The Artisans have their Valentine gallery featured today over on the Stampin' Up! Facebook gallery. I have two projects this time. Why? Well I didn't even think I would have time to make anything at all, but a few weeks ago I made this altered heart box. I liked how it turned out so I thought, hey, I can use this as my FB project. So I photographed it and sent it in early. I used the Circle #2 die, some red felt, and the Loving Thoughts stamp set from the Occassions Mini catalog, 5/8 Black Satin Ribbon, and a glue gun. I was inspired by a pillow I saw while shopping and decided to see if I could get a similar look.
I was really pleased with how it turned out, but let me tell you a funny story. At the time I made this I was wearing hybrid gel nail polish (is like a cross between regular and acrylic polish). It was like the polish literally attracted the glue from the hot glue gun...I mean, almost like a magnet. It was not a good experience. So I have decided to save this type of manicure for special occassions and just not wear any polish most of the time...at least not when I am going to be using a hot glue gun. :)
So, now I will finish my story about why I have two projects on the SU Artisan FB wall. Well, I was feeling a little guilty that the felt heart just didn't have much "paper crafting", so about a week after I had already sent SU photos of the other project, I got another burst of inspiration and created this project. When I sent in the pics of this one, they said, "we'll just use both projects if that's OK with you". As it turns out, participation was a little low this time, so there you have it.
I really wanted this altered box to have a vintage feel to it, so I embossed, sanded, and used tea stain distressing ink to achieve the effect. I love how it looks so romantic. The paper I used is from Sell-a-bration and the stamp sets are from the Occassions Mini catalog. These aren't your typical Valentine's Day colors, but I think they make a refreshing change to the popular reds and pinks you normally expect to see.
For the flower I used a combination of flowers from the Fun Flowers die (three layers) and the Blossom punch (3 layers). I embossed, sanded, distressed and curled each petal and then put the layers together using Stampin' Dimensionals. I even used one of the new large pearls from the mini catalog. I used lots of seam binding ribbon to create a big, beautiful bow and attached it all with a hot melt glue gun.
Well, that's all for today. Can you believe that both projects are really just $1 boxes of chocolate? I hope that you are inspired to create something special for your sweetie! It doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming, but you might want to buy more than one box, just in case you can't resist the tempation to quality test the chocolate! :)
