Roses and Chocolate anyone?

Yes, it's nearly that time of the year - the marketing opportunity between Christmas and Easter that retailers seize upon with gusto.... Valentine's Day! I don't have anything against a special day set aside to express love for your dearest, but I prefer to be a little more spontaneous with my affections! In the absence of spontaneity however, how about some real thought and effort put into a handmade card? My husband even made a hand-stamped masterpiece for me last year, with a little 'assistance' from the kids. So, the bar is set quite high this time, I'm looking forward to seeing it on Feb 14th.

Here's my first creation for the season, I have a few more ideas floating around in my head, and with my newly re-organised craft room and school returning this Wednesday they might just crystalise!!

The stamp set I have used here is "Always", featured in the Spring Mini this year. I'm really hoping hard it will make a re-appearance in the new 2009-10 catalogue, as I really didn't get enough time to explore it's potential.

I've used Rose Red and Chocolate Chip markers to colour the leaves and floral elements of the gorgeous heart, but to give it a little more impact and textural appeal, I then stamped the inked-up heart into a freshly re-inked Versamark pad before stamping onto Confetti White cardstock and sprinkling with clear embossing powder. A quick hit with my heat tool, and the colours are intensified and given a glossy raised finish. I did the same with the "everything" sentiment stamp, and then used markers and my Stamp-a-ma-jig to add the "you mean" and "to me" where I wanted them.

I also used my next favourite 'heart' set, "A Happy Heart", in the Summer Mini. I stamped the xoxo stamp all over the Close to Cocoa card base, before layering with a piece of Chocolate Chip speckled with my Spritzing tool. A bit of double stitched ribbon in Purely Pomegranate was the last step before assembling the card, using Stampin' Dimensional foam dots to pop up some of the elements. Stay tuned for the next card using more of "A Happy Heart" soon!