We made it through Christmas and New Year’s Day. Valentine’s Day is next, so it’s time to pull out the hearts and flowers. Perfect for my first inspiration design as a Guest Designer at The Paper Players. Today’s theme – Love is in the Air.
Valentine’s Day preparations are certainly in full swing, but I want to kindly remind you that Valentine’s Day isn’t all about pinks and reds. Isn’t there a man in your life who deserves to be recognized on this Day of Love? A father? A boyfriend? A husband? I designed today’s card with that in mind.
Not that a man can’t love shades of red, but isn’t it refreshing to see some non-traditional colors celebrating Valentine’s Day? Sure, I’ve incorporated some florals – a Midnight Muse floral print and a floral design from You are Loved – but the rustiness of Cajun Craze mixes up the feel of it all a bit, don’t you think? The colors and the classy arrangement keep these florals safe for the man in your life.
Tips, Tricks and Reminders:
- Color Selection. The intricacies of the Designer Series Paper pattern and the floral stamp scream for attention. To reduce the volume of their screams, I only incorporated two colors into this card: Midnight Muse and Cajun Craze. This eases the shock on your eyeballs that would have occurred had I displayed a couple of other colors in the card.
- Smalls snips. I know there are a lot of people who love to paint on their stamps with Stampin’ Write Markers. I love my markers, and I occasionally do the same, but I really love to snip images when I can. I think it yields a much bolder color on the image. I stamped the Happy Valentine’s Day image twice – once in Midnight Muse, once in Cajun Craze. I snipped a handful of the tiny flowers and one butterfly from the Cajun Craze stamp-off and then carefully glued them down to the Midnight Muse image. I balanced the snipped images – again, it’s more pleasing to the eye.
- Anchor it down. After I laid out all the paper, I thought I’d be done. Images stamped. Paper snipped and glued. Card stock cropped and scored. The card needed something to anchor it down a bit – you don’t want to feel like everything is just floating in the middle of nowhere, do you? I called on my little container of Regal Brads and found that four little Cajun Craze brads did the trick nicely.
Stamp set: You are Loved Papers: Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper Inks: Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze Accessories: Ovals Collection Framelits, Oval Accents Bigz Clear die, 3/16″ Regals Brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals
Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I hope you’ll participate in this theme challenge or check out the other cards at The Paper Players.
Brian
Love it Brian!! As usual, of course! Love its simplicity and masculinity-but then I find these two qualities go so well together!!! Looking forward to another year of your beautiful designs.
I would have never thought to use Midnight Muse and Cajun Craze as the colors for a Valentine, Brian. I’ve used Real Red and Basic Black quite often, of course; and as I sit here thinking/waking up, Basic Gray would also be a softer substitute for black. However, you’ve really gotten my attention with this color combination, Brian. It definitely gives the card a more masculine look even with the butterflies, flowers, and flourishes.
The lack of a heart/Valentine isn’t missed either because the sentiment is stamped on the front. You chose to glue your snipped images to the paper instead of using dimensionals. I think that adds to the more masculine look as well. Anchoring the card with the brads takes it even one step farther (further?) in the masculine direction. I will definitely keep that in mind as I make Valentines for the men on my list. You’ve also got me thinking about considering some other possible masculine color combos for Valentine’s Day as well.
You, most certainly, get an A+ on your first inspiration design as a Guest Designer for The Paper Players, Brian!
Love this card! The midnight muse and Cajun craze work so well together. Love it!
Super cute…great colors that only YOU would think of……that’s why you are a rock star!!
Beautifu! Love what you litlle snippets do for this card!
So, you snipped all those little red flowers? You have more patience than I do Brian but it obviously paid off.
Great colors, great card and now we know you are an expert snipper. No snipping contest with you….ever! Wonderful post Brian!
What an expected color combination Brian. And it works so well! Great card!
You snipped your way to stardom with this beauty ! Really pretty… I like everything you did in the creation of this card. … That is such a pretty image and I love the balance and detail that you obviously worked toward. Yay for your Guest Designer contribution !!!
Oh my goodness, I’m so, so late. Anyway Brian, your paper snipping skills are beyond fabulous and this card is too. Lovely colors, not to girly at all, you know? A sure winner for the men in our lives. Congratulations on being a guest designer on the Paper Players, you deserve it.
Very nice! I love how you framed the sentiment on the DSP after cutting away the layer with the die. I’ll have to try that. Happy Stampin’!
Love the card, Brian. I always enjoy your tips, too. TFS
Absolutely stunning card, Brian! If my arthritic hands would let me snip so beautifully as you, I would do it more often…really does the job! Love the brads and total layout, too! Great first card with the Paper Players…congrats! You make me so proud to be a member of The Kingdom! ;D
What an awesome way to use both this image and these colors—love your non-traditional take on Valentine’s! Welcome to the team, too!
Way to think outside the box of Valentine chocolates, Brian! This is a gorgeous stamp and it is beautiful done up in these warm colors. Great job for your first GD card–so glad to be stamping with you…welcome!
Great card, Brian! I love the unexpected colors and your little snippets. You get an “A” in fussy cutting!
You amaze me…those little flowers and leaves really pop….great job!!!!!!
Welcome to the Paper Players team Brian! Such a great card and I am a huge fan of non-traditional colors for any holiday. Love how you framed the image, too. It really pops! Have a great day! 🙂
Before reading your post I was trying to figure out if you snipped all those flowers and you did! What patience, but the result is beautiful! Congrats on your Guest Designer spot!
And I’m adding this paper to my wish list! I can’t believe you fussy cut all those tiny images! Amazing!
Brian, what a great way to kick of your DT time. I love the unexpected color scheme, I love that you kept so much white space behind the focal point and florals and the little popped up details on the sentiment. Fabulous!
Jaydee