“Valentine’s Day isn’t just for romantic couples anymore. It’s a great time to celebrate friendship and caring to everyone we hold dear. The cold and dark winter months are still upon us. Warm them up and add light to someone’s day by sending and receiving a card” was my recent message as I hosted my first annual Val Pal Card Exchange.
The program was simple. Make an A-4 size card featuring hearts. Mail it to me with a self-addressed stamped envelope by the deadline, and I will mix up the received cards and mail one back to each of the participants. Fun, indeed!
It was my intention to share some love by sending cards, and 16 others took my inspiration to “heart”. I was thrilled and excited to receive them in my mailbox and view everyone’s creativity. Now, as promised, I am sharing the images of all the cards for everyone to see.
Isabella, age 9, was the youngest participant. She made an adorable mini card, and used markers to color a fantastic drawing on the inside. Her hand-stamped heart says it all, “with love”. This is the inside of Linda B’s exquisite gate-fold card. The heart on the belly band (that helps hold the card in the closed position) is encased in 17 individual stamped and punched flowers, each with a tiny jewel for sparkle. The outside (not shown) is composed of 2 light pink panels, perfectly embossed in tiny hearts. This card is absolutely divine open or closed. Steph went non-traditional with a green and gold card base. This cute and quirky card features a white glitter heart and snowflake sequins, sponged ever so lightly in red, made with lots of love. Additional sequins in gold coordinate with the card base. Her theory, that it usually snows on Valentine’s Day in the northeast, provides humor and holds true! Holiday was inspired to make this stunning card with a gold and white striped base. A large red glitter heart adds sparkle to the gold foil background. The bottom strip is aligned and designed with hugs and kisses, in the form of exceptional pink and red x’s and o’s. This fabulous purple hello friend card was crafted by Alisa. Each heart has a different pattern, contrasting nicely with the purple and white floral card base. The light pink panel is sweetly embellished with stamping, sequins, enamel and glitter dots, and jaunty bakers twine. Ginny lovingly created this masterpiece featuring panels of contrasting red and white patterned paper. A touch of black adds contemporary chic and provides great interest. The white die cut leaves and bakers twine add whimsy and accent the red heart perfectly. Linda M made this charming card with a unique fold. Traditional colors of red, pink and white are thoughtfully layered in mixed mediums of felt and glitter, adding great dimension. The lacy heart on the white pattern paper anchors the card and adds a touch of elegance.This enchanting card in pink and red was created by Jane. It’s simplistic beauty showcases three punched floral hearts in varying shades that correspond with the pretty pattern paper. A soft white ribbon tied in a faux bow completes the sweetness perfectly. Barbara’s beautiful card is crafted in red and white. The oval focal point has a die cut center heart and is embossed in mini hearts as well. Small raised corner hearts and a red bow add style to the paisley print paper, which is detailed in tiny elegant die cut stitching.This darling card was assembled with care by Nancy. The soft pink card base is topped with red and purple, the perfect Valentine combo. The white doily and multi-sized pearls add refined elegance while framing the hand-stamped hugs and kisses heart.This delightful card was made by Marsha. The sentiment was perfectly stamped on the gorgeous floral paper. Multiple hearts are die cut from the raised pink and white stripe paper. The inside (not shown) sports a hand-stamped doily and corner stamped hearts.Carolyn crafted this lovely card in soft pinks and green. There is great care in the way she layered all of the printed papers, as well as the stamped sentiment. The green in the ribbon is reflected smartly and beautifully in the green pulled from the patterned paper.Chris went for glitz and glam in this fantastic card. The card base and top layer are dazzling in sparkle. Fun patterned raised hearts, a white doily and deep red ribbon all add to this card’s well composed layout and allure.When making this clever card, Jen relied on the hearts in the pattern paper to meet the exchange requirements. The focus then became the stunning seven layered floral accent piece. This card is sending love with a gold glitter band and red sequin trim, making it festive and fabulous.Abby’s divine card has lots of heart, the sporty red pattern paper with the detailed torn edge proves that. Her layered heart accent piece also features an arrow and a keyhole. This card is artfully embellished with a long line of red sequin trim, some bakers twine with hints of green and a scattering of green jewels, making it fresh and fun.This card from Sandy has cute and adorable stamped all over it. Against the pink pattern background are three attached mini envelopes in white. Each envelope holds a small stamped note that can be removed, read (hugs and kisses, sent with love and love you lots), and re-positioned. Sequin flowers in an array of pink add additional texture and interest. Did I mention adorable???My card is designed in pool party and white. I used pool party emboss powder to heat emboss the smaller heart before punching it out. The larger white heart is embossed with the Scripty folder and brushed with Wink of Stella glitter pen on the raised lettering only. The pattern paper is from Parisian Blossoms. The Parisian Flourish folder was used to emboss the lower pool party paper. After embossing, I sponged the cardstock with pool party ink. I die cut the white corner paper with Lasting Elegance Dies. The card is finished with ribbons in both pool party and white, as well as accent pearls. My intention was pure elegance.
As you can see, there was great variety in creativity and amazing love adhered to every layer of all these wonderful cards (also known as paper hugs). Again, from the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful to each of you who took the time from your busy lives to make something personal to share with a potential stranger.
I truly hope that I inspire you to continue to share love with others. Every day is an opportunity to celebrate something with someone. Stamp a saying, send a card! Even if there isn’t a single heart on it, there is certainly a lot of heart in it.
With just days to go before Valentine’s Day, here is a centerpiece with loads of charm. It is quickly and easily put together, see the “how to assemble” photo sequence below. The only hard part is deciding to keep it, or gift it to someone you love.
Start with a glass jar and a cute patterned paper for the insert. Any clean food jar or canning jar works well, as long as you can roll the paper to fit inside the jar mouth. For this project, I am using From My Heart Specialty Designer Series Paper. The beauty of Stampin’ Up! DSP is that it is double sided, with different coordinating patterns front and back (so no ugly side).
Next, you will need lots of hearts. Make sure you use a variety of paper with interesting and unique patterns and colors. You will need 2 hearts of the same pattern to compose each individual pick. I quickly punched out hearts using the Heart Punch Pack from Stampin’ Up!. One punch is a traditional heart shape and the other heart punch has a scalloped edge.
Making the heart picks will require some thin dowels or wooden sticks. Keep in mind that your wood picks need to be taller than your glass jar. I used Tear and Tape Adhesive (strong holding, double sided tape) and Stampin’ Dimensionals to assemble each heart pick. In the following photo you will see the best placement for each.
Secure the heart with adhesive only to the wood pick first. After that, sandwich the second heart (that contains adhesive and dimensionals) over the wood pick and line up with the first heart. The dimensionals help to secure the two hearts back to back as well as buffer the void that the stick creates between the heart layers.
Pretty ribbons in corresponding colors add soft texture and allure. I chose to use traditional red, pink and white for my heart picks. Some are tied in simple knots and others are bows. If your ribbon tends to slide down your pick, roll up a glue dot and use it to secure your ribbon to the pick.
Your jar may need extra love, and a band of ribbon added around the outer rim is just the answer. Cut your ribbon just a bit longer than the jar circumference and overlap slightly where the ends of the ribbon meet. I used the Tear and Tape again to secure the wide ribbon band.
Add ribbon to your ribbon! I used a smaller white ribbon to tie a bow over the larger red one. Next, I punched out 4 small hearts and attached them back to back to the dangling bow strands, using glue dots to secure. How cute is that?
Time to put it all together. If you want your bouquet to be loose and fluid, like wildflowers, just put the heart picks in the jar in any order. This makes if fun to ruffle and mix at will. And if a guest visits or a co-worker pops into your cubicle, it is easy to remove one and gift it away.
If you are looking for some variance in height or a floral centerpiece design, consider adding some styro-foam in the base of your jar (again make sure it fits thru the jar mouth opening). Stab the picks into the foam in different depths. You can also add tissue paper to give the picks something to “dig” into with the same effect.
No matter what pattern paper you use, or what height you keep your centerpiece, this heart bouquet adds sweetness to any space. Not only is it quick and easy to create, but minimal cost is involved. No need to water, weed, or throw away this bouquet…just craft and enjoy.
If you liked this project, share it or save it to Pinterest. I am thinking about making a shamrock bouquet for St Patrick’s Day, then a colorful Easter egg bouquet, followed by a darling spring flower bouquet for Mother’s Day. Leave me a comment and tell me what you are inspired to make!
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