Valentines For My Boys

I stayed up late last night working on Valentines for the boys... I had no idea what I'd come up with, but I am really quite pleased with these.

I used the Loads of Love stamp set, along with the Family Phrases set for the sentiment. All of the cards share the same basic elements - black brads, Basic Black cardstock, and the Cutie Pie Designer Series Paper (although it's darling for little girls, I'm here to show you its masculine side!). The truck was stamped onto Confetti White cardstock with black StazOn ink and then watercolored using an Aquapainter and a combination of my classic ink pads (where I wanted more vibrant color) and my Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I made the green card first and liked it so well that I decided to make two more in a similar fashion!

The one above is for Morgan. The base cardstock is Certainly Celery, with a layer of Old Olive behind the truck. I used the Slit punch on the Old Olive and tucked the truck behind it before adding the brad for interest.

This one is for Mason and has a Bashful Blue base with a layer of Brocade Blue behind the truck. To make it a little different, I used the Word Window punch.

This one is for baby Maddox (he can appreciate it when he's older!) I would've done a Rose Red card, but that means the lighter tone would have to be pink... and pink just doesn't fly in my house. :) Plus, the hearts need to be Rose Red, so I made a yellow card instead. The base here is So Saffron with a layer of More Mustard behind the truck. I used the Photo Corners punch on this one. I also had to pull out my Stamp-a-ma-jig so I could stamp the sentiment in one straight line. Not familiar with the Stamp-a-ma-jig? Check out my tutorial to see how it works!

This set is a perfect example of one of my favorite things to do when making cards... when you create one you like, DUPLICATE it! Change a couple things here or there - try new colors, change the layout a bit... when you're done, you have a wonderful set of cards that make a darling little gift! Better yet, tuck the cards into a matching box with some envelopes! I show you how to make one in this tutorial.

Tonight, my mission is to create a card for my husband... I can't use the one we made in this post because he's already seen it. With any luck, I'll come up with something I like as well as the boys' cards... and if so, I'll share it with y'all tomorrow. If my creative streak gets smeared, well, then you'll probably end up seeing Loads of Love again, done in purples! :)

... I meant that as a joke, but come to think of it, he may like that. Hmmmmm...