This post is a bit early for Valentine’s Day, but if you like this idea, I wanted to give you enough time to get the supplies. While stenciling Christmas tree ornaments a few months ago, I was loving the matte Chalk Paint from Annie Sloan on glitter paper. So I used the same combo for Valentine’s Day cards! Glitter and glam, plus a personal card made by you — perfect for Valentine’s Day!
You can get my full DIY tutorial with the easy step-by-step instructions at Paint + Pattern so you can make these cards:
I always love a photo shoot that requires (ahem yeah “requires” like it’s mandatory) good chocolates. Then you can eat the chocolate! Funny story — I originally bought a bigger box of Godiva truffles. I thought I was going to get to eat them. I left the box on the kitchen island and went to work. Meanwhile my husband left for a flight to his office in India that day. He took the chocolates for his staff over in Bengaluru. Which is okay — they are very much appreciated and they love the chocolates! But I had to get another (smaller) box for myself. For the photos. Yup. I guess I am greedy when it comes to chocolate. As you can see from the photos, I also bought a dozen red roses for myself!
So, again, head over to Paint + Pattern for the DIY tutorial. It will walk you through steps like these:
See that lilac color Chalk Paint (it’s Henrietta color from Annie Sloan) on the glitter paper? Cool matte vs. glitter texture contrast, huh?
Here I will tell you more about where to get supplies like glittery paper, because I realize you might not find glittery paper in every corner store! There’s a Michael’s craft store actually conveniently around the corner from my neighborhood, and I find lots of choices of glitter papers in their scrapbook/paper-crafting aisles. They have many colors — red, blues, purples, gold, silver, greens. I should mention, the glitter does not come off the paper. I’ve banned glittery Christmas ornaments from my house because all the glitter getting everywhere drives me crazy. But these pre-glittered scrapbook papers are secure — the glitter goes nowhere!
You may not have a Michaels nearby. That’s okay. You can order online. Here are the glitter papers at Michaels website. Here’s an example of the glitter paper they have:
You can also get packs of glitter papers. These are gorgeous jewel tones:
Now that I’m surfing Michaels’ site, I’m sorry so many papers seem to be available only in the stores, but there are still quite a few choices online.
When you’re choosing glitter papers to paint on, look for the fine glitter surface, not the big chunky glitter, where you can see the big circles of glitter shapes. If you’re shopping online, enlarge the picture so you can get a good look at the glitter. Here’s a comparison:
Paint will not go well over the huge pieces of glitter. On the fine glitter papers, you will still see texture under the paint, but it’s subtle and okay.
When shopping at craft stores like Michaels or Joann, sign up for their email lists. Don’t be afraid of spam – those emails always have coupons up to 50% off, sometimes 60%. They also often have coupons on their websites. Download their apps on your phone. When you’re in the store, open the app and look for their coupons. There are always coupons! You can easily get 30-50% off.
The lacey stencil I used to paint the heart is from Royal Design Studio. It’s the Lace Heart Wall Stencil. The design is 5.5″ wide and 4.5″ tall so it’s the perfect size for cards. And yes, one stencil made these three different looks! The difference is in the color papers and color paint you choose. And as you see, you can cut a shape in the paper and have the stencil pattern peek through the cut-out, or you can paint directly on the glitter paper.
Also Royal Design Studio often has sales on stencils and supplies — sign up for their email list to get notice of discounts and sales in your email box.
If you try this, have fun! It’s easy and fast to make these cards. I whipped these three cards out in an afternoon. It would probably be faster for you because I was stopping to take pictures for blogging. This is a fun project to do with kids too.
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