Valentine's Day Cards: Thinking Outside of the Box!

Hi everybody! It's Maria here and today I've a got a fun, out-of-the-box Valentine's Day card to share with you. I think it can be really fun to look at the stamp sets I have and figure out how to create a unique card instead of a more traditional one.

For today's card I started out with the new Water Ripples Bold Prints background stamp. I put the stamp in my MISTI along with a piece of watercolor paper. I applied ink randomly to the stamp using Splash Reactive ink. I gave it a light spritz with my water bottle and then stamped it onto my paper. The light spritz of water activated the Reactive ink and when I stamped it I ended up with a loose watercolor look (that didn't completely cover the background since I had applied the color randomly). Next, I applied Blue Hawaii Reactive ink randomly, spritzed and then stamped again. Because this ink application is wet the two ink colors blended seamlessly together. I repeated this again with Grape Slush Reactive ink for a tri-color blend. After my background dried I adhered it onto a black A2 card base.

Next, I colored some of the fish and a plant from the Pet Goldfish stamp set. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out. The Hexagon Infinity Dies worked perfectly to create a focal point for my scene. I used two of the hexagons together to cut a frame in black. Then I used the larger of the two to cut a vellum hexagon. I layered the frame on top of the vellum. Before I started adhering anything to my card base I made sure to stamp the sentiment. I used Intens-ified Black ink and my MISTI to get a bold impression.

I arranged the fish and plant on the hexagon and glued them into place. I added foam tape behind my images and this worked well to hide the adhesive so that I didn't have any showing through the vellum. The final touch was to add some clear enamel dots. I wanted the dots to have a little color so I used a blue Copic marker to color them in before sticking them to my card.

I love the soft watercolor look on this background and I think it paired well with the fish and "hooked on you," sentiment. The result is a fun, and out-of-the-box card you could give to your sweetheart for Valentine's Day or any occasion. I hope this card will inspire you to dig around in your stash and have fun coming up with alternative uses for your stamps.

Have a great day and happy crafting!

Click on products to shop:

CG838 Water Ripples Bold Prints -... [ HA ] CM344 Pet Goldfish - Hero Arts [ HA ] DI623 Pet Goldfish Frame Cuts (D) -... [ HA ] DI846 Hexagon Infinity Dies (H) -... [ HA ] AF428 Splash Reactive Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF429 Blue Hawaii Reactive Ink - Hero... [ HA ] AF432 Grape Slush Reactive Ink - Hero... [ HA ] AF435 Intens-ified Black Ink Pad -... [ HA ] WM101 Water Mist Bottle - Hero Arts [ HA ] CH321 Clear Hero Hues Enamel Dots -... [ HA ]