WCC17 -- The Valentine Challenge

VALENTINE'S DAY is just around the corner and it's such a wonderful time of year to be creative, share your love, and have fun.  

How about you, do you make Valentine's cards or special Valentine treats for your friends and family? Do you help your kids or grand kids make Valentine cards?  Well, if you haven't already started this tradition, it's not too late, there's still plenty of time before the big day.   I'd love to hear what you do  to celebrate so leave me a comment at the end of this post. and I will forward this card, to one lucky visitor. 

I'm entering this Valentine's card in the Valentine Watercooler Challenge.  Hope you'll check out this link and the design team and entrant's great cards.  And if you've got time, play along as this is such a great challenge site.

Valentine Pop Up Springer Card:
I recently attended a stamp club meeting held by Cheryl Lefore, where she demonstrated how to make a Pop Up Valentine Springer Card.  I'd never made one before, so was excited to assemble my card and learn this new to me fancy fold.  Here is the card I made at Cheryl's:

This is the back view of the card, complete with a small white greeting note card that was punched with the Confetti Heart Border Punch.  

My Take on this Card: 

I chose to do my card in red, black and white, my favourite classic Valentine's day colours and change up the card base to just a row of hearts rather than using the confetti punch.  I like the clean lines. 

What a fun card to make, and it's even more fun to see it come out of the envelope.  It virtually pops up, and is sure to bring a big smile or squeal from the lucky recipient.  I really love the fact that this card has virtually no stamping on it and it still looks fantastic!  

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Card stock:  Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White
DSP:  Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack 
Accessories:  Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch, Confetti Heart Border Punch, Balloon Framelit Die, Basic Pearls, 6" of ribbon, dimensionals, adhesive.

The back view of card  shows the pocket for inserting a gift card or a note card.  It is the folds in the back of the card that provide the spring action for the card itself. 

This is what the back of the card looks like before it is folded.  

This is a small inset note card that fits into the back of the card.  The dimensions are:  The Basic Black layer is 3 1/4 x 3 1/4, the Real Red layer is 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" and the Whisper White layer is 3 x 3.  The small hearts were punched out with the Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch and small Basic Pearls were adhered to the center top of each heart.  The "happy valentines" sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp set. 

I made a template to make it easier to get my fold lines in exactly the right spot.  You can make this card in virtually any size, however the rule of thumb is that the length of the card stock is double the width.  In this case the cardstock measured 10 x 5".  

On the long side of the sheet it is scored at 2 1/2", 5" and at 7" put in a small pencil mark on either side of the card stock.  Turn the card stock to the short side and at the top of the card stock mark the center of the card at 2 1/2" and draw a line on each side of the 2 1/2" mark to the 7" mark.  Cut off the excess from this line and you will wind up with the diamond shape as in above photo. 

Score on the left hand side of the cardstock from the 7" mark to the 2 1/2" score line.  Repeat this last step on both sides.  Use your bone folder to make nice tight score lines and your fancy springer card will come to life.  The final step is to adhere the bottom center half triangle to the flat base section of the card.  This provides the spring in the card.  

Decorate the diamond shape of the card to your liking. For mine I layered a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Basic Black cardstock with a 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" piece of Whisper White card stock. I punched out four perfect little hearts using the "Sweetheart" punch and the absolutely to die for Designer Series Paper from the Stacked With Love DSP featured in the Spring Occasions catalogue.  

For Valentines, anniversaries, thinking of you. The designs and colors in this paper are suited from just about anything. Great for card fronts or backgrounds. 48 sheets in each padded stack: 4 each of 12 double-sided designs. 4-1/2" x 6-1/2". Coordinates with Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Real Red, Whisper White.

The three small red hearts on the striped heart were punched out with the Confetti Heart Border Punch. The small red heart on the bottom of the card front was punched out with the Itty Bitty Accent punch as were the heart shapes on the bottom strip of Basic Black card stock (which measures 1 1/2" x 5").  Again I added a Basic Pearl, but just a bit bigger size.  The perky little gingham bow is from some old Stampin' Up! ribbon that was in my stash.  And finally, the little banner on the XO Heart was hand cut and pearls were added.  I didn't have the Birthday Banner die set when I made my card at home, so I just fussy cut a small line of banners.  

Little Boxes Filled With Kisses:
Another cute Valentine treat we made at stamp club was this small 2"x2"x2" Tiny Treat Box.  How cute are these?  These adorable little boxes hold 5 Hershey's Kisses.  The boxes are food safe and you get 25 boxes in a package. Assembly takes no time and you can decorate to your heart's content!  

Okay, so what do you think after seeing these cute Valentine's Day cards.  I hope you liked them and will leave me a comment.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens