Happy Galentine's Day - You're Furbulous

Posted on 13th February 2021 by Alison Pendlebury-Brown
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Not into the hearts and flowers thing of Valentine's Day? Well, Galentine's Day has to be the best unofficial holiday to celebrate. It's such a shame that we can't currently spend time with our favourite girlfriends, so why not send them a card to tell them that we're still here and that we love them.

I love the cute little cat in a box of love hearts as my cats love a good box. Every time we get a new one they're eager for me to empty it and let them investigate. The one with the newspaper is especially cute, so I decided to make 2 for 1 cards using the background I created and used that cat too ... more on that near the end.

To create these cute little cards you will need:

• White Card Super Smooth 250gsm
• Ardesia Materica Card 250gsm
• Black Bowston Plain Card 290gsm
• Anita’s PVA Tacky Glue 120ml
• Stick it! 3D Foam Tape 9mm

You will also need:

• Stamp set - I used Sunny Studio's Meow & Furever stamps and dies
• Inks - I used Ranger/Tim Holtz's Distress Oxide in Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves.
• Colouring medium - I used Copic markers
• Versamark ink
• Embossing powder in clear or white
• Anti-static powder bag
• Heat tool
• Heart embellishments

I started out by creating my own background using the cute cat holding the heart and the 3 little hearts from the stamp set.

1. Cut a piece of A4 super smooth white cardstock in half.

2. Cover the whole card with the anti-static powder tool. This will prevent any embossing powder sticking where we don't want it to be.

3. Place the card landscape and stamp out a pattern across the whole of the card with the Versamark. This will be sufficient for 2 x A6 sized cards from the background piece.

4. Once stamped cover the inked images with white or clear embossing powder and heat set with your heat tool.

5. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then decide how you want the ink to blend over the background. I decided to ink in a diagonal shape blending between the colours from lightest to darkest.

6. Put the ink blended background to the side to dry.

7. Stamp and colour the cat image - I decided to use the cat in a box full of love hearts and the cat with the newspaper for the 2nd card.

8. To create the top fold A6 base, score and fold in half width way and then cut in half, creating 2 top fold card bases.

9. With another piece of the Ardesia Materica cardstock cut a banner piece wide enough for your sentiment and to fit the width of the card.

10. Stamp and colour your chosen image, then die cut or fussy cut the image.

11. Stamp the sentiment along the banner ensuring there's enough room to adhere the cat image.

12. Stamp and emboss the 'Friend' sentiment from the set (I omitted using the s on the end).

13. Repeat the steps 8 - 12 to create the parts for the 2nd card. I used black cardstock for the 2nd card.

14. Glue the cat image to the thick grey banner and pop the banner up on 3D foam tape. Pop the 'Friend' sentiment up on 3D foam tape.

15. Cut the background into 2 equal pieces, creating 2 A6 sized mats. Cut these down so that you have a small grey border on the base of the card. Assemble all pieces to the card.

16. And, last but not, least sprinkle a few heart embellishments around the card for more interest and texture using the glue.

17. Repeat steps 14-16 for the 2nd card.

And there you have a gorgeous set of 2 cards. You could use either of them for any occasion, or no occasion other than you want to tell someone you love them and are thinking of them.

I must admit I'm a little addicted to any craft products that feature kitty cats and I coloured mine in black as I have 2 gorgeous black male cats, who couldn't be more different if they tried.

Anyway, I hope this provided you with some inspiration to at least try out the techniques used. If you have any questions or want further clarification on how to then simply reply below and I'll respond as quickly as I can.

We'd love to see what you created - simply tag us in using #papermilldirect on social media.

So stay safe and Happy Galentine's Day to all of our great girlfriends :)

Ali xx

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