It's all about LOVE...

...and today is also a day that many people will be sharing their LOVE with their family and friends, as we celebrate Valentine's Day.   I have to admit, I'm not exactly a huge fan and do think this is one of those days where it's become a bit to commercial and to me, that's not what LOVE is really about.  I try to make sure that my family and friends know that I LOVE them every day and don't think we should ever have to had a special day to let me know!!

     I did make cards for my family and also bought some chocolates for my guys, but other than that I don't do anything special or big.    I think it's far more special to be surprised with some flowers or a small gift for no particular reason and I like to do little things for my family randomly, not necessarily to celebrate an event.  I think those gifts and acts of kindness or love are far more special and those are the ones I cherish the most.

     I do LOVE making Valentine Cards and LOVE cards and also make them often throughout the year, especially extra Love and Hugs cards for Operation Write Home.  I'm also a big fan of hearts and will often use them on my cards, they are simply a fun element and they remind me of love too!!

    Today I have four new cards to share and all were created or inspired by some of my favorite challenges. My first card I am getting done just in the nick of time to submit to the current "Paper Piecing" challenge over at A Blog Name Hero.  It's one of my favorite challenge blogs -- especially since I am such a huge fan of Hero Arts.  I try to play in this challenge often and have missed out lately, so I'm thrilled to have a card to submit.   It's a cute little card that I created with some brand new digi images that I bought yesterday from By Lori Designs, which you can find here.  I adore Lori's wonderful creations and own almost ALL of them...it's hard for me to pass up any new sets and these little Pedal Pushers were one set, I had to have!!

      As you can see, I paper-pieced on her hat and matching boots and I used some of my favorite digi papers from Hero, of course.  I love that Hero Arts offers many of their wonderful designs and patterns in digital format.   This set is called Arches and I used the lavender for my card.   You can find this set, along with oodles of others over at  Two Peas.   The rest of the image was colored with my Copics and I then layered her onto some lavender and pink papers from my stash.   I embossed another lavender background piece and add everything onto a Snow Card base, also from Hero  My "Smile" sentiment is also digital and was a bonus offer that Lori is currently offering to everyone who buys her newest "Pedal Pusher" set, but Hurry, because the bonus Sentiments offer ends on Monday, February 18th!!

     My next card also features another adorable image from the new release and this card was inspired and created for the current challenge over at By Lori Designs.   I fell in LOVE with this image in particular, because his name is  "Brian" and that is my son's name too.   I colored him up with my Copics and then simply layered him onto some matching card-stock which I embossed in my Cuttlebug.  I then add the sweet little Sentiments (from the bonus offer) and punched a matching star to finish up a fun little Clean and Simple Card!!

    Next I have two new Valentine's and these were also created with challenges in mind.  The first card wa created for the brand new CASology Challenge, which you can find HERE!   Our Cue for this one is RED and that was the color I focused on for this very simple card.   After taking the CAS2 Class, I'm finding that I LOVE the Clean and Simple style of card-making more and more!!  

   This card was started with a simple piece of Red Bazzil Cardstock that I cut down to create an A2 size card.  I think cut a the card front from a piece of Stampin' Up -Patterned Paper Stack, which is a diagonal strip pattern.  I'm finding I loves stripes and dots lately and that made this set one I really LOVE.  I then used my new Hero Arts Heart Die set, to cut out the larger heart from the SU paper and found a scrap of red dotted paper, which I used to punch the small inner heart.  The top two strips are made from Washi Tape, which is one of my new loves.  I've found several fabulous stores that sell it over on ETSY!!

   My last card today is another CAS style card and it was inspired by the wonderful Clean and Simple Cardmaking Class.   I saw a card that Jennifer had created with a banner coming down the front of the card and I loved the look, so I made my last Valentine using a similar design.  This idea was also inspired by the current LOVE and LACE challenge being hosted over at the HeroArts Blog.

   This card is being submitted to the current challenge over at "Through The Craftroom Door".    I used more of the SU Patterned Red Paper on this card and also used the Hero Arts Hearts Dies for both the polka dotted heart and the larger white heart, which I cut from a white doily.  The bow for my hearts was cut with a Memory Box die set that I LOVE!   This again is another Snow White Card base, from Hero---Love love love their cards and buy them HERE, my new favorite Hero Arts go to store!!  The "Made with Love" sentiment was stamped in Red Royal Shadow Ink and is an old wooden stamp from DJ Inkers -- a oldie, but goodie that I bought from HeartPrints.

   I am also sharing these two "Heart" themed cards over at "The Outlawz Group" in the CAS Challenge which you'll find HERE!!  The theme this week is "Hearts" and since I love hearts so much I have now shared four cards with the group!

   It's been so much fun to be back creating and I'm loving it more and more.  As much as I know this is my passion, I don't think I realized just how much I LOVE and need this as my way to relax and feel good!!  It makes me HAPPY and being happy is such a good thing!  

   Update:   I finished up one more card for today and thought I would add it now.  This one was very simple and it also was created for a new challenge, which is another that has fast become a favorite.  It's the newest Cas(E) this Sketch Challenge, which you'll find HERE!!  I am also included a copy of this week's sketch, which I thought was awesome.   I hope I can inspire YOU to play along in any of these fun challenges!!!

And this is my take....which I named "Wish Upon A Star"!

   I hope you are having a Happy Day and that your Valentine's Day is exactly what you want it to be!!