Two days ago, when the Sizzix social media marketing guru asked me if I wanted to make three last minute Valentine’s Day cards using my Mini Photo Embellishing dies, of course I said “yes!” because I always love a good creative challenge.

Here’s the video and I included a mini-tutorial and more inspiration behind these cards below.

Since I had to make these in the evenings after work, I didn’t have time to shop for new embellishments. I gave myself the additional challenge of using only what I had in my stash. Which helps point out that my Mini Photo Embellishing dies are the perfect “Stash Busters”. I used only supplies I had on hand and substituted vintage elements in appropriate colors when needed. If you don’t have vintage supplies handy, you can use washi tape, lace or ribbon.

I created my first card using a photo since my Mini Photo Embellishing dies are designed to work with the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 photos {similar to Polaroids but smaller}. I wanted to make this card a little masculine so I added the navy blue “flag” from the Paperclippable set but I also wanted to soften the look a bit so I added tiny rosettes also from the same die set. To add a pop of sparkle, I added a metallic-paper copper heart from the Photo Banner set. The photo frame is cut from a chevron pattern paper and the card itself is from my Mini Album die.

My second card was inspired by my love of all things vintage. I gathered vintage items that I had in a rosy pink color before starting this project.

Again I used the navy blue and copper hearts {I fell in love with the way they looked} but this time I used it in the center instead of a photo. The Photo Frame can highlight anything as well as photos. I die cut the word Love out of the bottom of the Frame. Behind the frame, I adhered vintage, new old stock rick rack in the perfect shades of rosy pink. The lightest layer of paper is actually watercolor paper that I inked with Distress Ink in Festive Berry and Worn Lipstick. The pink lace medallion was a thrifted find. The number 14 Bingo marker is actually vintage and the ribbon is vintage seam binding, again in the perfect shade of rosy pink.

I allowed myself a lot more freedom of color on my last card. I love this paper by My Mind’s Eye and this was a fun way to use it. Here is a quick mini-tutorial on how this card came together.

I first die cut the Holiday Frame with the word “Love” then adhered a bit of navy blue paper behind the word area at the bottom of the frame. I adhered thin strips of foam tape around the edges of the frame back and attached it to the pink layer of my card.

Here you can see the raised frame. I also stamped a distressed pattern on the darker pink card stock.

After the Frame and two layers were adhered to the card, I attached several leaves from the Photo Banner die set.

I die cut, rolled and glued 21 mini rosettes into the raised center of the frame. This created a bed of roses. As a final embellishment, I die cut a butterfly out of cardstock and copper metallic paper and adhered it to a mini clothes pin.

Here’s a closer look at the bed of roses and clothes pin butterfly embellishment.

I hope you enjoyed the video and the inspiration behind the cards. I also invite you to give yourself your own creative challenges that can be such wonderful opportunities to experiment with different materials and techniques.

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