Back among the land of the living...

Whew...the stomach flu really SUCKS!!  I just spent the last 36 hours in bed wishing death would come quickly. I haven't been that sick in years...and man, am I glad!  Now I'm at least upright, though not exactly ready to take on the world.  Thankfully, the schools are closed today because we're in the middle of a big snow storm, so I don't have to worry about going to work.  I figured it was about time I posted something for you, so here is a Valentine's card I designed to do at a workshop tonight (which, by the way, is also cancelled due to the snow!).

Valentine's card using Valentine Defined set and Something to Celebrate set.

Cute little Itty Bitty Button

Inside of card - sentiment is from the Word Play set.

So those of you that reay my blog likely know that I like layers and LOVE embellishments.  I am proud to say, this card uses very few of either!  I challenged myself to do a simple card and quite like the result.  There is only one layer!!!  How often does that happen?!?  I found this cool technique online somewhere called "faux torn paper" and decided to try it.  I have to say, I think I'm gonna use it again!  Here is what I did...
Start with a 5" x 3 3/4" piece of whisper white cardstock.  Tear a couple of post-it-notes and adhere them to the CS.  Then stamp the heart and Love You images randomly in real red and chocolate chip ink respectively.  Sponge the whole area with pretty in pink ink and then remove the post-its.  Voila...looks like a layer of torn paper.  Cool, eh?  For the focal image I punched a full heart out of another post-it and stuck it to the CS.  I then sponged around it using real red ink.  I pulled off the post-it and sponged the heart itself lightly in pretty in pink so it wasn't so starkly white.  I stamped the sentiment from the level 2 hostess set called Something to Celebrate in chocolate chip.  So quick and easy!  Now I couldn't leave this card completely naked, so I added a bit of real red satin ribbon and a heart-shaped Itty Bitty button in the lower right corner.
For the inside, I used the same faux torn paper technique and then stamped the sentiment from the Word Play set that I inked with my markers for a two-colour look.  So fast, easy and effective!  I was really excited to do this one at my workshop tonight, but now will have to wait until our rescheduled date next week!  So much for an early spring!!