A Fancy Valentine

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I'm going to show you a cool technique that is featured in the new Close To My Heart Spring-Summer 2012 Idea Book. The example they use in the book is with trees, but since it's Valentine season, I thought I would use the same technique with a heart. You can try it with any shape you'd like! Here's what you need to do:

First, you'll want to create your card base and cut a shape out of the front for a "window". I used my "Art Philosophy" Cricut cartridge to cut a card with a heart-shaped window. The "Art Philosophy" cartridge has many different cards on it that you can cut this way (BIG time-saver!).

Next, I used "Art Philosophy" again to cut a flower background from Blush cardstock. This shape should be the same size or smaller than the front of your card. There are also several different backgrounds/"doilies" to choose from on the "Art Philosophy" cartridge.

Three - Choose a contrasting-colored cardstock to mount your background to. It should be only slightly smaller than the front of your card. I used Tulip cardstock for mine.

After gluing your background shape to the contrasting cardstock piece, you're going to adhere the whole thing to the inside-front cover of your card, so that the design faces out, and shows through the window in the front of the card. (NOTE: If you are going to ink around the edges of your cut "window", or stamp on the front of your card, do so BEFORE adhering the background to the inside-front of the card.)

After that, it's just a matter of embellishing! I inked the edges of the heart with Tulip Ink. I used heart stamps from the "Card Chatter - Love" stamp set on the white cardstock with Baby Pink and Blush ink. Then I cut the scalloped circle (from the "Art Philosophy" cartridge) from Tulip cardstock and painted it with a light coating of Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint. I adhered it to the front and placed a pearl Opaque inside each of the holes. Lastly, I tied white organza ribbon with red ricrac around the front of the card (hint: make a slice in the fold of the card where you want the ribbon to be and thread it through to go around the front). And...voila! A gorgeous card for your Valentine! Try out different window shapes, colors, and backgrounds to see what you can come up with! Happy Valentine's Day!

OK people - listen up. Close To My Heart has a lot of really cool and incredible promotions, but this one takes the cake! "Five for Free" is an opportunity for you to get TEN Studio J Layouts for the price of FIVE! That's right - for each Studio J 5-Pack that you purchase in February, you will get a second 5-Pack for FREE! That works out to just $2.75 per page - with FREE SHIPPING!  Think of the gorgeous layouts you could create - and get caught up on! And imagine what an incredible and thoughtful gift this would make! Buy one for yourself, and give the other to a friend or family member! At just $55 for the 5-Pack (or in this case, 10-Pack!), even current Members will save with "Five for Free"! Call, email me, or order ONLINE today to be sure you get yours!

Here is a sampling of the layouts I completed a few days ago using Studio J:

These were photos from our Disney cruise in November.

This was the room we stayed in when we went to Hartford, CT for the Lego Kids Fest in early December. I just LOVE how this layout came out - the paper colors compliment the photos so perfectly!

This is my favorite Christmas layout from this year - and it wasn't even Christmas! I love the contrast between the white background and the brown paper and ribbon. Mmmm...makes me feel warm & fuzzy just looking at it.

Studio J 5-packs are the perfect way to try Studio J for the first time. Try it out, fall in love, then come back & purchase a membership so you can get 50% off the price of your layouts, PLUS access to Members-ONLY kits and patterns. Have fun!