Lots of Love

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! It's Lauren here again, and in my opinion it's never too late to send a pretty Valentine out to someone special; or for that matter, to send an all-occasion greeting that just happens to have some hearts on it! I've used some of my favorite Eyelet Outlet Tapes, Enamel Dots and even some Balloon Brads to make a couple of cards that are all heart!

My first card was inspired by a layered heart die that I saw recently on social media. It's quite a new product though, and I haven't seen it in a store yet, which made me wonder if I could make my own version using a heart template and my trusty scissors. And it turned out that yes, I could!

After I traced the heart outline, I used the curves of the stencil to divide the shape into five segments that were more or less even, without being straight. Then I cut out around the heart. And finally, I cut the sections apart... but... I stayed just a scant 1/8" or so away from the dividing lines, so that there would be a bit of a gap between the segments when I reassembled them, without changing the shape or size of the heart.

I traced each of my finished heart sections onto a piece of plain white cardstock to which I had neatly applied strips of Pink Dot Washi, Orange Star Tape, Skinny Green Stripes, Blue Houndstooth Pattern Tape and Purple Dot Tape. I popped each segment up on foam tape and mounted them (with tiny gaps in between) on top of some texty patterned paper I made just for these cards. The text reads, "hugs & kisses & rainbow wishes" and is formatted in a free font called "Broach". I created a page that's white with black print and one that's black with white print. Both of these will be archived on our Freebies Page, so feel free to grab that to use on your own creations!

For my second card, I was thinking of the balloon bouquets my niece Riley has often received on her birthday, which just happens to be today--Valentine's Day! So those bouquets always had a heart balloon or two mixed in with some ordinary colorful balloons. I decided to recreate that look by diecutting small hearts from some of the leftover "tape papers" I had made for the first card --in this case Pink Dot Washi, Skinny Green Stripes and Blue Houndstooth Pattern Washi. I mixed the heart shapes with some of our Bright Balloon Brads and layered them all on top of my text paper, on which I machine stitched some balloon strings. I punched two small holes on either side of the stitched strings, threaded through some very skinny purple ribbon, and tied it into a bow at the front of the card.

I hope you will be inspired to take the hearts we all love on Valentine's Day and use them to spread the love all throughout the year! ♥

Lauren Bergold 

wishes you a very 

♥Happy Valentine's Day!♥