To My Valentine

Hello friends, I'm popping in today to share a Valentine's Day Card and some photographs.

Last week we had the craziest weather I think I've ever seen!  We had 5 inches of snow in Charleston, SC! It started the week before with freezing temperatures and then... the Bomb Cyclone hit!  Ice and snow everywhere.  It was incredibly beautiful, but so cold.  We covered our outside pipes and tried our best to cover some of the palms on the outdoor patio.  When the snow started blowing into the screened patio and covering the floor and furniture we knew we were in for a biggie!

This past October we were in the path of a hurricane as we were the year before.  We're thinking it's time to move back to Phoenix! (she laughs).  Today was the first time in almost 2 weeks I've been able to go out and upstairs to our office and craft room.  I was so happy to be able to create a card again.

My card is created by using the beautiful Christmas Rose stamp set from Wplus9.   I chose ivory card stock from Papertrey Ink, and gave the card some dimension by creating three levels of height.  The first panel is a die from Winnie and Walter, the second is a fancy rectangle die from Spellbinders trimmed with a gold leaf pen.   I swiped some Simon Says Stamp watermark ink on a piece of card stock and poured some gold embossing power on it.  Once it felt dry I cut out the smallest of the heart dies from Papertrey Ink.   The larger one I trimmed with the gold leaf pen.  The little arrow from Obession Impressions is also cut from the embossed card stock.  The Christmas Rose illustration is watercolored with Daniel Smith Extra-fine watercolor from the palettes you see below.  What an inexpensive and nice way to try fine quality watercolors.  I felt I got a little heavy handed especially in the middle of the large poinsettia.  I am still trying to find the perfect ratio of water to color, but I felt I was able to recover a little by adding some white gel pen in the middle.  Live and learn - right?

The beautiful color palettes from Daniel Smith are Yana Smakula's and Debby Hughes favorite colors and are sold exclusively through Simon Says Stamp.  You'd be surprised how much watercolor you can obtain from these little samples.  The last thing I did after putting the card together was to fill in the little gold heart with Crystal Clear Nuvo Drops.  A few sequins and I call this Valentine card done.

The day of the storm the birds were all in a tweeter.  They were flocking to our front holly and eating berries as fast as they could.  I wish I could have gotten more pictures - it was so beautiful. 

But the most interesting photo I took was of the lighthouse on our screened porch.  When we lived in northeastern Maine we would stay at Gull Cottage Lighthouse from time-to-time.  I remember staying there one weekend during a winter snow storm - crashing waves and much more than 5 inches of snow I can assure you.   Now, in the sunny coastal town of Daniel Island, SC, the snow visits Gull Cottage again.   I hope 2018 is one filled with wonder and beauty and you have a special Valentine to share it with.   Blessings dear friends.

Sincerely,

Susie ~