Today's the day, and I've been getting sporadic notifications by the recipients, so here is the blog post to talk about how these Valentine's planner pages came together.
Once again we owe thanks to Elizabeth Craft Designs for the large heart planner page die. Theirs is a half heart die, but I cut it on the fold to keep the full heart intact. (Although one of you got a page where the two halfs were taped back together. I cut that one too close to the fold!) They also provided the dies to create the mailbox. Thanks to the now defunct QuikKutz company for the XOXO on the bookmark. Most of the stamps used were from Deep Red Rubber Stamps. I am an old school paper crafter. Red rubber stamps are still my favorite. Yes. I do have a ton of the acrylic cling stamps but IMHO, they do not produce as high a quality of image as a rubber stamp.
Here is the front. The Latin on the large heart "Vincit Amor Omnia" translates to Love conquers all. Yes, I hand made many, many tiny envelopes for this one. I used a die from Temu that pulls 4 sizes of envelopes in one go through the machine. The front cover sets the stage for the main themes of the page.
Note that each page will have different decorative paper. I had a large stash of aging paper that needed to be used up. After this project, that is not a problem anymore! Although it creates a new problem in that I'll just buy more.
Open the page to find the mailbox. It consists of 9 separate pieces. I cut these from red stock, assembled, smudged them with ink to dirty them up and then mod-podged them to make them shine. If you didn't know, Mod Podge will not curl paper, so is a great way to add shine to large pieces. It goes on with a paint brush and dries within an hour. It can be a bit smelly. I admit to deciding future Mod Podge projects need to be done in the breezeway during the warmer months.
The large blue heart in the background is stamped with a Hero Arts stamp and then cut with a Sizzix Original die. You get four sizes of the heart with one pull through the machine.
This little envelope is part of the mailbox set, and it's matching stamps, as is the little airplane. Deep Red rubber is the post mark, and I used the computer for You've Got Mail.
Open the mailbox for flowers and your wish for a happy Valentine's day. The flower punch I used is an oldie but a goodie, made by EK Success. I have this flower in all the sizes they made. This is the smallest.
The sign on the mailbox is part of the Correspondence from the Past set from Elizabeth Craft Designs. It fits perfectly into place with the mailbox die.
Turn over the mailbox, to see the conversation hearts I embossed behind it and to expose some stamping fun.
This background stamp is from The Peddler's Pack out of Beaverton, OR. They closed their doors after 33 years or so, but you can now find them on Etsy, selling under the name of Stamppeddler.
The rest of the stamps are Deep Red. To get the effect of the mailman in front of the mailbox which is in front of the background, you have to do some masking. Stamp the image of the mailbox and the man, cut them out neatly, right on the lines. Place them on the paper, and stamp the background over both the masks. Pick up the mailbox mask, keep the mailman mask in place, and stamp the mailbox. Pick up the mailman mask, and then stamp him too.
The back of the closed page has some stenciling, and I'm keeping is weird with a big ol' shiny pink smooch, cut with the Cricut. I think I used this same smooch on a Halloween card, but I put some fangs in the corners of the mouth. Or maybe I still need to do that one...I'll have to check.
You know, the reason this blog is here is for me to make sure I'm not repeating myself.
Last but not least, the bookmark. It matches the paper I chose for the page. The little conversation hearts are from Temu. The set pulls 8 hearts at a time, and I bought 4 of them to pull 32 at a time. They were about $1 each on Temu.
Flip the bookmark over to find some more stenciling that matches what's on the back of the planner page.
You get a page for your planner, and a bookmark to give to your Valentine or keep for yourself.
