Love is in the air

Love is in the air with Valentine's Day right around the corner.  This romantic couple can help you and your sweetie pie celebrate.

Three of the collage images on today's card are from the Victorian Valentines collage sheet from Altered Pages.  The sentiment image is from the Mini Images Valentines.  I think they all work really well together.  

I started with a red panel of card stock and a gold doily.  I made this one out of a textured gold card stock but any size and color you choose will work very well.  The doily is glued to the center of the card stock and then I layered on the images.  

The heart surrounding the couple in love has a dotted design around the edges.  Perfect for embellishing with a little Stickles glitter glue.  The smaller ornate heart has a ring of flowers around the heart and I added gold Stickles to the center of each little flower.

There is a lot of red going on here so I used some foam adhesive to hold the little plain heart off the page and make it stand out.  Two little strips of gold border stickers add another touch of glitz.

Aren't these little pearl petite flowers cute?  Just the perfect accent for my Valentine card.  The whole panel is mounted on an off-white piece of card stock.

Supplies used:
Victorian Valentines collage sheet
Mini Images Valentines collage sheet
Stickles - your choice of colors
Pearl Petite Classic flowers
Border Design 2 stickers
Adhesives - glue, double sided tape & foam tape

Valentine Salsa

Do you like making collage cards?  There are a lot of different types of collages, but my favorites are when I can take a bunch of unrelated images and make a scene with them.  When I was making this card I jokingly called it "Sally spices up a Tuesday night".  Yeah, I crack myself up.  If you'd like to see the individual collage images that went into making this romantic scene, click here.

Supplies:

Sheet music

That's Class collage sheet

Glass Slides Valentine's Day collage sheet

Mini Images Valentine collage sheet

Double-sided adhesive and glue stick

Is it me, or does this guy from That's Class look like a young Kenneth Branaugh?

Enamorado

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I could not resist making a card for my first project this month at the Altered Pages Artsociates blog.  I know Valentines are usually red or pink but we are celebrating green this month and Sabor Papel has a beautiful green design in their Amor collection.  Because green is not a traditional Valentine color, this design would also make a terrific anniversary card.

Supplies:
Sabor Papel Amor Collection - paper and embellishment cut outs
Young Lovers II collage sheet
Gold Glam Sticker Corners
Gel Xtreme PEN gold
Adhesive
Memento Tear Drop ink pad
Sponge Dauber


If you would like to see more photos, please click here.

The finished panel was mounted on green card stock and I think it really makes the red roses pop!

Remember to share your own Altered Pages projects with the hastag #Altered Pages.

Mixed Media Vanetine Heart

Hi everyone! I'm here today with a mixed media project, which is being featured today on the Altered Pages Artsociates blog.  I used a pressboard heart and created a decoration for the mantle.

Pressed wood is thirsty so I coated the heart with gesso before painting.  The gesso makes a nice base coat so that your paint goes on evenly and the color stays true.  After the base was completely dry, I squirted on three different colors/types of red paint.  One of the paints was glossy just to give the piece a little more texture and interest.  Then, instead of using a brush, I brayered the entire surface, which created wonderful lines and patterns.

And now the fun began!  I started by choosing the Queen of Hearts collage sheet and cut out one of the little beauties.  She is backed with a German scrap spiky flower and also sports a German scrap crown.  Black lace made a nice background to highlight the game tiles.  

This wooden heart will be free-standing with on a plate rack, but it could just as easily be turned into a wall hanging by adding a loop of ribbon  glued to the back.

Thanks for visiting today!  This project and many more can be found on the Altered Pages blog just by clicking HERE.

Visit Altered Pages.com for your art supply needs!

Supplies used on the mixed media heart:
Gesso
Brayer
Tacky Glue
Ribbon, lace and flowers (cut apart)
German scrap
Game tiles
Glitz giant rhinestone stickers
Dew Drops
Bazzill paper flowers
Collage images
   Queen of Hearts
   Valentine Faux Postage
   Mini Images Valentine

A little vintage Valentine's Day romance

Winter is in full swing here in the US and as the joyful December Christmas and other holiday decorations are coming down it's time to look ahead.  Valentine's Day is right around the corner and love is in the air over at Altered Pages!  Today I have a card to share that will be sure to please your honey.

The color scheme makes this card suitable for a man or a woman and is super easy to make.  Start with the Young Lovers collage and punch or cut out the kissing couple into a circle shape.  I have a scalloped die set, but concentric circles would be just as pretty for the matting.  Ink the edges of your picture to soften the edges a little.

The card elements were made from three sheets of the Graphic 45 Artisan Style paper pad.  These papers are two sided and contain the same two colors on each sheet so they coordinate perfectly with one another.  A heart was cut out of the main panel, allowing the bottom layer of cardstock to show through.  (And leaving me a beautiful embellishment to use on another card!)

The tan floral paper used for the bottom circle layer was also used to stamp the Mailbox Muse dragonfly, which was cut out and mounted at the edge of the heart-shaped hole.  Three black gems give the card a touch of sparkle.  There is still plenty of room to write or stamp an "I love you" inside the heart.

Now, you just need to plan the rest of your romantic evening...

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll come back again real soon.  Until then...Happy Crafting!

Products used:
Graphic 45 Artisan Style 6x6 paper pad
Young Lovers 2
Mailbox Muse Dragonfly stamp set
Glue stick or adhesive tape
Score Pal

Playing with paint

 

 

Hello, friends!  January is almost over and the month-long partnership between Altered Pages and Deco Art is winding down.  My post today is just me playing with some embellishments.  First, a vintage image from one of the Young Lovers Valentine collages.

 

I wanted to use this plain chipboard frame and white cardstock and I didn't have anything in my collection already the right color.  The frame and back panel were painted with Deco Art Flesh Tone acrylic paint to match the collage art.

 

I'm no stranger to altering embellishments.  I use painted and inked paper flowers and chipboard all the time.  Today I thought you might like to see some of the other items that I have painted using my Deco Art acrylic paints.

Brads and swords - plain and painted, side by side.

So go out and play with your paint.  It doesn't always have to be a journal or canvas!  Just have fun. 

Until next time...Happy Crafting!



An Old-Fashioned Romance

Hello again!  The season of romance is upon us.  Valentine's Day is just a few weeks away and I have a canvas today to get us into a romantic mood.  As you all know, the Altered Pages Design Team has been playing with all sorts of Deco Art products this month.  Today I've used crackle paste, antiquing medium, matte varnish and a gorgeous floral stencil.  Combine them with a lovely Altered Pages Young Lovers Valentine collage, some paper flowers and other embellishments and I have a vintage-looking canvas!

If you're interested in seeing the Snapguide tutorial, please pop on over to the Altered Pages Artsociates blog and check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I appreciate all of the support and comments everyone shares with me.  Until next time...Happy Crafting!

Hubby's Valentine - shhh don't tell him it's posted

There are two holidays where I have trouble designing cards.  I'm always disappointed in my Valentine's Day and Easter cards.  Valentine's Day is romantic and my cards are usually cute and funny.  And Easter is a nightmare for me because I don't usually think in pastels.  I'll worry about Easter later.  Tonight I tackled hubby's Valentine. 

I've been trying to add more layers and textures to my cards so I knew I wanted to use my Cuttlebug in some way and I decided I would use die-cuts.  I have two different dies for similarly shaped flowers so I got them out to have a variety of sizes to choose from.  The design came to me when I saw the black & cream music note paper.

I cut out all of my flowers and placed them randomly on a sheet of card stock to determine the size card I wanted to make.  I settled on 5x7 so that most of my background stencil would show and I could use the largest flower without it being cramped.  For my stencils, I chose a swirly background that I sponged on in Vivid Garnet ink.  I added three random patches of checkerboard sponged in Vivid Cobblestone and a leaf pattern sponged on in Vivid black.  I glued down my flowers, added three different sizes of red gemstones using Helmar's Gemstone glue and stamped two sayings, "love" and "xoxo", which were also in Vivid Black ink. To pull the whole design together I sponged Vivid Garnet all along the outside edges of the paper and the tips of the flowers and then mounted the panel on black confetti paper. 

I like it.  It's got a lot of different layers while keeping to a minimal color scheme.  I'd love to know what you think!  Drop me a line sometime.

Materials used:

Textured heavy cream colored card stock

Black confetti card stock

Music note paper from DCWV's Heirloom Christmas Stack

Die-namics Layered Rose die cut

Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die cut

3 stencils from my collection

Helmar's Gemstone Glue

6 mini, 3 medium & 1 large heart gemstones

"love" by Vap! scrap

"xoxo" found in the Target dollar bin

Vivid inks: Garnet, Cobblestone, Black