Valentine Countdown: "Chew"-se Your Valentine

Hi All! Welcome to the Violets & Sunshine Valentine Countdown! Just 9 more days 'til the big day! By the way, I realized this morning that I'm counting the day itself as part of the countdown. My bad! But we're committed, so I'm not going to change it now. If you don't count the actual day, then it's only 8 more days!!! (For those of you who are making class Valentines for your kids, just think of it as 9…it's a whole lot less stressful!) 

Now on with today's project:

My kids love gum and I love puns, so this was a match made in heaven. Today's projects are little slider boxes that house a pack of gum.

Here they are opened:

You just pull up the bows and the gum slides out. How fun is that! I have seen these for candy bars and what-not, but not for gum, so I thought I'd get a little creative. 

Here are the ingredients:

Kraft Cardstock

Timberline Paper

Lollydoodle Paper

Close To My Heart February Stamp Of The Month: Wild About Love

Lollydoodle Card Kit Stamp Set 

Alphabet Stamp Set

Ponderosa Pine Exclusive Ink

Sky Exclusive Ink

Outdoor Denim Exclusive Ink

Ruby Exclusive Ink

Watercolor Pencils

Dimensional Adhesive

Favorite Adhesive

1/8th-inch Hole Punch

Baker's Twine 

Ribbon

I began by cutting two 7 1/2 x 3 1/2-inch pieces of Kraft Cardstock, which I then scored at 1/2 and 3 inches on the 3 1/2-inch side and at 3 1/2 and 4 inches on the 7 1/2-inch side. I cut the little flaps and made a box. Then I punched holes about 1/8 inch from the top. To make the slider, I folded the ribbon/twine in half  to find the center and attached it at the center to the bottom of the gum box. I put the gum in the box and then threaded the ribbon/twine through the holes at the top and tied a bow. I then decorated the front.

Here are a couple of close-ups of the box fronts:

So many gum puns! "I 'chew'se You"… "Stuck On You"… "You Blow Me Away" (Blowing bubbles…?) Anyway, this was a fun one. I've got two packs left, so we'll see what we come up with.

In the meantime, I hope you're having fun with our countdown! Tune in tomorrow as we continue with day 8 (or 7….) 

Valentine Countdown: I get by with the a little help from my…Lollydoodle Card Kit!

Hey All! Welcome to Violets & Sunshine's Countdown to Valentine's Day! Only 10 more days…. Have you made your plans? Got those reservations? Booked the babysitter? Well if you aren't in much of a celebratory mood, maybe today's project can help.

So I have to confess, this is not a strictly Valentine's Day project. In fact, it's a brand spankin' new Card Making Kit from Close To My Heart featuring the Lollydoodle collection. Still, I couldn't resist posting it because it fits the theme so well! Let's take a look:

The Ingredients for today's project:

Lollydoodle Card Making Kit

Pear Exclusive Ink

Hollyhock Exclusive Ink

Slate Exclusive Ink

Lagoon Exclusive Ink

Favorite Adhesive

Paper Trimmer & Scissors

Yep, that's really it. All the bling, trim, cardstock, patterned paper, and stamps come in the kit, which also includes detailed instructions and cutting guides. And did I mention you get 15 card bases? Yep, this kit includes enough materials to make 5 cards of each of the three designs! FANTASTIC!

Let's take a look at some close-ups of the cards:

Now I have to admit that I was a little concerned about having to piece this card together, but I have to say it really went much faster than I anticipated. The key, I think, is cutting everything for all 5 cards ahead of time and then adding adhesive to the pieces all at once. The owl is fussy cut, which takes some time, but he is so worth it! (Love the woodgrain background stamp that comes with the set, too!)

The sentiment on this card is my favorite! As most of you know, I can never follow directions completely. I cheated a little on this card. You're supposed to use a great masking technique to stamp the sentiment in Hollyhock and Slate Exclusive Inks. However, I wanted the Hollyhock words to stand out a little more, so I stamped the image in Slate for the card and then in Hollyhock on a scrap piece of White Daisy cardstock. I cut out "YOU ARE THE" and "LOVE OF MY LIFE" and popped them up with dimensional adhesive. I really like the result.

Funny thing with this card: I made one of them upside down (Kraft on the top and patterned paper on the bottom). I just moved the sentiment to the right and adhered the little flags to the top left corner. It actually looked really nice! Just goes to show how versatile these design elements really are.

If you're short on time, or just need a little help getting that crafty mojo going, you should definitely check out Close To My Heart's Card Making Kits. The bang for the buck is unbeatable!

Thanks for stopping by! See you tomorrow as the countdown continues….