Valentine's Day Project for DS

Our recent bad weather had one good outcome--I was able to finish a project that I am pretty proud of. DS and his GF work and live at a wildlife refuge/resort. They are having a Valentine's Day dinner for 50 people (25 couples) and he asked me to do something for the tables. I ended up doing an easle card that was similar to a Christmas card I made for him and a matchbox treat holder.

The card was done using SU real red cardstock (love that red!). The embossed mat on the background was done using the Cuttlebug folder from the Love Language set. The zebra and giraffe are done with Create A Critter (LOVE that cartridge!) For the camel, I tried using the image from Paper Dolls but I needed a one hump camel. I tried welding an oval onto that image in Design Studio but when I did, a lot of the detail lines on the camel's face and legs disappeared. And they have one camel there that is a favorite with everybody so I really wanted a camel on the card. So I did what I said I would never do--bought a cartridge for just one image--the camel. I did get a good bargain on Ebay, tho for the Animal Kingdom cart. The camel did not have layers like the animals on CAC which was disappointing but he turned out ok. The camel had only a profile image of the face so I used the face cutout on one of the layers and pop-dotted it so that the camel is looking at you. The head is a little out of proportion to the body but cuts any smaller had the details almost disappearing into the image. And I'm not just tickled with how the markers looked on the face outline but it was the only way to get any facial details since there were no layers. Then the ostrich. OMW the ostrich! Of all the thousands and thousands and thousands of images on the cartridges, there is one and only ONE ostrich. No layers. So I cut it in pink as the base. Then a white layer where I manually cut off the head/neck and legs as the Hide Contour feature in DS didn't hide what I wanted while keeping the cuts that were needed. Then a black layer where I manually cut off the legs, tail, head/neck and ruffle around the neck. I still wasn't happy with the look so I did a shadow in DS. I never was totally happy with the way the shadow looked but did some hand trimming and that worked. Then on the ostrich face--because of the size, the markers just didn't work. I tried using mini-gel pens to do the face but I didn't have the right adaptors for that and it just didn't work. I ended up using a Micron pen to do the facial details by hand. Not nearly as cute as it could have been if an ostrich had been on the CAC cartridge, but still workable. The scalloped ovals on the card are done using Nestabilities and the white layer was inked only on the edges with Real Red ink to give it more depth. The font on the white oval is computer generated. It's hard to see from the pictures but it says "I left my heart (using small heart shaped button with twine) at ......." (No personal details as I have been repeatedly told to not give personal or specific info on the internet.)

The stamp and cancellation mark on the envelope are from Repeat Impressions. I just loved the African theme and the tie in with the giraffe on the card and since these are more souvenirs than a card someone would mail, I just HAD to put these on the envelope.

The matchbox treat holder was done with a cut file by the marvelously talented Cindy McVey (her blog is http://crazy4crafting.blogspot.com/ ). It holds either two Ghiradelli mini-bars or two Andes Valentine's Mints. It was also done with SU Real Red cardstock, the strip of zebra paper is from Hobby Lobby and the hearts are a Martha Stewart punch. Getting ready to pack them up to mail to him and am pleased with how they turned out. I am asking that they take pictures of the tables when they are set up and the favors are on the table and will post those when I get them.

It's a good thing we had a four-day snow in because it helped me get the 30 cards and 30 treat boxes done in time! (always good to extras so I did a few more than needed)