New Bookmarks and a Neverending Valentine Card

I haven't had much time to craft for the past couple of weeks, so this weekend I devoted lots of time to catching up with all the ideas running around in my head!  First up are a few bookmarks.  I am trying to get a little more bold with my designs, and incorporated more patterned papers into these than I have in the past.  Here are a few of the ones I completed today:

I have shown both sides of the bookmarks so that you can see the patterned reverse sides.   I think they are fun!  I enjoyed playing with some color combinations that are different from what I typically go for.

I also worked on a personalized bookmark for a friend of my daughter's who will be having a birthday soon.  I had an ulterior motive with this as well: I wanted to list personalized bookmarks in my Etsy shop that are laser printed, rather than using the alpha stickers.  I have made a number of them in the past to give as gifts, and finally decided to offer them in the shop as well.  So here is my sample, which doubles as a gift for my daughter's friend.

I used those gorgeous purple carnations, along with a dark plum purple and teal borders, and a purple and teal patterned paper on the back.  You've seen that paper before, and it is one of my favorites! I was glad to see that I had one more sheet of it in the pad that it came in so that I could use it here.


Finally, I've been working on Valentine neverending cards with varying success.  The first one I did turned out OK, but I didn't think it was good enough to list in my shop.  I made another one yesterday, and liked it better, so I have listed it, along with the new bookmarks.  I used some papers from a Valentine pad that I got at Michaels a couple of weeks ago, and what's great about those pads is that all of the papers coordinate, so it's easy to put a design together!

On the front, I used layered hearts that were cut out with a Sizzix die on my Big Shot.  I cut these in half and attached them so that the two halves meet and form the whole heart.  The two halves that you see on the outer edges actually flip around and form the whole heart when you open the card- of course they are on the back instead.  The first fold reveals a Happy Valentine's Day sentiment and a blank space to write a message.

One thing that has caused me delays in getting a neverending card listed in my shop is the lack of an envelope.  These cards are 6x6 inches, and the only square envelopes I have been able to find in a store are 5.5x5.5 inches.  I found larger ones online, but they are expensive, especially with shipping.  So, I decided to make my own envelope!  My first one was a little rough, but the second was better, and I know what I need to do to make it even better now.  I'll still need to get some adhesive with the peel-off backing to close the envelope with, so will drop by Michaels' to pick some up soon.

I love these neverending cards, but they do take a long time to make, which is why I haven't done many of them.  I'm hoping to do a few more for my shop, but time is getting short, since Valentine's Day is now less than a month away!  Maybe I will have a few more to show you next time.