Valentine Postal Card - Building A Background with Ephemera

Valentine Postal Card – Building A Background with Ephemera

Today I’m sharing a quick tutorial on how I created a pretty Valentine background using the Tim Holtz Correspondence stamp set along with the new coordinating Simon Says Stamp dies. This stamp set can be used along with many other stamps but I wanted to show how the stamp and die set alone can create a beautiful card. Enjoy!

I didn’t do a step-by-step tutorial for this one but will do my best explaining the process and how I put it all together.

Creating the Ephemera

My first step was creating hues of reds and pinks on Ranger Mixed Media Heavystock with Distress Inks. I will use these sheets of colored cardstock to stamp my images onto. I stamped the images in different colors of Distress Ink. The colors I used are Abandoned Coral, Lumberjack Plaid and Saltwater Taffy. I did this using a stamping tool. Before removing the stamps and cardstock from the stamping tool, I added VersaFine Clair Nocturne black pigment ink very gently onto random areas of each the stamp. This gives the stamps a nice vintage look. Don’t completely cover the stamps with this black ink or you will just end up with black stamped images and that’s not what were going for here. Next, I cut out all the images with their coordinating dies and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Next, I cut a 4.75″ x 6.75″ piece of Ranger Mixed Media Heavystock and arranged the cut out images all around the edges. I knew the heart would be the focal point of the card so I only placed the stamped pieces where they would show. When I was happy with the layout, I adhered the pieces to the background with collage medium. I allowed the medium to completely dry and then I went over the edges of each piece with a Saltwater Taffy Distress crayon. When that was dry, I added a bit of Aged Mahogany Distress Crayon in other random areas around the edges of the ephemera. I liked the bits of natural mixed media color peeking from the edges of the ephemera pieces but if you don’t like that look you can go in with a little of the Distress Crayon pigment and water with a paintbrush around the edges of each piece to get the color right up along the edges.

Creating the Heart

To create the heart, I cut the heart from the Tim Holtz True Love die set and set the small outline piece aside. I then embossed the large heart piece with the Tim Holtz Airmail embossing texture fade folder. I went over the image, very gently, with an Aged Mahogany Distress Ink pad. I then placed the heart onto a piece of corrugated cardboard and drew another heart around it about .25″ from the edge. I did the same with the corrugated cardboard around a piece of black cardstock, again about .25″ from the edge. I then distressed the edges of the black heart. I put all these pieces together with 3D foam pieces. Next I took the small outline heart piece and adhered that to the embossed heart piece in the center. I added a few pieces of stamped ephemera to the heart and that completes my focal point.

To finish the card, I adhered a border piece from the Tim Holtz Memoir ephemera pack in the center of the card and adhered the heart over the border piece. I then added a few hearts cut out from the Simon Says Stamp The Inspector die set and placed that entire panel onto a 5.25″ x 7.25″ piece of black cardstock.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I put this card together. Thank you so much for stopping by and spending your time here with me. I tryly appreciate it!

You can find all the supplies I used to create this card at: