Valentine's Day Elegance

I have a few more cards to share today that I think would also be appropriate for anniversaries, etc. Sometimes, I just love a neutral, elegant look. I think with the addition of vellum and bling, these cards fit the bill nicely. I am also going to share the details of the post I made here yesterday.  This post is a bit long, but you will want to read all the tips & tricks I'm going to share. All products are Stampin' Up!

There are a few tricks I can recommend when using vellum: make sure your hands are clean. The oil from your hands can really show on the surface of vellum. When embossing on vellum, be sure to use the Embossing Buddy to remove static from the surface before you stamp and add your embossing powder. I also always keep a tiny, stiff bristled paint brush hand to remove stray bits of embossing powder. However, even with all of that, a bit of stray embossing powder usually ends up where I didn't intend on it ending up. I just go with it...it's handmade, right? 

The "LOVE" stamp is actually just individual letters from the new photopolymer stamp set called Sophisticated Serifs. The set has 2 sizes of letters and a few other stamps that make this a must have for making your own monograms, or just saying what you want to say! Since these are clear, it is a snap to line them up. 

The "you" word is from the Really Good Greetings stamp set below. I knew I wanted the word "you" and after I really got to looking at my stamps, I realized how cute this stamp was with the tiny heart cut out of one of the letters. I simply used post it notes to cover up the areas of the stamp that I didn't want to ink up, inked the single word, then pulled the post it notes off and stamped it. Very simple trick and gives you tons more mileage from your stamps. 

I also always make sure to put my adhesive on the backside of the vellum under things that I am either embossing or embellishing with so the adhesive doesn't show through. I used half pieces of our Glue Dots to adhere the vellum on these projects. Since I am only putting it under certain spots, the vellum has a cool, ethereal "floaty" kind of look going on. (not sure floaty is a word, but you get the idea). On the card below, I have put a Glue Dot under each sequin. 

See the heart with both embossing and glitter on it above? This was a situation where I knew I wanted that embossed heart to be popped up, but didn't want to fussy cut it. The heart stamp was from January's Paper Pumpkin kit. The negative heart space was cut using a die from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits. After I stamped and embossed the heart, I punched it out with our  Sweetheart Punch. There were white edges on the heart, since the punch didn't exactly match up. I simply applied glue with my 2-Way Glue Pen and applied my Silver Stampin' Glitter. I really liked the effect and will use this idea again. After all, you can never have enough bling. The final sparkle I added was a few different sizes of sequins from the Frost Sequins in the past holiday catalog. (they are on sale right now).

Product details:

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If you read yesterday's post here, you will recall that a late night with a few of the grandkids had me a bit behind yesterday morning. I promised I would give the details on this sweet little card in today's post. 

I watercolored a small piece of paper using Rose Red reinker. After it dried, I punched out the heart with the Sweetheart Punch and added Dazzling Diamonds Glitter using the 2-Way Glue Pen to adhere. I made the polaroid type frame by cutting a rectangle piece of paper and cutting a square out of the center using the a die from the Squared Collections Framelits. The tiny flowers are from the Sheltering Tree stamp set. The "clothesline" is made from Painted Blooms Cotton Twine and stapled with the Handheld Stapler. The tiny clothespin is from a past Paper Pumpkin kit. The "I Love Us" is from the Good Greetings stamp set, which was one you could earn last fall. 

Product details:

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Sale-A-Bration is going on now! Earn yourself a FREE Stampin' Up! product gift with every $50 purchase. (before shipping & tax) See all of the Sale-A-Bration details here. 

Check out the Weekly Deals! Save up to 25% on the items below. There are also still some amazing items on the clearance rack. 

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Thanks for sticking with me today during this long post.  I hope some of the tips & tricks come in handy and I hope I have inspired you to be creative this weekend.As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or any of the Stampin' Up! supplies I've used. 

Artfully Yours,
Kim