Bittersweet love.... by Astrid

Well, it's nearly Valentine's day, so I thought I'd share another project featuring some of the marvelous Valentine inspired craft parts. This project was really quick and easy to do, perfect when time is running short.

I created an envelope out of black card and gave it a decorative flap with the help of some dies. There are numerous tutorials out there on how to do something like that, so I won't go into the details here.

I covered the base with decorative papers aged with the help of some inks and then decorated with various Craft Parts. These are the ones I used:

Mini Valentines Mdf sheet style 3

Art Deco Ornament Wood Shape style 10

Scroll Trellis Corner Embellishment style 2

Mini Wood Feathers Style 1

As you can see, I positioned the large heart from the Valentine set with the Art Deco ornament in the center and added a little flower on top. I then used two of the corner embellishments to balance it out. I love how the different craft parts echo each other in shape and can kind of harmoniously work together like this.

All I did to alter the wood shapes a bit was colour them with dark brown ink (I used Adirondack Espresso) and then high lighted them a bit with Decoart Metallic Lustre in Champagne

The feather and other elements were all coloured in the same way. I added a few details to the feather with a black pen.

The envelope closes with a little magnet.

The back was left plain, just lined with paper with a bit of back ground stamping.

Next I made a card to fit inside the envelope, using some of the other Valentines elements from the same sheet.

I chose the title bittersweet love, as this particular heart reminds me of barbed wire, and don't we all know that love at times can have this other bitter sweet side...... That's also the reason I kept the colours quite dark, a change from the usual red and pink.

The little heart has the words I Love You engraved inside, because, yes, true love can overcome those tricky prickly patches, and as the saying goes, - Love can conquer all.....

Well, I'll leave you with that philosophical musing, all that remains is to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day!!

Thank you for visiting like always

xxx