Several weeks ago my aunt emailed me a link to Better Homes & Gardens Scratch-off Valentine Cards. I thought it was really cute and something I definitely wanted to try. Ah! Scratch-offs are interactive!! Yay!!! I set to gathering my stuff to make the scratch-off part of the card:
clear Contact Paper, metallic acrylic paint, dishwashing liquid, and the card template.
Mix one part dishwashing liquid to two parts paint. Those little medicine cups you have multiplying like tribbles because of all the Benadryl and Dimetapp you buy? They’re perfect for this. {I know I can’t be the only mom out there who buys that stuff by the gallon}.
The mixed product:
Because I didn’t have a lot of time to get these done before I needed to start work, and I needed to make four of these, I decided to use BH&G’s template for the inside of the card {edit once, print four times} This would be pretty easy to stamp, too. I chose four things I knew would rock my kids’ world:
No Chores Tomorrow!; Stay up an extra 30 minutes; You choose the game {when we do family game night later this week}; Skip one school subject {and just between us…the school subject would totally get made up later this week or sometime next…they’ll never know! but getting to skip it one day makes for a happy kiddo}
I laid my strips of clear Contact paper over the hearts, and started painting. I admit I didn’t read the instructions closely and I just laid the strip down and started painting. Cutting them would’ve made it look more professional when finished…just an FYI. (learn from the errors of my ways, people)
And yes, the North Pole candle you purchased to help a friend’s child’s choir makes a perfect weight for the contact paper. And smells good, too. Word to the wise, make sure it’s not lit.
I did two coats of paint on each strip of hearts and it was plenty. Once dry…
(that’s the view from the sticky side of the Contact paper) I stuck them on the cards…
By the way, I also trimmed all the red off the edges of the cards because (1) I didn’t want to be confined to only red cardstock and (II.) there was no way on earth that red was going to match PTI’s fabulous Pure Poppy red.
We now interrupt your cardmaking to fix a child’s lunch…this is what happens when your craft studio is also the chopping block in the kitchen and one of your children realizes she has not had lunch:
She fixes her own (bless her) and she does not care what you’re doing. She will totally break out the Wonder bread, Miracle Whip (aaaaaaack! She belongs to her father, that’s all I can say), cheese and turkey and just go to town. Love that girl. So, once turkey sammich is made and everything cleaned up, I got out my PTI stamps and cardstock. I made the fronts of the cards very simple because I have no imagination. At all. None. I used Background Basics: Houndstooth (because apparently I’m a closet Alabamian…love me some houndstooth) and Tremendous Treats: Valentine {I would link but the PTI website is undergoing some massive renovations right now and I don’t trust direct links…so just go here http://www.papertreyink.com and you should be able to search for whatever you see that you love).
Elizabeth’s card – Raspberry Fizz cardstock (she’s my RazzFizz lovin’ girl) and one kitty…because she’s my first-born:
Nin’s card – Plum Pudding cardstock for my purple lover – and two cupcakes because she’s my second child:
Her whole card shot was better than her close-up – this is basically what everyone’s card looked like. Really bare, rather boring and I promise next year I’ll do better!
Annie’s card – Ripe Avocado since I didn’t have any Simply Chartreuse for my green girl – and three bunnies for our third-born:
Harrison’s card – Blueberry Sky cardstock. I stamped airplanes on his and tried to make it look like an airplane doing a loop-di-loop…but didn’t quite capture that effect so you’re getting a close-up look at how cute the airplane is in herringbone:
Here is the gathering of everyone’s cards – Elizabeth’s is open so you can see the scratch off (and her brother insisted that she have the dinosaur stamped on the inside):
Hope you had a great Valentine’s Day.
Oh and for scratch offs – they got:
Elizabeth, Nin and Harrison all got the same one: no chores tomorrow. They do have to pick up after themselves – but they don’t have to empty the dishwasher, put away folded towels, etc. etc.
Annie scratched off: Skip one school subject. She was beaming as she told me she wanted to skip reading. Ah well, we’ll be working on speech therapy send home stuff…and it’s…ahem {reading}. She just doesn’t want to crack Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons {that aren’t really all that easy, quite frankly}. And that’s okay. We won’t.
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