Chugging by... -- SNSDC90

This week, the Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge is quite easy.  We're to make a Valentine's Day or Love card/project.  Easy Peasy!!  We have a sweet little 3 year old boy in our lives (our grandson) who loves trains.  So I thought this Cocoa's Train digi would be perfect for him.

I used an older Sweet Stop Sketch (SSS160) for the design of the card front.  My husband had the idea to use some type of 3D hearts as smoke billows so when I found these open buttons I thought they would fill the bill.  I adhered them with SU's Crystal Effects.  I also put some Crystal Effects on Cocoa's nose.  I generated the sentiment on my computer and cut it out in a banner shape.  I used a square punch to give me the points on the end.

I paper pieced Cocoa's train using two different patterned papers from a collection I've had in my stash for quite awhile.  I bought this paper pack with Jack, our grandson, in mind.  Actually, except for the cow catcher, it's just both sides of the same sheet of paper.  I used buttons from my stash for the wheels.  Cocoa is colored with Copics and his head and paw are popped up over the train.

If you're a regular reader, you know I *love* fancy folds.  When I saw this pop-up card on Darlene's blog during a recent surfing trip, I couldn't wait to give it a try.  Darlene show's two versions, a simple pop up and this more advanced one.  Her directions are easy to follow and the "advanced" version was still pretty easy to do.

For the 3 hearts on the left side, I printed out a Cocoa's Heart the size I wanted them to be and hand cut a template.  I then printed out 2 sentiments from the Valentine's Day Greeting set and generated my own sentiment for the center heart in Word.  I used the template to trace around the sentiments and hand cut them.  I taped them to red cardstock and then cut the mats.  I used another greeting from the set for the "Happy Valentine's Day" and popped it up on the background. Cocoa's Heart is on the 4th pop-up.  Strips from the patterned paper carry the train theme through to the inside of the card.  I left a small spot to write a short greeting from Papaw & I.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Bazzill, Recollections, Georgia Pacific, Copic
Patterned Paper:  Echo Park (Little Boy)
Stamps:  Sweet 'n Sassy Digis (Cocoa's Heart, Valentine's Day Greeting, Cocoa's Train)
Copics:  0, 100, C0, E01, N0, N1, N3, N5, N7, N9, R02, R27
Tools/Embellishments:  Spellbinders (Deckled Rectangles Large & Small, Petite Ovals Large and Small, Petite Scalloped Ovals Large & Small), blue buttons - stash, heart buttons (Dress it Up -Valentine Collection - Love Potion), baker's twine (The Twinery - Maraschino), SU Square Punch, CM Fine Black Pen

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Shopping Our Stash #87 - Valentine's Day, Hearts, Red, Love
Going Gray with ScrapCreations - Valentine's Day
WordArt Wednesday #65 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge (PWC243) - Square Card
Really Reasonable Ribbon #64- Valentine's with Ribbon/Trim
Spark Your Creativity Challenge #5 - Anything Goes
V's Sweet Challenge #8 - Love Theme

I hope you'll play along in this week's challenge.  Thanks for stopping by to visit today.