Valentines for Youngsters

We had our monthly church cardmaking gathering last week and our focus was Valentines.  As I was putting the completed cards on our racks, I realized that we didn't have any for youngsters (or the young at heart!) so I have been working to remedy that situation!

This sweet little girl is an image from the darling Stampin' Up set Greeting Card Kids.  It is impossible to go wrong with a card if it includes this image!!

The colors come from Inkspirations 4U.  Inkspirations 4U has opened up a whole new world for me.  You buy a membership for a specific session and you get tons of tutorials, challenges, chats and lots of new friends!!  The tutorials tend to cover anything from cute paper boxes and bags, unique card folds and fun mini scrapbooks.  I actually won this membership from my new Australian blog friend: Andrea from EnchantINK, who is a designer for this session of Inkspirations.

My second card for youngsters is based on today's SplitCoast Sketch Challenge.

This is one of the early, early sets from Our Craft Corner - I would doubt it is even available anymore.  I had to have it because I have never seen any other stamps with beavers?!?!  But of course, it hasn't seen ink until now.

If you were to ask me what embellishment that I couldn't live without, it would have to be the brown brads on this card.  I actually buy them by the thousands!  Really!!  (You have to remember that for every card you see on this blog, I have either made or put together kits to make three others for our church card sales rack.  So I go through embellishments quickly!!)

These brads are by Creative Impressions.  They are the Antique Bronze mini rounds.  I have tried very hard to get a close-up and I just can't capture their "colors".  Depending which way you are holding the card, you see a little of the bronze or even a little gold - but all antiqued and subtle.  They go with every brown CS that I have ever used.

If you live in the Denver metro area, Donahue's Paper Emporium on Yosemite between Arapahoe and Dry Creek sells normal-person-size packages of all the Creative Impressions brads.  I order online so that I can get the 1000 packs!

If you check Creative Impressions out online, be sure to look at their ribbons.  The ribbon that I used on my snowman from a couple of days ago is their Swirl Organdy.

Greeting Card Valentine Girl:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Greeting Card Kids, Well-Scripted
• Inks: Memento black, copics
• Paper: Stampin' Up Baja, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Candy Cane dsp
• Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, American Crafts ribbon, Cuttlebug heart folder, misc gems, nesties circles

I Chews You:

• Stamps: Our Craft Lounge Bubs the Beaver
• Inks: Memento Black, copics, Stampin' Up Early Espresso
• Paper: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Soft Suede, River Rock, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
• Accessories: Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder, misc grosgrain, brads by Creative Impressions