Valentine Cards and Matching Purse

Today I want to share with you this wonderful paper card purse.  Isn't it adorable!  Unfortunately I cannot claim credit for the design.  The original design is called "Designer Paper Card Carrier" and was created by Amy Celona.  She has a wonderful tutorial  on how to create this bag which you can find here http://ustamp4fun.com/stationery-box-pocketbook-downloadable-template/

The bag holds A2 (5.5 x 4.25) size cards and envelopes.  For my bag, I used double sided Valentine themed paper and added the flower and trim on the handle with solid pink cardstock.  The handles were attached using silver heart shaped brads. 

The cards were created using an A2 sized  white base card and attaching a matching piece of the same paper used for the bag which measures 5.25 x 4 inches.  This leaves a nice white border around the outside edge of the card.  For the focal point, I cut out the white background of the heart using the larger heart die with white cardstock  and layered the pink die cut on top.  The center of the pink die is open, so I cut a heart from  the background paper and glued it to the center to bring some of the background into my focal point.  Finally, I finished it off with the corner accents in white cardstock.  Inside of cards were left blank.

My bag includes 6 blank matching cards and 6 envelopes.  I think these would make great little gifts for just about anyone who likes to send cards.  They can then reuse the purse as a gift bag or keep it to store little items in.    Here are more pictures of the finished pieces.

Supplies Used:

1.      K&Company 12 x 12 Designer Series Kelly Panacci Valentine Designer Paper. 
2       Recollections Pink Cardstock
3.      Recollections White Cardstock
4.      Stampin Up Build a Blossom punch
5.     Fiskars  Heart Edge Punch
6.     Spellbinders Lacy Hearts die set
7.     Glittered button (from my stash)
8.     Eight silver heart brads (from my stash)

Please Note:  I am not affiliated in any way with the companies and products mentioned in this post. 

If you like this post and would like to see more like it, please leave a comment below.

Thanks!

Jeanne

Something new for A Stroke of Jeanne-ius!

This is my very first blog post.  I am so excited and would like to let you know a little about me and where I am heading.
As some of you might already know, I am a decorative painter and designer.  I have spent the last several years creating and publishing my own designs as patterns so that other crafters and painters can paint them for themselves. They can be found on my own website www.astrokeofjeanneius.com as well as several others.   I have also been a helping artist with DecoArt and have had several of my designs published on their website, Joanns.com and Michaels.com.   Artist's club has published my designs in a combined artists book, on their website and in their mail order catalog.

Although I love decorative painting, I decided to branch out a bit and try my hand at paper crafting.  I purchased a Silhouette Cameo in December of 2014 with the hopes of creating stencils for my painting designs.  Unfortunately this machine could not accomplish the type of stencil I was interested in, so I began using it for paper crafts.  Well. a true love affair was started!  
I began making and creating greeting cards.  I scoured yard sales, flea markets, and Craig's list for all types of papers, stamps, and embellishments until my supply stash grew and grew!  Then came the Cuttlebug (die cutting machine) and oh what fun that little machine is!  Let me tell you, I can't explain how much fun it is to play with paper.  

The purpose of my blog will be to show you my creations, share the products used,  and hopefully inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and try a new craft!  

Have a great day!

Please Note:  The bag I created in the photo for this post was originally designed by Amy Celona, www.ustamp4fun.com