When Jen first issued the "A Kid at Heart" project challenge, my first thought was of playing cards. My DH has such fond memories playing cards with his Dad at a very young age (he says he started between ages 2-3). They started out with "War" and "Slap Jack" and by the age of 8, Dan was a card shark, playing real adult card games like Pinochle and Bridge. While I enjoy playing cards for fun, he's a little too intense of a card player for my taste. Enter Sabrina, our DD, who is 5 1/2 now. She has just started to play cards with him, and she seems to enjoy it. That is their thing to do together.So, even though we have numerous decks of cards around our house, I decided to make a special set of cards just for them. Instead of the traditional decks with clubs, hearts, diamond and spades, I used Hearts on Fire and Hundred Hearts to create an all heart deck. To begin with, I downloaded the Hoyle playing cards font (a free download available from many online font sites) and created Word text boxes to print the basic parts of the cards. After consulting with DH again, I learned that there actually is an official four-color deck created by a professional poker player. The colors are red = hearts, black = spades, green = clubs and blue = diamonds. I adopted the same colors for my deck, but I used only hearts.
My playing cards are what I found to be the standard size - 2.5" x 3.5". I started with a thin white cardstock base. After printing the official Hoyle numbers and letters in the upper and lower corners, I stamped the small heart from Hearts on Fire under each. I then used the slightly larger heart from Hundred Hearts to stamp the corresponding number of hearts onto each card. For the face cards, I downloaded images and sized them accordingly. I then carefully drew lines around each image with a black pen. I finished off the back of each card with a shimmery pattered paper, ran each card through my Xyron laminator, then I rounded the corners.
Once I finished my cards, I moved on to altering a small lunchbox tin which previously held Cherry Sours (yum!). I removed the hardware so that I could more easily decorate the box. I decorated the cover using the large open heart from Hearts on Fire, then I stamped the words with my tiny Karen Foster snap alphabet stamps and colored it with Copic markers. The insides of the tin are finished off with 2 of my favorite quotes from Hundred Hearts atop a stamped background of the tiny heart border from the same set. Rhinestones and ribbon finish it off. Now Sabrina has a special deck of cards to play card games with her Daddy!Playing Cards
Stamps: Hearts on Fire, Hundred Hearts (Verve)
Paper: White (Georgia Pacific), Hearts & Flowers (Heidi Grace Designs)
Ink: Noir, Prussian Blue, L'amour Red, Viridian Leaf (Palette)
Accessories: Sticker machine, laminating cartridge (Xyron), Round-it-all (Zutter), black archival pen (Sakura).
Tin
Stamps: Hearts on Fire, Hundred Hearts (Verve); Snap alphabet (Karen Foster)
Paper: White, Pure Poppy (PTI); Bubblegum (CTMH), Hearts & Flowers (Heidi Grace Designs)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Fresh Snow (PTI)
Accessories: Long Rectangles and Labels One Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), Markers (Copic), tiny hearts border punch (Martha Stewart), Sticker machine, laminating cartridge (Xyron), lunchbox tin (Target), felt hearts (American Crafts), 3/8" ribbon and rhinestones (Martha Stewart), 1/4" ribbon, button, waxy flax, paper piercer.
So how cool is that??? Don't you wish you had a deck of your very own? I know I sure do! I think I just might have to make a set with some Hello Kitty paper! Thanks so much for playing with us, Stephanie!
Want to play along and be A Kid At Heart? To play, just link your project to the Day 1 Post and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Verve Stamps. Please be sure that your entries are linked there no later than 8PM (Mountain) on February 5th. The winner will be announced here on February 6th. Have fun and good luck!
