Young Man Valentines

Hi there! I was needing crafty time today, not for a challenge or an order, but just for me. :) Do you ever feel that way? Sometimes I get so wrapped up in challenges, design work, submissions and orders that I feel I need more crafty time? I know, weird, but I just feel I want to play! With whatever I want and whatever colors or layout my little brain can fathom. :) So that's what this was, experimentation, some new product, and some really old stuff too. Do you like? My boys are getting so big! I'm particularly referring to the older 2. Ian is 11 and just got his first CELL PHONE for Christmas. I shouldn't sound so shocked since the whole thing was my idea, but hey, then I have these moments of total disbelief that my first baby is a "tween." He seems so grown up, too. Here's a recent pic:

Isn't he handsome? He's smart, too, and athletic, and kind and well, just about all things that would make a mom proud. I actually bought these "My Guy Ian" stamps from The Greeting Farm with him in mind! Not only because of his name, but because the "older" feel to these stamps seemed to fit. So here's the Valentine I came up with for MY Ian....

I started out with this DP in mind. I used my SU! heart punch, my new PTI banner die and some canvas flowers on these cards (all newer items). Then I used the chipboard hearts & the red suede photo corners (OLD items!) Here's a closeup on "Ian" do you like his jeans? For all the clothing on both these characters, I used Copics and then watercolor pencils over the Copics to give the clothing a "woven" look. You can blend the watercolor pencils with the Copics. I don't think I would try using a blender pen on top of the Copics, I didn't try it since the Copics worked well, but I have a feeling that might cause the cardstock to fuzz or pill if you mixed the water based blender pen with the alcohol ink markers.

After coloring his hair with Copics, I added some extra hair strands with a Stampin' Up! marker in Soft Suede. 

I was really happy with the way the first card turned out, so I decided to make another for Collin. :) Collin is 9, incredibly bright and funny. he's an an avid reader. He lights up any room he's in. He has a way of making everything he tries look easy. Here's a pic of him that I took at his school party: 

Here's the card I made for him:

It's similar to Ian's card, same layout. I made this character with a burgundy sweatshirt and a blue and yellow baseball cap, since Collin wears these items often. I decided to do brown cords on this one instead of jeans for a change of pace. Here's a closeup on this little guy: 

Well, I hope you like my cards, I had fun making them :) It may be a wee bit early to start on Valentines, but I don't mind telling you, I am HUGELY excited for 2012 to hurry up and get here! 2011 has been a YEAR (and not a good one) around here. Multiple broken bones, a car accident, multiple serious surgeries for my family members, and much much more. And while I'm sure that 2012 won't be trouble-free, I am hoping it won't be the bad-news-every-week kinda year that we've just been through! 

I hope YOU have a very Happy New Year! Big hugs!

Noelle

supply list: stamps: the greeting Farm and TCP sentiment; DP: My Mind's Eye and K&Company for banners; die: Papertrey Ink; canvas printed flowers: BasicGrey; buttons: Crate Paper; tickets: Tim Holtz; heart punches: EK Success for Stampin' Up!; red chipboard hearts: Heidi Swapp; red suede photo corners: making memories; markers: Copic and SU!; watercolor pencils

DUST IT OFF!: Those chipboard hearts and red corners are SOOOOO old! Felt great to use them up! Perfect color, too :)