A 2012 Valentine for Sibling #3 and #4!

Now to the final two of my four children.  My third-born child is Jackie, so I started thinking about a card for her and decided another of my sister's Valentine kits would be perfect for Jackie, so I dug it out.  (Credit to my sister: Heidi Gonzales: My Lil' Scrap Corner).  

Again, I decided it needed to be larger and square, so I cut a new cardbase and found a pretty red flowered print as the next mat layer.  I Copic colored little Tilda and fussy-cut her out.  The original card had a Spellbinder Label die behind the little stamped Magnolia Tilda, but I thought a heart would be more to my liking and make it much more Valentine oriented.  I was really happy with the paper and die changes I made, yet it the card retains the original flavor of the card design.  I know Jackie will like her.

My last 2012 Valentine card will be for child #4, Mark, and his wife Ginger.  I had purchased a card kit while visiting California at my favorite vintage scrapbook store, Paradise Scrapbook Boutique in Chico, CA.  For some reason, though it has a little boy on it, its hearts reminded me of love birds, which then made me think of Mark and Ginger as they have three Cockatiel, which look like "love birds" to me.  So, I decided to buy the kit and use it for them for an anniversary card, but it also seems like a good match for Valentine's Day.  I sent to my vintage image stash on my computer and found the little love birds I used on the card, and matted them with two mat layers and zigzag stitched around the bird image.  I was pretty please with the outcome and think Mark and Ginger will like it as well.

A 2012 Valentine for Siblings #1 & #2

Now, I turn my creative thoughts to cards for my children.  My first two will be for the first and second born.  First, is David, which this means a card with a masculine orientation.  I had a Valentine card kit that I got from my sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner).  Thanks Heidi for allowing me to do my own tweaking to make your card designs have a little of "me" in them.

I wanted to be able to use the kit parts, but I also wanted to enlarged the original card a bit.  I cut a new cardbase, brown mat layer, and found a new patterned paper.  I then Copic colored the little Mo Manning image and assembled the card, which retains the flavor of the original design!

Michele, my second-born, and her husband will get a card from an original design by Heidi also.  I made this card at a card class given by my sister.  I thought it would be just right for them because Don is in the Coast Guard, so this Magnolia stamp of Edwin the Sailor is perfect.  I changed out the ticket to a sentiment that fit Valentine's Day and added the red heart border at the bottom.  I actually think this little border enhances the original card design.

A Vintage 2012 Valentine for Mom!

It looks like Mom has been voted to get a vintage card for Valentine's Day.  I don't know that she prefers the vintage style, but for some reason when I think about making her a card, I think vintage.  This one will be a little more frivolous, as I plan to incorporate a little Copic-colored mouse as well.
I had this lovely piece of saffron embossed paper with scalloped outer edges.  I think these papers are really meant to be used in scrapbooking because then you could use the piece as a whole.  But I decided to fussy cut out the left corner and layer it onto a card.  I chose pinks, saffron, and browns as my paper colors to work with.  So, I began to color my little mouse to fit with these papers.  I've decided coloring animal fur is challenging, but I final got him to where I was satisfied.  I then fussy-cut him out, because I didn't want him to hide most of the saffron embossed paper, which would be directly behind him.  I worked long and hard with the saffron paper and little mouse to get them positioned so I like the way they sat, and then decided a little machine stitching might add.  Out came the machine to stitch before assembly began.  Mom's little mouse card will go out in the mail immediately so she gets it before Valentine's Day.

Celebrating My Hubby on Valentine's Day 2012!

We begin with Valentine's Day cardmaking.  My daughter, Michele, decided she wanted to make her husband a Valentine card, and so, she came over to craft with me!  What a super, delightful treat.  I showed her samples of cards in my cardmaking magazines to give her some ideas, and she went from there.  While she was working on Don's card, I worked on her Dad's card.  I didn't want it to get to girlie, so I didn't add any pearls and ribbon, but rather used Baker's twine, which I thought was a bit more masculine.  Here is John's card: