DIY Cards with Melinda Sweetman

Hello, hello!! Melinda here with you today sharing the fun I have been having with my very own Valentine's Pack #2!!! Oh, the colours and products in this pack are just gorgeous - not to mention AWESOME value for money!!

Being Valentine's Day and having Valentine's pack's I figured I may as well create at least one Love Day card for my significant other! It is after all a special day for us as we had our very 1st date on Love Day in 2006 so I wish you all a very Happy Love Day with whoever you celebrate and however you celebrate!

Now onto the fun stuff!!

Here are the 2 cards I have created and I still have hearts left over so I think you will see them appear on other projects very soon!

There is a process video for you to watch if you wish, just click on the play button below!

And here are my step-by-steps, but most importantly I think if you are going to re-create this or something similar, have FUN and experiment with your products, this was a super fun way for me to play AND be productive ;)

First up I grabbed a scrap of white cardstock and used an embossing ink with the Snow White Colour Embossing Powder to apply some sparkle to the background before adding any colour.

I literally dumped the WHOLE container onto the paper to make sure I had even coverage. Make sure you tip the excess straight back into the container so you can use it later!

Next up, time to add some colour! I used the Candy Colour Shimmer Dust - swoon, I seriously love these Shimmer Dusts!! A tiny paint brush, a little sprinkle and then a wet big water colour type paint brush!

I did a few extra sprinkles of the Colour Dust and added water to get the effect I was after - which was a water colour, not even coverage and I LOVE how it came out!

Look at all that sparkle!! The Colour Shimmer Dust has so much shimmer but on top of that embossing powder it seriously just pops off the paper <3 Oh, you may also notice some faint splatters - I simply dripped a few drips of water using my paint brush onto the already dry Colour Shimmer Dust then soaked the excess water up with a paper towel and voila, extra texture!

I felt like it needed a little extra detail so I grabbed some Staz-On black ink and a couple of stamps - to be specific, some stitched stamps and a text stamp. 

I stamped once after I inked up and then stamped off a few times until there was no ink left on the stamp with each of the stamps. Love the extra details stamping provides!

Onto the beautiful Colour Paste in Fire Engine - swoon - I love this colour so much!

A tiny heart stencil, some colour paste and more texture and a deeper pinky/red colour added. I popped this piece aside and let air dry and got to work on the backing of my card.

First up a piece of textured white cardstock - I am ALWAYS running out of or looking for black cardstock so this is a way to beat that problem and quiet possibly use up any old card scraps you have in colours you don't like ;) I grabbed what has affectionately now been dubbed my "black gesso brush"  and my  Black Heavy Gesso and applied a quick coat over the whole card front. This piece measures 10.5cm x 14.7cm if you are wondering!

This gesso applies beautifully, dries smoothly and dries super quick! Love it, I can see a lot of use in my future! 

I decided to add some shimmer to the black gesso using the oh so beautiful Snow White Colour Shimmer Spray through a stencil. I did "mess" it up a little but I certainly wasn't going for perfection! LOL! Love how this looks on the black gesso!

When my Colour Shimmer Spray was dried I added some more texture, again with the Colour Paste in Fire Engine and through a text stencil.

This got put to the side next so I could make my hearts. These were super simple to create! When the first piece of cardstock was completely dried I took my scissors and hand cut some hearts - I am a bit particular and like my hearts to be even so I trimmed a rough square off the card, folded the square in half and cut a heart shape. And if your not 100% happy with the shape its super easy to re-trim!

And here are all my hearts cut out!

I just love them!

When these were cut I started playing with the hearts and placement and came up with a sentiment. This very simple "love you" text which I decided to stamp in embossing ink and heat emboss with the Bling Colour Embossing Powder. So pretty, swoon!!

Time for assembly! I used a combination of tape adhesive, wet adhesive and hot glue to stick all the bits down. After I finished the first card I turned off my camera and put the 2nd one together. The biggest difference is that I used the Snow White Colour Embossing Powder through a stencil on the black gesso card base. And you can see that detail in the close up below!

And here are the cards, on their own

This is the one I created on video and have provided the step-by-step's for

And the one created off screen.

And here are a few close ups of all the texture and fun of the beautiful Colour Blast products!

As these Valentine's Pack's are only available for a short time make sure you head over here to pick up either or both packs and take advantage of the awesome deal that Tenisha has put together!

Thank you , as always, for stopping by and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below!

Happy Colour Blasting!!

Melinda