Watercolor Hearts

There is this paper at Paper Source that I LOVE. I am seriously in love with it. It's called Luxe and it used to come in all these fancy colors, but now we're just left with white and cream, which is fine (I have some back stock of the blush, frost and glass colors to tide me over until they start making it again...). It's made in Italy, is 25% cotton and has a texture to it that is amazing. I. LOVE. IT.

OK, so a few days ago, I was going through my stash of craft stuff and I happened upon a set of watercolor paints. Who knows why I even have these, since I seriously don't even think I've used watercolors since kindergarten, but whatever.  The other day when I was in Paper Source, I picked up a pack of A7 Luxe White Folded Notecards, I didn't have a plan for them, but I needed that size and I love that paper so I snatched them up.  When I got home, I unpacked my purchases in the craft room and the two ended up near each other and I thought to myself, "that texture would look great with watercolor hearts on it." So there you go.  This is what I did this afternoon.

First I experimented on a regular sheet of 8.5x11 Luxe paper and I loved my results.

My corner rounder. I love
this thing.

Before I even thought of getting started, I had to round the corners on all of my cards. I have a thing about 90 degree angles, they are so not for me and why should I have to deal with them when I can easily round the corners of anything with my Fiskars Corner Squeeze Paper Punch?  These come in two sizes, big and small.  For this project, I used the big size.

A beautifully rounded corner.  See how much nicer this looks???

After everything was un-90 degree angled, I started painting my hearts. I did 10 of them and I think they look great.  At first I was going to embellish them, but I think I just like them plain.  I might line envelopes to match them eventually.

All 10 of them.

When I was done, I couldn't stand the fact that I wasn't using my tester sheet for anything, so I made an envelope out of it. I like it, it's cute!

Valentines!

What I started out with, not great,
but it'll do.

I started my Valentines a long time ago and wasn't too thrilled with them. Upon second look though, I decided that I could dress them up and they would be just fine.  Here is what I started with >>>>>>

I decided to add a few things...

The things I added...

Supply List 

• A7 Heart Shaped Cards
• Assorted Heart Pack
• 4 Bar Heart Cards in Fuschia, Red and Pure White
• Martha Stewart Martha Stewart Large Punch, Lace Scalloped Heart
• Martha Stewart Crafts Punch All Over The Page Set Ruffled Heart
• Assorted Heart Stamps (mostly from Paper Source)
• Rose Stamps (both big and small)
• Wilton Heart Doilies 3.5 Inch Assorted Pack, 12 Count
• Clearsnap ColorBox Fluid Chalk Cat's Eye Inkpad, Lipstick Red
• Scotch Pink Advanced Tape Glider 

I wanted to add something to the A7 heart cards as I was using them as backings.  The other day when I was in Paper Source I saw the new Rose Stamps and I had to have them. They are adorable and I love the clean lines. I tested two different colors of ink, Lipstick Red and Charcoal.  I decided on the red since charcoal roses are not natural. 

My test papers...

Once they were all stamped, I stuck the smaller hearts onto them and I was done.  Super easy. They fit perfectly in the envelopes that I made and lined.  In the next few days, I'll totally finish this project and send them out.  

Since the world is turned upside down and it is snowing in Houston, Texas, I'm hoping to do a very fun snow blog tomorrow!!!

Accordion Valentines

In the spirit of this Valentine season, I ended up co-teaching a class at Paper Source with my friend Olivia.  It was super fun and we all had a blast. I love those crafting classes where the table gets really messy and there's stuff everywhere. It's what I call progress.

I love all this mess!

In the interest of keeping with the hearts theme (not exactly hard to do around Valentine's Day), I used two different kinds of Martha Stewart craft punches, a heart hole punch from P.S, some heart cards from P.S. and V-Day themed 12x12 papers. It was lots of fun! The final product ended up being an accordion valentine that fits into an A7 box mailer.  I made it pretty generic so that I can customize it for whomever I deem worthy enough to receive it...

I love all of the different heart punches that we used, they are FABULOUS. Martha Stewart is the queen of crafting and I aim to be her co-queen!

The end result is very long...