For the last week or so, I’ve been experimenting with a few techniques for making Valentine’s Day cards.  Coincidentally, I’ve had to send out both a get well card and a condolence card, and I’ve used my newly-created cards for those purposes too.

I began by looking for inspiration on YouTube and Pinterest. I found this “Masked Gelli Plate Hearts” from Balzar Designs on YouTube at https://youtu.be/8VGfRw8L6T4. Since I’d just acquired a Gelli Plate and was anxious to experiment, this seemed like a great starting point. The tutorial showed me how to use all sorts of paints, stencils, and stamps to build color onto plain card stock.  Once I was happy with my paper, I cut out hearts (using my kindergarten cutting technique beginning with a paper fold), and then I glued them onto previously-purchased cards.  A few pen strokes later, here are a few of my creations.

Next, I tried some bright red acrylic paint, white paint, and a spray bottle of water.  I plopped some dabs of paint onto a piece of parchment paper (my favorite crafting underlayment!), sprayed it with a healthy dose of water, and used my finger to swirl the water into the paints. Using more white cardstock, I ran the paper through the paints, getting a somewhat marbled effect.  Once dry, I cut out my hearts and added them to cards.

For my final effort, I followed a watercolor tutorial I found on Pinterest from Bedlam answers Butterflies (http://bedlamandbutterflies.co.uk/2016/02/last-minute-valentines-day-cards/).  I’m kind of “Meh” about these, and they certainly didn’t turn out as pretty as the original, but whatever!

Now I’m on to decorating the envelopes.  More on that next week!