Concord & 9th— Postage Stamp Valentine’s Card
Happy Valentine’s Day, Crafters!
Today I’ve got a quick Valentine’s card for you that’s perfect for a last-minute craft session! This card features the postage stamp die from the Sweet Sayings die set that Concord & 9th released last month. This card has a bit of the same vibe as the ones I posted last Thursday, it’s clean and simple and uses one of the same color palettes.
I started this card off with the idea of die cutting 6 postage stamps out of Cranberry, Poppy, Honeysuckle, Sorbet, Grapefruit and Ballet Slipper cardstocks (from Concord & 9th) to make an ombré gradient of postage stamps. Originally, I was planning to use just these 6 postage stamps and adding a greeting underneath them like I did on this card, but the scaling was a little off. So, I decided to go back up the color gradient and add another row of postage stamps in Honeysuckle, Poppy, and Cranberry cardstocks. I like how the corners of this arrangement are diagonally the same, I feel like it makes things similar but different, and doesn’t draw the eye too much like it could if I repeated the pattern from the first row.
To get the perfect placement of the postage stamps, I have two method suggestions: 1) a sticky mat and Press’nSeal, 2) washi tape and a t-square ruler. I started off with method 1, thinking I was smart and things were going to be a breeze (they were), until they weren’t haha! I had my postage stamps all lined up on my 1/8-inch grid MISTI sticky mat, pulled them off with Press’nSeal, then when I glued them down onto my card base, I didn’t glue them down straight enough, so the perfectionist in me decided to start over using method 2.
After I die cut new postage stamps, I temporarily adhered my card base down to my glass mat with repositionable adhesive. I lined up the postage stamps by eyeballing them as best as I could, then checked measurements after I had them placed how I liked. Once I was sure the placement was as even and straight as I could get them, I pulled out and tore a long piece of washi tape, stuck it to my pants for a minute to make it a little less sticky (this can help to avoid your paper getting torn), then taped each row to form a moveable ‘hinge’. I doublechecked my placement, then gently peeled off one side of the tape and flipped it to the other side of my glass mat so the backs of the postage stamp die cuts were exposed, put glue on them, then moved the loose end of the tape back to the starting position. I repeated this two other times to finish off the other rows, then breathed a sigh of relief. The hardest part of this card is placing those postage stamps!
For the sentiment, I went back to the All the Love die set from Concord & 9th. I’ve been enjoying using this die set on a handful of Valentine’s card I’ve made this year, so why not use it again! I die cut the heart die out of plain white cardstock and decided I would build my sentiment on it. I really love the scripty, playful ‘love you’ dies in this set, so I decided to die cut them out of Simon Says Stamp matte gold cardstock (and two layers of plain white cardstock for dimension). I glued the heart down in the lower right quadrant of the card, then built the greeting on it so it hung off the sides in a way that felt balanced. To give this card a finishing touch, I pulled out my tried and true Rock Candy sequins from Trinity Stamps and arranged them in two groups of three. I think these are the perfect touch to this card!
I hope you enjoyed all the Valentine’s cards I shared over the last couple of weeks! I wish I could have shared a lot more, but I like the variety that I created!
I received my order from Concord & 9th yesterday containing some products from their February release, so be on the lookout for that content coming soon! Thanks for stopping by the blog today, I hope to catch you next time with more inspiration! 😊
