Today’s Valentine’s Day! There’s quite as romantic as playing in the rain with your beloved on Valentine’s Day! Perhaps you celebrate Valentine’s Day with hearts, flowers and all the extravagances. Or maybe, you’re like Steve and me, after 21 years we are minimalistic when it comes to Valentine’s Day. A card and perhaps a small gift or a lotto ticket are about the extent of it. Some years, we’re lucky if we remember gifts and cards at all. Whatever you do I hope you have an awesome day with those you love.
Quick & Easy wins the day!
This year I made my beloved’s card early (in January). It was quick, easy and done in under half an hour.
Now, you might think it’s horrible that I didn’t spend hours or perhaps days on a card for my husband. It’s really okay! Steve knows I’m “time-poor” right now. Our lives are really busy: on top of sharing household duties and running my business, I’m doing weekly physiotherapy, project managing the next phase of our home improvements/repairs, preparing for a retreat and making sure we socialise with our friends and family!
The love of my life understands
My darling husband Steve “gets” that by the end of the day after a late dinner, I’m crashing on the couch before 9 pm, (some days I’m lucky to make it to 7 pm!) only to get up and work a few hours in the middle of the night and then wake up at some ungodly hour to do it all again. He much prefers a quick simple card made with love, than me spending all day on a card and getting stressed cause my “task” and “to do” lists are out of control. It’s the trade-off that he’s more than willing to make – he knows it is made with love. (If it’s any consolation, I also bought him a travel-themed Valentine’s card with a beautiful sentiment.)
Playing in the Rain
Turtle-ly Lovely
When I saw Stampin’ Up!’s “Playing in the Rain” stamp set which is part of the Rain or Shine Suite Collection, I was smitten. Who wouldn’t love a cute turtle brandishing a daisy? My mind was awash with the possibilities, but I wasn’t sure where to start!
Zoom friends to the rescue
Fortunately for me, my dear friend, Meg & her Stamping Family came to the rescue with a zoom call and sketch challenge. Sadly, I can’t show you the sketch for copyright reasons but I can show you my interpretation of the sketch. (If you’re a Stamping Family member, check out the zoom video dated 1.11.2023 to see the sketch.) I love using sketches as a starting point for inspiration!
How cute is that?
Not bad for a 6 am in the morning effort, even if I do say so myself! As I said earlier, it was super quick to make! I literally stamped twice and coloured with my stampin’ blends, punched three hearts and layered it up! Volla! Done!
It’s clean and simple! No messing around with die cutting or embossing or finding the right patterned paper. The longest part of making this card was chatting with my USA-based Stamping Family friends on zoom and drinking my first coffee of the day. (Yes, I do get up at 6 am to do Zoom Calls! I even shower and get dressed beforehand too!)
Supplies & Measurements
To make this card you will need:
- Playing In The Rain Cling Stamp Set (English) [160542]
- Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] – Base card: 5¾” x 8″ + Layer: 5¼’ x 3½” + Scrap for heart bigger than 2¾” x 2½”
- Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] – Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] – Layer 5½” x 3¾” plus two Scraps for punched hearts – the largest punched heart is approximately 2¼” x 2⅛”
- Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]
- Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [154883]
- Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [154885]
- Parakeet Party Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [159220]
- Real Red Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [154899]
- Bone Folder [102300]
- Heart Punch Pack [151292]
- Paper Trimmer [152392]
- Stampin’ Seal+ [149699]
- Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430]
- Take Your Pick [144107]
How to make it this Card
10 easy steps
- Score the Base Card at 4″ on the long edge, fold it in half and burnish the fold with your bone folder
- Affix the red layer to the front of the base
- Adhere the large white layer to the red layer
- Punch two red scalloped hearts using the largest heart punch from the Heart Punch Pack
- Using the memento black ink stamp “daisies” across the widest section of the heart.
- On your white scrap stamp the turtle in memento black ink.
- Colour the turtle with your blends – to get the yellowish-green shade on the turtle’s body & arms, I coloured firstly with the Light Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blend, and let that dry then coloured over the daffodil with the Granny Apple Green Blends. The shell is coloured with light and dark Parakeet Party. The daisy is coloured in real read Stampin’ Blend.
- Punch the daisy and turtle’s head and shoulders using the plain-edged heart punch.
- Use dimensionals to layer the hearts onto the cards.
- Add Bling of your choice – I used leftover bling from the Love Santa Tag Kit in the centre of the daisies.
Told you it was quick and easy!
Hope you enjoyed this project. If you have any questions about this project, Sale-a-bration or the new mini catalogue please contact me, I’d love to help.
Until next time… Happy Creating!
Chrissy xo
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