Valentines & Thanks for Being There Cards

This week I have created two cards using the Cheery Lynn Designs dies.  However, this is not my original project.  I had one of those weeks where everything went pear shaped. My cat, Ms Malinki opted to dip her paw into my near empty coffee cup sitting on my work area - alas, even though only a little coffee was in the cup, it managed to tip and seep, into my whole layout.  I normally never leave my drinks around, but sadly I did.  A valuable lesson learned!!

So it was back to the drawing board for me, and a heart breaking moment of putting a near completed layout into the bin.  I opted to create some cards with several of the beautiful and intricate dies Cheery Lynn Designs released this month.  Firstly, a Valentines card in black and white. I was going to do red, but everyone does red and I like being a little different (my friends say 'odd').

I used the Francesca & Queen Anne's Lace border dies to create borders on the bottom edge of the card.  I double layered the Francesca so it really stood out.  Two of Hearts was used as a base for the floral arrangement, which consists of Cuties 2, Cuties 3, the smallest leaf from the Small Dimensional Leaves and Olive Branches.  Of course, I had to complete the front of the card using the most popular and pretty Mini Butterflies. 

The edges of some of the die cuts were inked using distress inks.  I used Kaisercrafts 'i love you' stamp and several bling pieces to highlight the butterflies.  On the inside of the card, I used the Sweetheart Frame which I adjusted a little (cut into an oblong, instead of square) so a sentiment could easily be written inside.  I really wanted to hand stitch the card, but used a white gel pen instead to create stitching lines.

My second card was constructed using several of the Oval Stacker series, both in original and Scalloped. The Polynesian Sails Oval and Polynesian Sails Oval Angel Wing was used on the outside of the card to decorate.  The pretty die cut from the inside of the Polynesian Sails was used on the inside of the card.  The sentiment was stamped onto the French-Flair Classic die cut.  Silk ribbon that I hand-dyed myself was used to decorate both outside and inside the card.  Stitching lines were added using a black and white gel pen.  Bling was added to highlight the Polynesian Sails Oval.

Dies Used:

DL153 Polynesian Sails Oval

DL153A Polynesian Sails Angel Wing

XL-7 Oval-Classic

XL-8 Oval-Scalloped

L-7 Oval-Classic Stackers

M-12 French-Flair Classic Silver Stackers

XM-12 French-Flair Classic Silver

FRM 127 Sweetheart Frame

B159 Francesca Border

B160 Queen Anne's Lace Border

DL128 Two of Hearts

B151 Cuties 3

B150 Cuties 2

D134 Small Dimensional Leaves 2

B147 Olive Branches

DL112 Butterfly Mini

This weeks challenge on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog is "Dry Embossing" - you can find all the details "HERE".  As well as being in the chance of winning a $20 voucher, this week CutCardStock are also offering a $30 shopping voucher to a random winner.  How generous is that!  So get your entries in as you could be a winner, of not only some great dies, but also card stock!

Have a great, and creative week
Sandie