This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon! *I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*
Hi friends! I am back with some non-traditional valentines today that are perfect for that persnickety “man’s man” in your life, one who might not love flowers and lace on his valentine! My husband isn’t too bothered by feminine imagery, but he absolutely loves sunsets and has asked me for years to create a watercolored sunset painting for him. I thought this would be a perfect visual to incorporate into his valentine using some of the new goodies from the Heart to Heart Release from Simon Says Stamp (click HERE to check out the entire release!). Let’s get started on the details!
My projects evolved from this leftover watercolored ombré background. I had an extra background from some experimenting that I had been doing, and thought that it would make a perfect sunset valentine for my husband! I knew that I wanted to incorporate stamped hearts, so I selected Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Shell, Lilac, Eucalyptus, and Morning and stamped a bunch of solid heart images using the new Tons of Hearts stamps, then cut them out with their coordinating dies.
For my first project, I started by using the shadow die from the new Love Our Story sentiment die set to cut a window in a panel of white A2 cardstock. I then backed that window with some vellum and added an iridescent white die cut “love our story” detail cut, created with iridescent mirror gloss cardstock. To add a little extra interest, I filled the area behind the vellum window with the new Lavender Hearts Embellishment to create a fun shaker card!
I created a visual cascade down the card front with some of the stamped solid hearts, working in rainbow order from pink to green, and filling in some of the gaps with sparkling white glitter die cuts created using the Tons of Hearts Frames dies. I popped some up with thin foam adhesive, then used liquid glue to adhere the glittering hearts. The final touch was a few sparkling Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems! The white space, the muted colors, the shaker component… I think this is a great valentine for a not-super-mushy kind of guy!
This card features the watercolored background that started both of today’s projects. It was from this background that I selected the ink colors to use with the solid stamped hearts with Pawsitively Saturated Inks in shades of Shell, Lilac, Eucalyptus, and Morning. I used some of the leftover stamped hearts from the first card, as well as a die cut Lined Love You. I die cut the shadow of the sentiment die cut using Simon Says Stamp Shimmer Vellum, then cut the detail sentiment layer from some iridescent white mirror cardstock. I love the subtle iridescent shimmer that it brings to the card!
Before I started arranging the die cuts on the watercolored background, I used some sparkling mica watercolors to splatter some shimmer on the background. The color fading from warm blush to muted turquoise definitely puts me in mind of a Caribbean sunset, so I had to add some water “sparkles”! After the splatters were dried, I used clear dimensional adhesive to add the sentiment die cut to the center of the watercolor panel, then tucked stamped hearts in a variety of sizes, as well as a few standalone glitter heart die cuts. Finally, I added a few Opal Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for some added sparkle and texture!
Well, that’s all for my projects today! Do you find it easy to make valentines for the guys in your life? I have three boys so I’m going to have to keep working on this genre!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!
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