"Pucker Up" Embossed Crazy Straw Valentines

This year I asked Abi what she wanted to do for her valentines (we did these glow stick ones last year) and her quick response... WHISTLES!  However, when I got to Target they didn't have whistles.  At least not at a price I was willing to pay for 24 of them.

So I grabbed what I figured was the next best thing - CRAZY STRAWS!! - and hoped for the best.  Thankfully, Abi was totally on board when I showed her.  Now the tricky part was thinking of a catchy little tag line to put on them.



I was planning to go with something using the word crazy, but after going through my sisters (hundreds) of stamps I didn't see anything along those lines that I liked.  Instead, I went with a combo of three different stamp sets to get the words, "Pucker Up Valentine" with a little love heart.  For some added fun I decided to emboss the lettering instead of just stamping it.

It was a really fun project and Abi loves how they turned out.  Here's a little run down of how I did it.



First you need to gather your supplies.  Here is what I used:

Gold Embossing Powder
VersaMark Ink
Stamp ("pucker up" from Frutastic by Paper Smooches; "valentine" from Claire's ABCs by Lawn Fawn; heart from Countless Sayings 1 by Stampin' Up - none of these are affiliate links, just thought you might be interested)
Embossing Buddy
Tag to be stamped (I found one I liked in the Silhouette store then modified it to fit on the straws)
Embossing Heat Gun



First rub the embossing buddy onto the paper.  This will remove the static cling so that the embossing powder will only stick to the ink and keep it looking crisp and clean.



Next stamp onto tag using the VersaMark ink.  It's clear and sticky.  It kinda reminds me of glue rather than ink.



Now just spoon some of the embossing powder over the stamped image then tap it off.  My sister leaves her most used powders in their own Tupperware container so that it's easy to use and there is basically no clean up.



Now just heat the image with the embossing gun (or I've heard you can use a blow dryer, and once I even set it on top of toaster that was heating up and it worked).  The image should change from powdery to shiny and raised when it's done (you can kind of see how the "puck' is still dark and powdery while the rest is embossed).



To finish up I had Abi write her name then just used a little washi tape to attach it to the straw.



Then you just have to repeat it until you have a pile of fun little crazy straws for some great little kindergartners.

This post may also be linked up to some of these parties.