Happy Valentines Day... and as only a mother can....

Happy Valentines Day to you all... may you feel loved today.... you all deserve it...

And popping onto share what will greet my son, Joe this morning... made with love!!! And some sniggering and experimentation on the way.... 

A small and simple card on the outside... and a Large White Gift box topped off with a lollipop and full of lots of chocolate (which is the only thing he will care about!!!!)

So the card started off with a simple Happy Valentines Day stamped at the centre... and then I made up an Explosion Card insert (as first shared here) 

Then I thought could I add some die cut letters spelling LOVE?  And yes... but of course the stamping was a bit in the way!!

So then I needed to add something to the bottom... and then the top to balance it off!! Ending up with something wonderfully OTT!!

And yes I admit that a new make would end up in a different order!!  But I am sure you get the idea... 

So ... here is a step by step opening for you!!

And yes you do need to carefully pack the letters in as you fold up the card... but worth it! It all pops out just fine...

And here is a slightly better photo of the box... the new Lace Doilies made this lollipop decoration a breeze... 

Stampin' Up! Products Used

Stamped Layered Letters Alphabet

Die cut Large Letters Alphabet dies

Sending Love Paper Stack

Sealed With Love stamps

Large White Gift Box

Lace Doilies

Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Mini Explosion Card for Fancy Fold Friday

 

Oh I couldn't wait to make one of the Turkish Map Fold cards... this prototype being dressed up for a birthday... but this would make a super quick Valentine card if you are not ready for Tuesday!

NOTE FOR THE RECORD Jan 2022- I first found this paper fold on Craftsy.com in a Jan 2016 post... but they appear to have closed down the post (for free access)...  so I have amended the link to a later tutorial by fellow Stampin up demonstrator, Julie at The Paper Pixie...

Take a 6" square piece of paper... so any of the 6" square paper packs are perfect for the job, such as Sending Love used here... and fold as directed here... I just added an extra fold at the 4 corners... folding the peaks back on themselves to show a bit of the other side of the paper when open... 

My folded insert is then popped into an 8cm (3 3/8") square Whisper White card blank ...

Which is in turn popped into a Real Red 8.5x9cm card blank (17x9cm card scored LANDSCAPE at 8.5cm) (OR 3 1/2" x 3 3/8" card blank - 6 3/4" x 3 3/8" Scored LANDSCAPE at 3 3/8"). 

Inside finished off with a white embossed greeting from Big on Birthdays... though not very clear on the photos!

And on the front... Sahara Sand mat 3 x 2 3/4", Paper 2 3/4" x 2", Whisper White strip 3 3/4" x 5/8".

Front finished off with  Sahara Sand and Real Red Sealed With Love hearts and a greeting from Sale A Bration Designer Tee (yours for free with a £45 order!) - and Linen Thread... 

Gorgeous little card with a big WOW on opening! And a few more already made!!! They are so quick! And yes I do have envelopes to fit too!

Sending Ferrero Rocher Sealed with Love...

How about this for a quick & simple Valentine make... full of yummy Ferrero Rochers with a heart!

Take a White Gift Box... 

Apply strong Tear & Tape to the 3 top flaps (lid and 2 box sides) and fold down/in (Note I have only used Red Line/Sticky Strip so you can see where I mean to put the glue!)

Decorate front and side faces with four 2 3/4" Squares of Sending Love paper and a Whisper White Sunshine Wishes heart

Die cut 2 each of Whisper White Stitched Shapes circles (coming back in stock very soon btw!!) & Scalloped Layering circles. Stamp with Real Red greeting and Blushing Bride lips from the Sealed With Love stamp set

Punch two Real Red 2" circles. Assemble the 2 discs...

Wrap & adhere Whisper White ribbon round from centre front, round back and to front centre. Add the front disc. Add a bow.

Decorate the back with 2 3/4" x 5 3/4" Real Red mat plus 2 1/2" x 5 1/2" paper. Plus the other disc (this disc adds strength too)

Cut a 2 7/8" Square piece of Thick Whisper White to form an in-box shelf... mine is just stamped simply with a Real Red greeting and Blushing Bride lips...

Ink up and stamp 8 Real Red square frame images plus a greeting for the heart... cut out by hand... adhere to 8 Fererro Rocher using Glue Dots...  

Hard to spot -but note that the heart frames are also over-stamped with Blushing Bride diagonal lines...

Slip the clear sleeve onto the box from the front...great way to seal in those treats!

Thank you ( again) to Ginny Musgrove Smith for sharing this fabulous idea with these boxes. I just had to use the concept straightaway...

On Stage Sealed with Love Upgrade...

Just sharing what I did with the little Love Notes that thousands of Stampin' Up! demonstrators around the world made at the November Stampin' Up! On Stage event...

These were the trio Stampin Up! had designed for the Make N Take using the new Spring Summer catalogue stamp set Sealed with Love...

And here they are just added to an A5 long card... yes it is a long card!! All 29.8cm (nearly 12" for my American followers!) long of it ... Just a piece of Thick Whisper White A4 card scored PORTRAIT in half at 10.5cm...

Gives the card presence in the room... and also easier for display purposes!! 

And  - seeing as I was lucky enough to take the stamp set home with me after On Stage - I can't wait to share my next Sealed with Love project with you!!!! I can't tell you how good it was to get something made today!!! 

Sending Love & Sunshine Wishes...

Back to my Pop & Twist Valentine card for this year.... I now bring you the front... and an amend to the inside for good ol' Yorkshire folk!!!

I decided to keep the front simple in style too...

More Sending Love paper... Silver Foil and Real Red Sunshine Wishes hearts, Silver Glimmer greeting from the same set of dies...

Plus a silver Mini Clip, a bow from the Sale A Bration silver metallics ribbon and a few Real Red foil stars from the Brights Sequins (There should also  have been a white star sequin from the Metallics Sequins to the left of the Real Red heart... but those sequins were playing hide & seek! So I had to use a 3rd Real Red sequin instead)

And the Yorkshire amend!? Well not just Yorkshire in all reality.... 

See the add of the second (silver foil) "love" to the centre right below the E. So making "Love YOU Love"....   

Many Yorkshire people call each other LOVE (pronounced more like LUV!) It is a term used for someone you don't know  - or someone you do know but you can't remember their name at that very moment! Or just a general term used towards someone else!!! eg Alright Love!!!? for RU OK?? Yes I can hear some of you laughing right now!!!

And the back story - or an update as some of you have been asking ...

This card has taken me longer to produce than any other! I started to make it last Wednesday and have finished it today - so a full week in the making!

Not because it is difficult... not even because I had to make it from scratch... nor because I have made lots of other cards in the meantime... but because of the "bug" aka cough & cold & stuff that has hit me hard... though I am happy to report that I have been through the worst of it for the last 2 days... but it keeps coming back with an evil grin knocking me sideways again!!!! So I think I am on the up side!!? Maybe!? Hope so!!!

Jems Monthly Blog Hop - Welcome to 2017

Hello and welcome to The Craft Spa and the monthly Jems Team Blog Hop... featuring projects made with  new products from the Spring Summer and Sale A Bration catalogues....

I am starting off the New Year makes with cards and gifts for Valentines Day. So I am featuring the Sending Love suite today...

And seeing as my regular class ladies have not made a Pop Up Twist (aka Pop Up Panel or Pop & Twist) Card... well it just had to be another one of these shared earlier... as I do think this is a card format that is absolutely perfect for the men in our life....

And with the perfect Sending Love papers and Sealed with Love stamps for Valentine's Day!

Edited to Add - Go here for the matching Treats Box...

Couple of shots of all of the papers in this 6x6 Stack for you below... 

And now it is time to pass you onto the wonderfully talented Gill Arnold at Make Moor Cards... just press the button below to hop on through... 

Or if you are going backwards.... it is time for the equally talented Katy Harrison at The Stamping Shed...

You are in for a treat whichever way you are going!