Card: Valentine's Day - Strawberry

OK, I got bored waiting for us to be ready to decorate so I had to make another card...
Every year we go to a geocaching coffee at a local chocolate/ice cream place very close to Valentine's Day.  We've always brought Valentine's to hand out.  Our daughter has been the one handing them out the last 2 years (she say's a very cute "Happy Valentine's Day!" as she does).  Since I was growing impatient waiting to decorate, I figured I could make some for this year rather than just buying them that morning.

Inspiration: My daughter loves Strawberry Shortcake.  We'd been shopping for clothes for her and she saw a dress with a strawberry and a heart.  They were very similar.  I thought it would be cute for a valentine.

How I Make Them:  I took a heart die cut and made a template in which I softed the pointedness of the heart (see left part of photo above).  Then I cut the hearts out of stiff sticky-backed red felt.  I took my 5 x 8 white cardstock and used my paper trimmer to cut it into 8 pieces (2 x 2.5 each).  I peeled off the backing on the felt hearts and stuck them closer to the bottom of the card stock.  I used the Martha Stewart green glitter pen (review) to draw the leafy top of the strawberry.  Then I added "You're berry special, Valentine!" to the top with a red gel pen.  Finally, I used a silver gel pen to draw little circles on the felt heart to make it look like the seeds on the strawberry.  I plan on having my daughter help write her name of the back of them before we hand them out.

Alternatives:

• I've seen glittery foam board that might have been fun to work with too. 
• Polka-dot fabric could also work.
• Instead of just using marker for the leafy part, it would have been nice to use something that made it 3-d, (a green painted cotton ball or some fabric scraps or maybe some easter basket grass).

Valentine's Idea Recap

Valentine's Day isn't too far away.  I'm really excited about the cards I made this year, but I can't share them until after I've mailed them since there are some recipients who I know sometimes read this blog.  In the meantime, I thought I'd recap some of my earlier posts that are relavent for the holiday.

Woven Heart Card

Arrow Words Card

XO Card

Silk Heart Card - written as an anniversary card but can be used for Valentine's Day

Words that come from the heart Bookmark

Stained Glass style decorations - can easily do hheart shapes

Hopefully, I'll remember to take photos so I can post the decorations I'm making with my daughter next week (twisted pipe-cleaners hearts).

Project: Jewish Wedding Calligraphy Gift

Inspiration: Years ago my husband got me a card with the saying from the Baal Shem Tov that I used for this project.  I love it!

How I Make It: I worked out the spacing on the Calligraphy on practice calligraphy paper that was pre-lined.  Then I tape the practice sheet along with a piece of vellum onto a light box.  I use a C-4 Speedball nib and black India Ink to do the calligraphy on the vellum.  I let it dry and then cut out the vellum to match the frame size (5x7).  I cut out and place a piece of wrapping paper behind the vellum to give it some color.  The wrapping paper I used here (Love) was one from my Grandmother's collection I inherited after she passed.  It's always meant a lot to me as well.

Alternatives:

• Use a different text that's a favorite of the couple.  I've used Corinthians for a few Christian relatives and other biblical verses.
• Sometimes I mix ink to match the color(s) on the wedding invite or will include the invitation in a double opening frame.

Text of the above verse:
From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven. And when two souls that are destined to be together find each other, their streams of light flow together, and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being. - Baal Shem Tov

Product Review: Zots

I bought these through LTD Commodities a few months ago to try out.  For the most part, they seem to work really well.  I've used them for some smaller pieces on cards and I used them to make the Pom-Pom Snowmen for my daughter's birthday party.  They only worked ok on the pom-pom and didn't hold long against the stiff felt (glue is still better for those).  I've also used them in my daughter's baby book, so they're definitely good for scrapbooking.  The set I bought come with 3 sizes: small, medium & large.  There's very little difference in size between the medium & large so I just use them interchangeably.  Overall, not bad though I think I still prefer the running strips and small applications of glue.

Bookmark: Hebrew/English Calligraphy - Education without Vision

Inspiration: Education is so important.  It's a major value in my life so I chose this quote to turn into a bookmark to share.
How I Make Them: Again I use a pre-cut 1.75 inches by 6.5 inches bookmark from Hollo's Papercraft. This time I use it horizontally. I draw my pencil lines from the top at 3MM and 8MM. From the bottom I draw them at 3MM, 8MM, 10MM, and 15MM. I calligraphy this bookmark in aqua ink (usually Speedball ink or self-mixed watercolor paint). I write the Hebrew letters using a C-4 Speedball nib and a Hunt Ex-Fine Bowl 512 for the vowels. I write the English using a C-5 Speedball nib. After the calligraphy ink has dried, I draw a open book using gel pens. Finally, I laminate the card using my Xylon sticker laminator.

Bookmark: Hebrew/English Calligraphy - Unfinished Symphony

Inspiration: Another quote I like.  "Education is an unfinished symphony." by Aranne.
How I Make Them: Again I use a pre-cut 1.75 inches by 6.5 inches bookmark from Hollo's Papercraft. This time I use it horizontally. I draw my pencil lines from the top at 2MM. From the bottom I draw them at 3MM, 7MM, 8MM, and 12MM. I calligraphy this bookmark in royal blue ink (usually Speedball ink for the blue and self-mixed watercolor paint). I write the Hebrew & English letters using a C-4 Speedball nib and a Hunt Ex-Fine Bowl 512 for the Hebrew vowels. After the calligraphy ink has dried, I use a music nib with a silver Speedball ink to draw the music staff. Once the staff has dried, I use gold gel pens to add some music.  Finally, I laminate the card using my Xylon sticker laminator.

Bookmark: Hebrew/English Calligraphy - Violin

Inspiration: Another quote I like. "The language of every nation is a wonderful violin." by Kahan.
How I Make Them: Again I use a pre-cut 1.75 inches by 6.5 inches bookmark from Hollo's Papercraft. This time I use it horizontally. I draw one pencil line from the top at 1inch. From the bottom I draw them at 1MM, 5MM, 6MM, and 10MM. I calligraphy this bookmark in brown ink. I write the Hebrew & English letters using a C-4 Speedball nib and a Hunt Ex-Fine Bowl 512 for the vowels. After the calligraphy ink has dried, I draw a violin with a bow using gel pens. Finally, I laminate the card using my Xylon sticker laminator.

Bookmark: Hebrew/English Calligraphy - Torah image

Inspiration: I chose this quote mostly because I felt I could illustrate it with the image of an open torah scroll.  I'd drawn images like this since I was a child in religious school and wanted to do one on a bookmark.

How I Make Them:  Again I use a pre-cut 1.75 inches by 6.5 inches bookmark from Hollo's Papercraft.  This time I use it horizontally.  I draw my pencil lines from the top at 4MM and then a 2nd line at 1cm.  I repeat the same lines at the bottom edge of the bookmark.  I calligraphy this bookmark in a brown ink.  I write the Hebrew letters using a C-4 Speedball nib and a Hunt Ex-Fine Bowl 512 for the vowels.  I write the English using a C-5 Speedball nib.  After the calligraphy ink has dried, I draw an open scroll torah and color in the finials with a gel pen.  For the fake text in the scroll, I squiggle lines using black india ink and the Hunt Ex-Fine Bowl 512 nib.  Finally, I laminate the card using my Xylon sticker laminator.

Bookmark: Hebrew/English Calligraphy - Hillel Quote

Inspiration:  I made a series of these bookmarks with quotes from Rabbi Hillel as handouts for an activity fair for my college Hillel club (when I was advisor years ago).  On the back I pasted a calendar listing of all the Jewish Holidays from that year.

How I Make Them:  I use a pre-cut 2.25 inches by 7.5 inches bookmark from Hollo's Papercraft.  This time I use it horizontally.  I draw pencil lines to evenly space out the calligraphy.  For the Hebrew I used 7/16" spacing and for the English translation lines I used 5/16" spacing.  I write the Hebrew with a C3 or C4 Speedball nib and use a GLOBE nib for the vowels all in a Speedball Aqua colored ink.  For the English, I use a C5 or C6 Speedball nib with a purple Speedball ink. I also added "Rabbi Hillel taught:" at an angle using a C4 nib with a Speedball Royal Blue ink.  After the calligraphy ink has dried, I used scrapbooking tape to attach a small listing of Jewish holidays for the current calendar year on the back.  Finally, I laminate the card using my Xylon sticker laminator.

The quote in the above image is from Pirke Avot 2:6.  I also used Pirke Avot 1:14 (If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  If I am for myself, what am I? If not now, when?)