tangerine thanks and belated valentine

Good morning! Is anyone else just itching for spring? ;) My card today has a very warm, bright palette that's sure to melt away any winter time blues:


I love these bold citrus-y colors! And I love the stamp I used to create the flowers... it's the Hero Arts Large Blossom stamp, and was one of my very first purchases from the 2011 catalog. However, once I got it home I was quite intimidated by it. It's so beautifully detailed, but I really wanted to do more than simple stamping or embossing with it. So, I embossed the image on watercolor paper (I prefer the hot press variety for the smoother texture), colored a few of the larger flowers in the image (one green, to cut into "leaves"), and then cut them out and popped them up on pop dots. This helps to retain the lovely detail, yet utilize the image in a different way other than just as a boxed silhouette image.


After watercoloring with inks and a brush, I also added a bit of Perfect Pearls for shimmer. While I LOVE the look of watercolor, it's not a good technique for the Type A in me. The splotchy look - even though intended - usually drives me nuts, so I end up over-fussing with it to smooth it all out. Ha! Here, the Pearls helped serve two purposes. I also really love the sentiment! The fonts are so elegant, so I really wanted the card to reflect that. TIP: If you're cutting out a detailed embossed image with thin lines such as this, the embossing can sometimes flake a little in spots. Using a gel pen to replace those lines proved to be a very good fix!

And now my belated valentine. Better late than never, right?! ;)


This was the first of four that I was going to make for my kids to include with their Valentine goodies. However, the design ended up being too time consuming for me to repeat three more times, ;) so I went with a different, more simple project idea. The valentine-y stamp I used is the Heart Flourishes Cling background from last year's Hero Arts catalog. Can you spot it? ;) The sentiment is an oldie but goodie, from the Thinking of You Messages set. All die cut shapes were made with my Cricut.

Can't believe it's the last week of February! Seems like the months are just flying by faster than ever, and spring really will be here before you know it! Be sure to take a minute to hug your loved ones and do something special for YOU. :) See you soon with another card... and thanks for reading!

SUPPLIES
"Tangerine Thanks"
paper: Hero Arts notecard, Arches white hot press watercolor paper, white Georgia Pacific, and Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie
stamps: Hero Arts CG271, CG277, and CL477 (background)
inks: VersaMark, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Old Olive, and Always Artichoke
misc: embossing powder, Perfect Pearls (white), and pop dots
"Sending Hugs & Kisses Valentine"
paper: The Paper Studio and Georgia Pacific
stamps: Hero Arts CG169 and CL140
inks: Stampin' Up! Real Red and Memories black
misc: Base Camp Cricut cartridge, gingham ribbon, and pop dots