Happy Valentine's Day, crafty friends! 

I have never made any Valentine's Day cards, because Valentine's Day was not something we celebrated when I grew up in the Netherlands. But this year, I decided to make 'a few' cards for some of the lovely ladies who are working at the clinic where my husband was operated back in December (and several times before). When DH knew he would be picking up the results from the most recent CT scan (which came out clean!) on the 14th, he promised the head nurse of the surgery department that he would bring her flowers or a card. And then I thought there were a few others who deserved a card as well, so I might just as well make a bunch. DH left home with 15 cards (14 as it's the 14th, plus 1 spare). When he came home again, he had 1 card left. He also brought me a chocolate bar, which the head of the reception desk crew had rushed out to buy in the cafeteria. On it, she wrote: WE LOVE U! These cards were definitely a big hit! 😄

I used a mix of products and techniques to create my cards, using a brand new stencil (by Christina Griffith) on some of the cards and old embossing folders and stamp sets on others, along with several heart dies.

For the head nurse, I added flowers and green leaves (Winnie and Walter), but I stuck to hearts for all the other cards. And a little shimmer from my SN sparkle pen of course.

After I had cut my pink panels from some A5 cardstock that has been in my stash like forever to fit onto my folded white A5 cardstock (equally old, since this is fairly thin compared to the Neenah cardstock I use nowadays), I used the off-cuts to stamp the XOXO sentiment (from Big Holiday Wishes by Simon Says Stamp) and added these strips to several of my cards. A great way to use up those snippets right away!

These cards also offered a perfect opportunity to create a card for Cards in Envy, using the very first sketch they offered for inspiration 6 years ago. I'm linking up my card at the top of my post at CIE's final farewell challenge as a way to say thank you to Sandy and her team for all those years of inspiration. Below is the sketch I used:

I'm also linking up my card at:

Aud Sentiments - #220 Love or Valentine sentiment

If you give a crafter a cookie... - #110 Photo inspiration

Tuesday Throwdown - #425 Falling hearts