My Funny Valentine... Sweet, Manly Valentine...

(I know, Valentine's Day is SO over, but I'm going to post the card I made for my sweetie, Scott, anyway. I waited because I thought he should be the first to see it...)

Ever noticed how hard it is to find Valentine images that aren't super girlie? I mean, as open-minded and in touch with their feminine side as our men might be, it's still doubtful they want to see pink hugging bunnies (fuzzed out with Fun Flock, no less) on their V-Day cards. They can almost feel their testosterone levels plummeting at the mere mention of fuzzy pink bunnies, in fact. My guy is no different. Unicorns and heart-shaped rainbows just don't do it for him.

And so, for my tattooed, microbrew-sipping, Cops-loving man, I went straight to the Tim Holtz vault, where you can always find spectacular, 100% sugar-free ingredients.

The back panel of this card is made from Grungepaper, possibly the coolest invention since Hershey's Kisses. With the right shades of Distress ink (in this case, a mix of Mahogany, Vintage Photo and Walnut ) and enough distressing, you can make this stuff look and feel almost EXACTLY like worn leather. (And I ask you, what's more masculine than worn leather?) Now, when I say "enough distressing," I mean barely stopping short of running over it with your car. Friends, I went to town on this poor piece of Grungepaper, employing first my Paper Distresser and then my Tonic Scratcher until my wrist finally gave out. At that point, I abandoned all sense of decorum and just started hacking at it with my craft knife, a dangerous move that in clumsy hands like mine could easily cause mortal injury. ***DISCLAIMER: Don't try this at home.*** But, hey, it worked! And remarkably, no blood was shed.

I attached this "fine Corinthian leather" panel to a red card with bronze eyelets, using the mighty Crop-a-Dile BIG BITE. (Does that thing rock, or what??)

The image is from Tim's "Rockstar" stamp set. I stamped it with black Archival Ink onto a piece of plain white cardstock, let it dry, then colored the heart and ribbons with a red Mark-It. I used the blending tool to swirl Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo Distress Inks around the heart, then made little slash-y marks with a gold Krylon pen. The "you" is just alphabet stick-ons, and for some reason, getting those three stupid letters lined up right took nearly as long as making the rest of the card! I have some kind of inborn alignment defect, is all I can figure.

Finally, I added the Valentine-y "KISS" Word Stick with jump rings and a Hitch Fastener.

So, there's my attempt at a masculine Valentine (or at least as masculine I was was willing to go without dipping it in beer and glueing it to the remote control). Scott seemed to genuinely like it, and that really did make my day. Plus, he agreed to let me submit it to the Simon Says Challenge "All You Need Is Love" event, and the Gingersnap Creations Romance Challenge, too. If you have a handmade valentine, you should submit yours as well! They're both giving away lovely prizes that make me dizzy with want.

Okay, let's go forth and make every day V-Day... or something like that.

Hugs,
Linda