided to take a quick picture of it.  Hence this page was born.  But as you can also see, moments later he was bored with the whole prospect, hence the yawning. Too cute!

Supplies | Blue Chevron paper is from the SC Double Scoop Scrapbook kit by Teresa Collins, Stationery Noted. Light blue enamel dots are from the SC Double Scoop PL kit.  The yellow "Oh Snap" and the camera are actually cut off of an Echo Park 4x6 insert card. The dark blue lettering spelling out "New Years" are by Simple Stories, Urban Traveller as are the gray letters spelling out "Clearout".

Close up of the detail on the upper right hand corner (I splattered the page with some metallic blue misting ink). The sparkly blue brad is by Papermania from their Capsule Collection Embellishment Set.

 Close up of the detail on the lower left hand corner

As we got a lovely note from our landlord the day after Boxing Day that the rent was going up, much to our surprise, we have simply decided that we no longer want to continue to live where we are (as well as for other reasons).  So by January 3rd we were already looking at new houses.  With the house pictured below I had thought, based on the ad and the location, that we had found a hidden gem.  Boy, was I wrong.  This place was like something out of the 70's - décor, smell and all.  Yes, I said smell.  I found it surprising as they had listed the house as "with all mod cons" & "newly renovated".  If this was newly renovated and they only brought it "up to date" (which by their standards, "up to date" was the 70's) I can't imagine what it looked like before - post war maybe?? Don't even want to think about it! Let's just say it was not the place for us.  So disappointed and let-down.  To cheer me up Simon bought me a Ho-Cho at Wild Bean Café.  Always a good pick-me-up!

Supplies | 6x8 page is cardstock page that comes with the Simple Stories Sn@p album. The lettering in the upper corner is by Simple Stories as well as is the orange "No Way" sticker. The brown "Home" & "Zero" embellishments are old American Crafts products which have been in my stash for years. The wood grain stars are from the SC Double Scoop PL kit. The "Right Now" sticker is by MME, Cut & Paste stickers by Jen Allyson. The red circular tag in the middle of the page is Simple Stories as is the arrow at the top of the page which came from The Daily Grind cardstock die-cut bits and pieces pack. As for the chipboard button this is by Webster's Pages, Trendsetter.  I know buttons aren't really popular anymore but I still love using them in my layouts!

 

 Close up of detail on upper right hand corner of page

 

 A mini page dedicated to Fish & Chips Friday,

a big thing in the UK!

(These page protectors are my "custom" made page protectors for (2) 4x4 inserts)   Link to that post is here:http://scrappysnapperck.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-bit-of-late-night-crafting.html

Supplies | The green arrow and the "January" sticker are from the Echo Park Photo Freedom core kit and the "Look" sticker is by Simple Stories.

Back side of the (2) 4x4 custom page - yes, another goofy picture of Rupert.  I take way too many pictures of my dog, I'm aware!  All items used here are by Simple Stories.

 Another (2) 4x4 page. The pic was taken using the InstaFood app and the M&S insert card I created in Word.

Back of page.  Another "Insta" app - which I am obsessed with now.  I am an Insta-Geek!  This one is for Insta-Weather.  Insert card is my own.

"Coming to London" - this page was created using the heavy cardstock pages that come with the Simple Stories Sn@p albums.  I simply cut off the bit that had holes punched in it and inserted it into a 6x8 page protector.

Supplies | 6x8 page is cardstock page that comes with Simple Stories Sn@p album.  Puffy stickers used for "Coming" & "London" are Thickers from the SC Double Scoop Scrapbook kit. The letters spelling out "To" are Echo Park photo freedom core kit letters and the red "True Story" sticker is from Simple Stories.

 

This page reflects my journey up to London to see my long-time childhood friend, who to my surprise, was coming to London and was going to be staying at Leicester Square.  Even though I have been here eight years in the UK I still find taking the Underground such a novelty.  I guess because we just don't have anything like that in L.A and plus you really get the true feeling of London on the underground.  I thought this paper by Simple Stories was perfect with the different coloured lines as it is a good representation of the colours used for the different tube lines in the Underground.  Included my actual train ticket, a pic going down the massive escalator on the Underground and a copy of the tube map along with two tube stop signs.

Supplies | Simple Stories paper from the original Sn@p Life core kit. The "Click" speech bubble is a chipboard embellishment by Simple Stories.  The "Urban Traveller", "Go.See.Do" and "Happy Travels" stickers are all from the Simple Stories Urban Traveller kit. As for the "Ride Boarding Pass" green sticker I am not sure what brand this is as I have had it a while.

 

 Close up of detail on upper right hand corner

I do have a couple more pages that I need to put the finishing touches on; details, journaling and such but as this has been sitting on my craft table the past week, waiting for me to do so I just want to get this off my craft table, figuratively, and posted!  Rather than stressing about it and having it have to be perfect (am allowing myself not to think that way this year) I will just include those additional pages in my part two.

I am happy to have started on January (although it is now February - not gonna go there!) and hope you have enjoyed this post.

 

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

 

Christine

 

(to be continued...)