Valentine’s Day Blog Hop

I’m very happy to be participating in a blog hop today, organised by lovely Cathy. It’s a Valentine’s hop in honour of the day, and you’ll find lots of great love-themed inspiration along the way. You can find the full list of participants at the bottom of my post, and you’ll be able to see there where to hop too next. Some of the stops may have giveaways, so look out for those!

I used a little stamp set from Lawn Fawn to create my card. The Monster Mash stamp set lends itself more to Halloween cards, but it’s always fun to be able to stretch our stamps.

I started by die-cutting a piece of 80lb Neenah Solar White card with a Sizzix heart die. I then stamped one of the monsters onto the heart using Spun Sugar Distress ink. I hadn’t originally planned to do no-line coloring, but when it was time to stamp that’s the route I decided to go.

I stamped the image again to create a mask which I used to cover the little monster. I also masked off the lower portion of the heart to make my ground area. I then used the MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil with Spun Sugar Distress ink to add clouds to the heart. I moved my horizon mask so that I could add a touch of Milled Lavender to create the ground.

Next I started colouring the image. I used my Spectrum Noir Illustrator markers and went with shades of pink. I used Antique Pinks with a touch of pale pink for the lighter shades. I did have a slight issue where I could no longer see one of the eyes to add it back in, but I think it turned out okay. I also added grey edging to the heart to help it stand out more from the background.

Returning to my card base I stamped my chosen sentiment with Simon Says Stamp’s Barely Beige ink. I triple stamped to get a darker impression. My card must have shifted one of the times which gave a slight shadow look to the words, but I’m pretending it’s an artistic choice!

I also stamped the winged monster using Milled Lavender Distress ink, then coloured it in. I used grey’s for the wings and then Dull Purple for the body of the monster. This time I remembered to mark the eyes ahead of time so that I knew where they were.

Before adding the focal heart into place I added a little more stamping to the card base. I used both the Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender Distress inks to add three lines of hearts using the heart border stamp from Simon Says Stamp’s Really Like You stamp set. I then popped up the focal panel with foam tape, and added some hearts using Wisteria Purple Nuvo Drops.

I have mixed feelings about this card. I think it’s cute and I like the design, but I definitely still need practice at no line colouring! I think adding more detail, such as fur, might help. I’m not overly confident on doing that though. I just have to keep trying, learning and experimenting.

Love,

Lady Joyful

Challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More – Holiday

Aloha Friday Challenges – Love & Valentine’s

Card Und More Challenge – Someone Special

Creatalicious Challenges – Anything Goes and Optional: Love/Hearts

Creative Confetti – Love

Double D Challenges – Hearts

Kat Scrappiness Challenge – Hearts

Lawn Fawnatics – Color Inspiration

MFT Sketch Challenge – Sketch

Uniko Challenge – Anything Goes and Optional: Love

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Here’s the line-up for the hop:

PolymerCreations4U: A Journey into Craftiness

It’s Oddly Appealing

Matter of Crafts

Kelly Parker Designs

Psychotic Ramblings of a Serial Scrapper

The Joyful Soul Creates <- You are here!

Paper Mache Patch <- Next stop

Scrappy Squirrel’s Nest

A Fine How Do You Do

Whimsy Chic Paper Crafts Etc

Inky Pinky Boo

ekgorman designs

Life in a Snapshot

Juli Loves Paper

The Crafty Moussekateer

Savvy Handmade Cards

The Crafty Robin

Whimsical Creations

CMP Designs