Happy Valentine’s Day! I wanted to share a tutorial on some adorable Valentine's I made last week with one of my favorite stamp sets! Anyone who knows me knows I love squirrels... so the Art Impression's Nuts About You clear stamp set was a must!

See what I mean? Too adorable. Alright, let's get started. I broke out my stamp set and used black Staz-On ink to stamp the images on Bristol paper. I love using Bristol because it is smooth and easy to use for watercolor.

You can see this stamp set is going to be well loved...

I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens to color the images. I don't always have patience for coloring images, so watercolor is my favorite way to color since it is quick and easy to blend. The yellow brush is a water brush, making gradients and shading super easy.

I used my Stamp Perfect by Hampton Art to arrange my stamps so I could easily stamp multiple papers. I knew I would want to make a lot of projects with these squirrels!

I fussy cut out all the squirrels so they would be ready to roll for my projects. Now for the card construction. I found these sequins at the Dollar Tree, and I knew I wanted to make some shaker cards with them.

I made an A2 (5.5"x4.25") card base with white paper, and selected some paper fro my American Craft's "Lucky Charm" 6"x6" pad. I cut a rectangle of Creatology Adhesive Foam to give my card dimension and room for my sequins. I used the small oval die from the Art Impressions Scallop Easel Die to be my window for the shaker, die cutting the patterned paper and foam sheet together. I made sure to die cut it so the adhesive part was facing up towards the patterned paper, because I knew that would help seal the acetate I used for my window.

I cut a panel of red dot paper to be the background behind the oval. I cut a little piece of envelope patterned paper (because it's so cute!). I also cut a piece of acetate slightly larger than the opening to sandwich between the foam and front panel.

I adhered the red dot panel onto my cardbase and adhered the foam over it. I use my Scotch Advanced Tape Glider.

I wanted a message inside the shaker, so I stamped "Hi Valentine" on the red dot paper.

Now for the fun (and messy) part! I added some sequins into the oval, trying not to fill it too full so they are easy to move around inside the card.

I removed the adhesive sheet and placed my acetate over the oval. Then I placed my patterned paper over top.

Now for the last details. I mounted my squirrel cutout on foam tape to give some dimension and added the strip of letters along the bottom.

All done! Here are two other cards I made with this same technique. There are so many fun variations you can make! I'm excited to try new combinations.