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Thursday, February 11, 2016

Valentine's Day Cards with Kiwi Lane Designs

Hello again! I know what you're thinking- two blog posts in a month?! And within 24 hours of each other, no less! I know... don't faint. ;) 

Today, I have a few Valentine's Day cards to share with you, along with a little tip that you can use for any theme- it will work for any of the templates! First off, here are some Valentine's Day cards:


Do you see how there are shapes of white on the background on both cards? That was made by laying Kiwi Lane templates on plain white paper and spraying ink all over the paper. On the "XOXO" card, I left the white background shape untouched and layered some hand cut template shapes on top.  Here's the step by step:

1) Lay templates on the paper where you want them and spray with ink, essentially using the templates as a resist.

2) Let ink dry for a minute and carefully remove templates. (Wash templates under water to remove ink. It should come right off. If not, try washing with a mild soap.)

3) When paper is completely dry, layer smaller templates.

4) Trace, cut, ink and replace to get your card!

There are a few things to point out about this card:
-I originally used a white card base. I decided to cut it down to the piece you see on the front of the card because it warped a little more than I liked. It was an easy fix- you can do the same if you feel like you don't like the way your spray ink warped your paper.  
-I forgot to cover the hole on the template with a little bit of tape before spraying the ink. This made a little dot of color that I didn't really want. I was able to cover it with the layered shape on top, but you might want to cover the hole before you spray your ink. ;)

While the "XOXO" card has plain white resist shapes, I decided that the "Head over Heels" card needed some doodling around the resist shape. I also doodled around the smaller shapes that I layered on the card.

And just because I can, here's another card for your viewing pleasure... and hopefully some template inspiration:

There you go- three cards to help you show some love! I hope you enjoyed them- leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Templates used:
Adorn 2A,2B
Sweetheart 2,3
Tiny Sweetheart 2T,3T
Tiny Accents 1T
Tags 1
Tiny Tags 1T,6T
Tiny Nature 1T

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Valentine's Day Decor with Kiwi Lane Designs

Hey there Kiwi Lane Peeps!

Today I've veered from my normal paper crafting and ventured into the land of wood blocks! Ok, so it's not so unusual, but I don't usually share it here. But I loved how they turned out, and I thought you might like to see it. Here's what I made with the help of my templates from Kiwi Lane Designs:

Pretty cute, huh? All I did was paint some wooden hearts, cover with paper, add some template shapes and finish off with some epoxy dots of various colors and sizes. It's really pretty self explanatory, so I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Mostly.

Here's what I started with:

The paper collection I used is called "Kiss Kiss" and it was Crate Paper's Valentine line a few years ago. The hearts are cut out wood shapes that I picked up at the farmer's market over the summer. They're about 4.5" tall and 4.5" wide and just under 1.5" thick. Before I painted, I made sure I sanded them lightly and wiped off any sanding residue. You'll get a cleaner paint application if you remember to do that.

I also want to point out that I framed my project right on the wood shapes. Who says you can only use your Kiwi Lane templates to frame on your paper?! And just like when you design on your pages or cards, you can change things as you go without ruining pretty paper in the process!

I love the size and configuration of these hearts because you can mix it up when you display them:


And I covered the back with paper so it's pretty from the other side, too.

Looking at the bare paper on the back, I'm thinking I need to go back and add some more layers...

Thanks for taking a look! Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Templates used:
Tiny Sweetheart 2T,3T
Tiny Explore 3T,6T
Mini Abbie Road 3A,3B
Elements 2,7