Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetie!

My guy is a combo Cowboy/Handyman.  He grew up building houses with his dad and has held various jobs where his handyman skills have been a prerequisite.  His current position, Ranch Manager, encompasses the Cowboy and Handyman side of him.  He makes sure the animals are well taken care of, he checks the fence line (however, these days, his horse is his Quad), he repairs the tractors that constantly break down during the "hay" season, etc.

I have been stamping and scrapping since before we were married.  I have stamped cards for him on every occasion.  I usually get the "thank you, that's nice, Sweetie" comments and the cards are quickly relegated to the drawer.  Last year, after a segment on Studio 5 about 'manly" cards, I made a Father's Day card for him made out of different hardware pieces.  He kept the card out and showed it to everyone.  It's been months since Father's Day and he still talks about the card.

Of course, with Valentine's Day, I wanted a card he wouldn't just shove in the drawer again.  Below is a picture of some of the items I purchased for his card.  To be honest, the only item used in the making of the card that is Stampin' Up! are the two punches and the hemp twine.

The picture isn't great quality, but what you see are tie plates, sandpaper, hook, eyes, nuts, nails, hinges, fence staple (I guess that's what that is - I just raided the Cowboy's tools) and drywall mesh.

I used the the Full Heart Extra Large punch (Item #119883 - $16.95) to cut three large hearts.  Two from the  drywall mesh (black) and one of the sandpaper.  (I should note that the punches I used are both Stampin' Up! but were purchased prior to the new, sleeker, easier storing punches.  If you want one, while the cut-out shape is the same, you would receive the new low-profile punch.)

      

As usual, I forgot to continue taking pictures throughout the creative process, but I took two nails, crossed them into an "X" and tied them together with the hemp twine.  I positioned two of the "X's" and a nut on the Large Full Hearts and positioned them on one of the tie plates.  I hooked the two tie plates together with a hinge.  I used glue dots to hold everything on except for the hinge, which had some extra help from a brad.

I really like the front of this card.  It's girlie enough to satisfy my inner woman, but he will appreciate the sentiment in the X's and O's.

I had to cover some printing/labels on the inside cover, which was where I used the Heart-to-Heart Extra Large Punch (Item #119881, $16.95).

For the inside, main portion of the card, I used sandpaper as my layer piece and created a sentence out of other hardware and a few letters.  In hindsight, I wish I had used one of our Alphabet Sets for the letter parts of my sentiment, but I'm too lazy to go back and correct it.  

And, if you are hardware challenged like I used to be, the inside translates into  "I'm hooked on you."

Remember, it's still Sale-A-Bration (translation - FREE STAMPS!)  For more info, see post below.

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope it's a Wonderful, LOVE-filled day for you and yours.

Hugs,

Randee

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