Valentine's Day cards

Hello again everyone,

Today I have a couple of Valentine's Day cards to show you.

It's not as big a holiday over here as it is overseas, but we celebrate it nonetheless, just in a very understated Australian way. Like, laid back. Like, maybe too laid back, lol.

Here's a fun one. It's a favourite because it's got a cupcake on it. Just love 'em.

Supplies:

• Cupcake punch - McGill
• Scallop Square punch - Marvy (green)
• Square punch - Marvy (purple)
• Background - Cuttlebug Love Language Combo set (includes word dies and the hearts folder)
• Stickles on the square

Love that hearts background - it's really sweet. I particularly like the grid backgrounds with a little design on them like this one.

Here's the cupcake punch - remember it? You get a star and a candle to use too.

A couple of tips:

- Because there's 5 things that need to be punched out in the design, it needs a good punch so it can work best. Be confident and give it a good one!

- Line your punch up in from the edge of the paper as far as it'll go and give it that good, solid punch with two hands. That is, punch quickly and it'll go through great. Too slow and it may not work.

- If you have your paper too close to the edge of the design, it can jam in your punch. This goes for other designs too, and other brands. Done that before? (It usually happens with the big designs)

Here's the envelope I made to go with the card. It's red Bazzill (Pomegranate - my favourite red), which is the same as the background red on the card.

I'm really into putting faux stamps on my envelopes nowadays...

How many years have I had that stamp punch? Oh, about 7, I suppose.

How many times have I used it on a card in those 7 years? Oh, about 7 (if I'm lucky), I suppose.

How many times have I used it recently? Stacks!

Will you be using it more in the future? Yep!

It's a keeper :o)

And the square inside is CP2: Square from Carl. Above the stamp punch is white and so's the square inside it. You can see the difference on the bottom card below. The stamp is red and the square inside is white.

Love that cupcake punch.

I posted this card a little while ago. Just wanted to remind you of it to show how versatile the punch is...and that you can make cupcakes using blue, yellow and orange if you want.

Here's the card again. Cute. Gosh, I love cute.

I don't believe I've ever used two different shades of red on a card before. Two blues - yep. Two greens - yep. Two yellows - definitely. Two reds - nup, until now.

Can't remember the name of the red - it's either Ruby Slipper or Red Devil.

Don't you love the Cuttlebug? Embossing is just so fun to add to a card.

This heart folder is obviously a perfect choice for Valentine's Day, so I had to break it out. And the words come from the Love Language Combo set from above.

Simple card that one, simple.

I am very much into scallop squares with something inside at the moment. Am going to make a few today for my sister-in-law who needs some thank you cards. I'll be using a Cuttlebug background and a scallop square - nice. And fun.

And lastly, the envelope to match.

I make all my envelopes on the Crafters Companion - it's the quickest way to make them, I've found. And quicker too because I've made templates for my most used envelope sizes, so I don't have to look them up in the book each time. Honestly, I can make an envelope in two minutes - it's so fab.

Okay, see you tomorrow!

:o)