Welcome to Friday, the end of the week.  I love Fridays.  And this is the Friday before Valentine’s day, a day my kids love.  And finally it is the Friday before my kids get a week off of school for winter break (or ski break as our family refers to it, even though we don’t go anywhere).

And just like my children, I am so very ready for a break from the routine.  A chance to be alarmless and just be.  And it will be a nice chance to catch up on the art with the alarm put away.  I have a few projects I’m working on, and I’m in need of time.  And believe it or not, with the kids home, I actually have time.  They are amazing when they are home.

Today should be the last of the love cards, and for the first time it has been a pleasure to actually make some cards about love.  My kids stole a bunch of them for teachers and aids and such so my stock is smaller than I thought, but isn’t that why we make cards so they can be given to people who need some kindness.

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First up in the card challenges is a conventional simple love card from the designers over at AAA Cards.  This week they have given us a ‘love me like you do’ theme to go with Valentine’s day.

I have been playing with some Daniel Smith Primatec watercolors lately, and thought this card was a perfect time for some.  I pulled out a pinkish shade and a violet

shade and let the watercolor do its awesome blending thing.  Then I pulled out the flower stamp from Ellen Hutson Essentials and stamped the flower out in a little Rose Madder Archival Ink.  I added a few Memento Elderberry ink berries and a simple sentiment and left it all at that.  Now please ignore the blue dot in the bottom right corner.  I apparently had some Brusho powder hanging out on my desk, and I refused to redo everything.

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Up next we have a sketch challenge from the sleuths over at Can You Case It?  Since I was still in a mood for love, I thought I go a little heavy with love without going V-day.

I used some Brusho on some watercolor paper and die cut out

the flower and leaf shapes from Ellen Hutson Essentials die cuts.  I like how unique the Brusho made the die cuts.  I trimmed out a scrape of the watercolor paper and stamped the sentiment “always’ onto it.  Then I backed the whole thing with a piece of not quite purple paper.  The card is so simple and yet so not simple.  I love how it pops and is perfect and says what it is suppose to say.  My littlest kiddo said it looked like a mommy flower and a baby flower, and that made me happy and smile more.

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Next up we have a weekly dose of indulgence and cupcakes from the designers over at  Cupcake Inspirations.  This week they have a color challenge asking us to use silver, berry, and white.  I might have been a little tired and it might have been a little late at night so my berry color may not be as close to berry.  Oh

well.

I used a piece of left over paper and cut out and colored a small little cupcake.  I have had this little stamp sentiment for a while and this was the week to use it   In case you can’t really read it it says ‘You can’t be sad when you are holding a cupcake’.  I added a strip of velum and some Stickles and Liquid Pearls.  It is again a really simple card, but I think it works.

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Finally we have a not love card, and boy was I ready for it.  This week over at The Paper Players they requested a card that uses a cat or a dog.  I picked dogs, but the stamp I pulled out was not exactly what I wanted to use.  So I used a light stamp color and then colored over them with my alcohol markers to make the doggies a little more realistic then the

stamp intended them to be.

I was in a feisty mood, I decided it was the time for a non-traditional card fold and went with it.  I blended in some blue Distress Ink and stamped out the sentiment.  The Sentiment says “Having a RRRuff day?”  I thought it went well with the idea of raining cats and dogs.  Again I feel this is a simple card, but with the fun center fold it makes it interesting.

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That’s all for today.  I have a thousand things I have to do before I get the kids from school, so I have to run.  Have a good weekend, Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, and don’t forget to make something pretty this weekend for someone you love.