Special Someone Valentine Card No. 2

Hello, Crafters.

When I went to meet my daughter for coffee yesterday, we both arrived at the car park at the same time; which is unusual because I’m invariably late! We made our way over to our favourite coffee shop, which is owned by a local man. Vicki and I live in Banstead and Coulsdon respectively and we always try to support local businesses whenever possible; both towns are small and more like villages.

When we get together, Vicki and I could talk for England! LOL! As soon as I was back home I had my lunch and started getting myself prepared today. I’m meeting up with my newest team member so we can have an induction session. It’s not often I have this opportunity because my team is spread all over the UK, plus one lady in France. Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to meeting the newest person to join my team of Super Stars! Anybody else like to join the Super Stars?

For today’s card, I decided to use the Special Someone Stamp Set so I could check out what it’s like for two-step stamping and I must say it was surprisingly easy to line it up. After I had stamped the squirrel and the mouse on Whisper White Cardstock (CS), I picked out the Grey Granite Ink for the squirrel and the Smokey Slate Ink for the mouse.

I found they were both easy to line up the infill stamp with the eyes first and then slowly the ears and legs for the squirrel and then for the mouse the eyes first then slowly the tail. The real beauty of this stamp set is that there is now a set of dies to match this stamp set. It’s called Special Day Dies (153587 – €35.00/£27.00) and it contains a total of seventeen dies! This set of dies is part of the Co-ordination Product Release which started on 4th February until 31st March while stocks last.

For my first effort, I stamped the two images facing each other and die-cut them to make one image but I thought it looked very ordinary. I decided to work on my card and Designer Series Paper (DSP) first. I chose one light and one dark design from the From My Heart DSP, cut them to half the size of a regular top layer. After I had adhered them to the Whisper White CS layer, I adhered a strip of the strap die-cut from the All Dressed Up Dies across the join.

Once I had these pieces adhered together, I sat it on a Real Red CS card base and could see as soon as I put the one image of both animals on it, it was definitely not right! I had some single die-cuts of the squirrel and mouse and as soon as I put one of each on the top section I knew it looked spot on! For the sentiment, I chose the HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY stamp from the Meant To Be Stamp Set and stamped it on a piece of Whisper White CS using Memento Ink.

I punched the sentiment out using the straight-cut heart punch from the Heart Punch Pack and layered it on a Real Red CS heart which had been punched out with the scalloped-edge heart punch which also comes in the punch pack. To make the squirrel look as if he is holding on to the heart, I used the squirrel stamp and stamped his left hand onto the left-hand side (as we’re looking at it). I then added his left hand by drawing it on using my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker.

After adding a small clear rhinestone in the top right-hand corner of the small red heart, I started working on the sentiment heart which I’d adhered at an angle in the bottom section of the card. At first, I added three painted rhinestones but I didn’t like it, so I removed them and added them to the centre of three Clear Frosted Flower Embellishments. Then I adhered them randomly to the heart and I was pleased with how they looked.

To finish my card, I added a layer of Whisper White CS inside my card and adhered a die-cut squirrel and a die-cut mouse in the centre at the bottom of the layer. I didn’t add a red heart inside the card and, looking at it now, I think I should have added one, but that’s alright because I can add one later today. I think that’s about it for today, so I’ll look forward to being back with you tomorrow. In the meantime, as always, happy crafting.

JanB. xx

Layers for Badger (A4 & Letter-size)                                                                                                                                                                                                     Whisper White layer 2” x 3 1/8”                                                                                                                                                                                                      Basic Black layer 2 1/8” x 3¼”

Cardstock Layer Sizes: Europe & South Pacific (A4)                                                                                                                                                                                 Card base 8¼” x 5¾” scored and folded at 4 1/8”                                                                                                                                                                                  First layer: 2 pieces 3 7/8” x 5½”                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Top layer: 2 pieces 3¾” x 5 3/8”

Cardstock Layer Sizes: North America (Letter-size)                                                                                                                                                                                      Card base 8½” x 5½” scored and folded at 4¼”                                                                                                                                                                                          First layer: 2 pieces 4” x 5¼”                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Top layer: 2 pieces 3 7/8” x 5 1/8”

Products used for this project: please click on any of the links to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. The Hostess Code for February 2020 is TWEMK47B. Thank you. xx