Minted's Valentine's Day Foil-Pressed and Valentine's Day Classroom Cards

Valentine's Day is coming very soon but you still have few days to go to give your special love that perfect Valentine's Day gift. Couple that lovely gift with any of Minted's pretty foil-pressed Valentine's Day Cards too. And there's plenty to choose from...

Double the Love Foil-Pressed Valentine's Day Card

There are more designs to choose from and you can personalize some of the designs too. If you have kids and they want to share special Valentine's Day cards to their friends and teachers, then you can also choose from any of the Classroom Valentines cards.

More Handmade Cards Created

Update (25Jul2014) - I no longer make handmade cards. Thank you to all those who believed in my ability to create beautiful and special cards.

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I voiced my passion to create a mini-biz selling my handmade cards, tags and plushies before. And I have actually put the plan in motion. I have been making my projects every weekend. I built a decent stock to feature in my Facebook fan page so everyone can take a look, admire and even purchase. Of course, the purchase part will be my favorite because engaging in handmade card making is a very expensive hobby. I want to be able to at least enjoy the fruits of my labor of love.

I would like to invite everyone to check out my handmade cards in my Handmade with Love Facebook page and I hope that someone out there will be my lucky first buyer who will open the doors for more repeat and new business. Contact details are in the FB page, same as the shipping costs and prices.

And here are some of my cards for sale. 

I hope you'll consider purchasing some of my work. They are all Handmade with love.

Simple Card Tutorial With Flat-Back Pearl Embellishment

Hi everyone! This is my very first tutorial. I am going to show you how to make a simple blank handmade card for any occasion using easy to find materials and one of my favorite embellishments to use in my projects - flat-back pearls.

What you need:

• Plain card stock for the card, I used 4 x 6 inches cardstock
• Patterned papers cut in various sizes (my favorite brand is Bo Bunny and K & Company but there are a lot more with fancy designs in the craft mart)
• Matting papers (any solid or block colored card stock or art paper will do) for background and framing
• Cut-out letters - H E L L O or any greetings or sentiments you want to use
• Scissors
• Glue for the flat-back pearls
• Fine tip tweezers to pick up the small flat-back pearls
• Double-sided tape or roller adhesive tape
• 3-d foam with double adhesive
• Ribbon, about 8 to 10 inches long and folded for double-ribbon effect
• Embellishments: butterfly chipboard and flat-back pearls (about 3mm diameter) in pink and cream. I got the flat back pearls from Qrhinestones of Etsy. (You should check Emily's Qrhinestones for more beads and fancy gems to use on your projects. She ships very promptly too!)
• Optional: Pigment inkpads for side-inking effect (I used a pigment-based ink to ink the edge of the yellow matting paper)

(This project can be done in less than 15 minutes as long as you have everything you need within your reach.)

And here's how you do it:

1. Gather your materials.
2. Apply adhesive at the back of the matting and patterned paper .
3. Layer the papers together, arranging them in gradual decrease in size. Do not stick the papers on the cardstock yet at this point as we will add ribbon later. I always tuck the edge of my ribbon beneath the matting papers for a clean finish. I also inked the side of the yellow paper for some drama and emphasis.
4. Cut out some small strips of 3-D foam with adhesives and adhere to the cut-out letters.
5. Fold the ribbon in half and make a bow. This method will create a double ribbon in one knot. Tuck the edges under the biggest matting paper. Now, apply double-adhesive tape on the biggest matting. Peel off the protective film of the adhesive.
6. Stick the matting papers which is now your card topper on the card stock.
7. Stick a butterfly embellishment at the edge and dot some glue to stick the cream flat-back pearls.
8. Now dot an undulating line on top of the letters and stick the pink flat-back pearls.
9. And now,  you have your simple card done!

Easy, right?