Good morning, friends! Emily here today to share a few post-Valentine’s Day projects with you.

I didn’t get to use the Love Defined during the anniversary festivities last month, and there was one sentiment that particularly struck a chord with me: “Someone who knows your coffee order.” In our tiny town, we have a charming little coffee shop, and my hubby and I always have the same order, a creme brulee latte with a cranberry orange muffin. As awful as my hubby’s memory can be, he somehow is able to remember the proper size, flavor, and nonfat milk of my coffee. That’s love, right there. 🙂

Anyway, to make this card, I started by heat embossing the coffee cup from Tea Party in gold embossing powder on watercolor card stock. As this was going to be my valentine to him, I thought it only appropriate to make it red. I colored it with my Zig Clean Color markers, paintbrush, and water. The heart-shaped steam was stamped with a light gray ink, then added a bit of pale gray Zig shading to make it stand out a bit more. The “steam” was embellished with a white Wink of Stella. (The white WoS has a lovely, creamy warmth to it, much more so than the clear; I encourage you to try it. I love the effect it has!) The sentiment, from Love Defined, was embossed in gold as well, and the panel was embellished with a few sequins. I popped it up on a red card base and called it good. (Men don’t need lots of embellishment, in my view. Sparkles were pushing it far enough….)

My next card utilizes the new glitter tapes that The Ton has recently started stocking… They’re super super sparkly and so thin, which makes them a breeze to die cut. I simply placed my black cardstock panel on a gridded mat on the diagonal, then used the markings on the mat to place my tape (in ROYGBIV order) every 1/2 inch. I then die cut a large scalloped rectangular panel from the colorful, glittery, custom patterned paper I created. I thought this beautiful plaid-ish background didn’t need too much to distract from it, so I merely cut an oval from more black card stock, embossed the fabulous sentiment from Like a Boss in gold, and popped it up on the front with pop dots. A few Glass Slippers sequins (an amazingly versatile neutral that I use on basically every project) finished it off. I have a very specific recipient in mind for this card, and I hope she won’t mind my sharing it here, first. 🙂  Love these sentiments for our crafty friends!

My final project for today is using that drop-dead-gorgeous gown from Haute Wedding Dress. I received a set of Dr. Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolors for Valentine’s Day and absolutely HAD to play with them using this incredible image. I heat embossed the image in white pearl embossing powder onto Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, then watercolored the dress using Quinacridone Violet (I have absolutely no idea what “quinacridone” means, but I feel really smart when I say it!! haha!!!). The skin and hair were done using my Zigs, as I’m still in the learning process with my Ph Martin’s and haven’t gotten the exact hang of mixing and shading the colors, so I went with what I know. I colored in the background using the wet-on-wet method, first wetting the cardstock where I wanted there to be color, then dropping in the color. Again, still learning with these colors, so I didn’t get quite the bloom I wanted, but I was still pleased with the fade of color in the turquoise background.

I heat embossed the sentiment from Shoe Wardrobe 2d. Edition Solid using black Versafine and clear embossing powder. I wanted to make a valentine for a dear friend of mine, and so wanted to make it as sparkly and girly as possible, which obviously made me think “shaker!!” Using the new adhesive glitter papers made making this shaker a bit less tedious, because I was able to simply die cut my frame, peel off the release paper, and adhere it to my acetate. I filled my shaker with a variety of sequins from The Ton’s incredible line of Gilding, including Glass Slippers, Smoked Amethyst, Queens Pink, Pink Pearl Flora, and Crystal Flora, as well as Diamond seed beads. The final touch was a few blooms, from Wild Morning Glories, heat embossed and watercolored with the same process as the dress, dripping from the corner.

I hope you’ve got some inspiration for those gorgeous foil tapes from The Ton! I am loving having sparkles so quickly and easily added to my projects. Have a fantastic week, friends!