A Diamond Anniversary

I'm currently on vacation but my husband and son decided to take a nap, so I am taking the opportunity to post this card. :)

This week has been a special one for me. I was adopted at birth, and this past weekend I traveled to meet and spend time with my biological father and his family. Exciting as that was, his parents - my grandparents - were having their 60th wedding anniversary celebration as well. This is the card I made:

Of course I wanted to make this card special, so I started with one of my favourite paper packs from Kaisercraft called Bonjour. I chose a sheet with various postmarks that were embossed with silver, it is not just silver though - you can't see it in the picture but the metallic embossing has a multi-coloured sheen to it. I chose a crown pattern and die cut to go with the base piece, and also some coordinating card stock and ribbon.

After trimming and scoring my card base, I cut the base pattern to the size I wanted and matted with some white. I cut a band of the crown pattern and inked all three pieces and the card base with some olive green. I adhered the white and the patterns together and added some lovely green vintage seam binding. I love working with seam binding, the bows always look so nice. After adhering the panel to the card front, I heat embossed the die cut with a sentiment and inked the edges with more green. The piece was adhered with foam squares over the ribbon, and as the 60th is the diamond anniversary I added some gemstones.

For embellishment I used a kraft paper flower I had made previously (you can find the original project here). I happened to have made an extra and I must say I love these flowers so much I may make a whole bunch so they are ready to go when I need them. Also, I love the gemstone in the center - it is very sparkly and diamond-like. I had already inked the flower with some pink so I just added some green around the bottom layers. Once the big flower was adhered I felt more was needed so I added the green Prima flowers, which also had gems in the middle.

I also decided to use a butterfly image from the same stamp set that the sentiment came from. I coloured it with a pale pink shade, cut out the image and inked the edges with green ink.Once adhered to the card front I added more gemstones.  I also added foam squares under the wings to help them stay raised.

 

To the center of the card I added some inked white card stock and stamped the sentiment n green.  I coloured in all of the enclosed letters with glitter pen. 

I put a lot of thought into this card and I was really pleased with the result.  I felt so honoured  have been invited to the anniversary event, and I hope that my feelings show in this card. :)

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Whisper White. Kaisercraft 6.5x6.5 paper pad Bonjour.

Stamps:  Mark's Finest Papers Today Tomorrow and Always, Stampin' Up! Congrats.

Ink:  Colour Box Fluid Chalk Ink Olive Pastel, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic R20, Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star, Versamark Watermark Ink, Stampin' Up!  embossing powder Silver.

Embellishments:  May Arts Vintage Seam Binding Moss Green, Stampin' Up Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Prima Flowers Melisse Nature Green.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG, Zots, foam Squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Tim Holtz sanding block, sponge, Stamp-a-ma-jig

I am entering into the followng challenges:

1. Deep Ocean - Sea of Love
2. Moving Along with the Times - Make it Sentimental
3. Simon Says Stamp and Show - Layered
4. Party Time Tuesday - Lets get Punchy

Use it Tuesday Challenge #35 Use Embossing

Welcome to my first post as an official design team member for Use it Tuesday!!  The challenge this week is to use embossing on a project.  This is what I came up with:

Oh, and by the way it was my mom's birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday Mom!!  (Don't worry, I wished her a happy birthday yesterday too, lol)  This is the card I made for her.

I love embossing, but I still had some stuff in my stash that I hadn't gotten around to using yet.  For example, the pink and yellow embossing powder I bought from Scrapbook Steals well over a year ago and have never used.  I almost always use metallic or white embossing powder so I just don't think of it.  Well this was the perfect opportunity to haul them out and I love how it turned out.

Once I decided on the shades of embossing powder I chose card stock to coordinate, cutting both a card base and a panel for the front.  I decided to use my Cuttlebug and an embossing folder I haven't used in a long time.  After dry embossing the card base, heat embossing the main panel, and inking everything with some pink chalk ink,  I added some washi tape and ribbon, and adhered the panel to the card base.

I made one of my scrunchie flowers and this time I decided to use some regular old kraft paper from a roll. This stuff is great to have around because you can use it for almost anything - lay it down over your table when you  have a particularly messy project, lay a big piece on the floor so children can draw or paint on it, and my favourite thing is to use it for presents as you can decorate it according to the occasion.  I've never used it on a card though, so this time I decided to use it to make a flower.  It worked  really nicely because it is so thin. Once my flower was assembled I inked it with more pink and added a lovely sparkly gemstone to the middle.

To finish I adhered a birthday sentiment, added a cheater knot, and added some Prima flowers with my scrunchie flower.  For a bit more sparkle I added some Sakura glitter pen to the embossed flower images.

I kept the middle of the card simple with a cream panel inked with pink and a simple birthday sentiment.  I think this turned out to be a lovely summer birthday card!  :)

Why don't you come play along with us?  You can make anything, not just cards, as long as you are using 'hoarded' supplies.  Visit Use it Tuesday  and add your project to the Inlinkz by Friday July 20th. The winner will be asked to be a guest designer for an upcoming challenge.  Be sure to tell us in your post what you used from your stash and that you are participating in the Use it Tuesday challenge.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with!!  :)

These are the supplies I used:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla.  Kraft paper from a roll.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up!  On Your Birthday, Bitty Birthday.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Rouge, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark Watermark Ink.  American Crafts Zing Opaque embossing powder Rose, Lemon.

 Embellishments:  Prima ribbon, Prima Flowers Camille Almanac, Le Box Boutique washi tape, Recollections Gemstone stickers, Sakura Glitter Pen Clear Star.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG, foam squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug embossing folder from Paperlace II set, sponge.

More Great News!!

Remember a while ago when I said good things come in threes?  Well, I was referring to the number of posts I did that day, but as it turns out my good news came in threes too.  Shortly after that post I was offered the position of design team member for Use it Tuesday!!!  I"m sooo excited!

Yet another fun challenge blog with another great twist.  The premise at Use it Tuesday is to dig into your stash!  Who doesn't have piles of stuff you have collected over the years because you love it, yet it just collects because you keep collecting more stuff?  At Use it Tuesday your challenge is to dig out the stuff you have burried in your craft room and  use it!  Now you don't have an excuse to hoard all that stuff.  :)

My first post will be on Tuesday (July  10) so be sure to come back and join in the fun!! :)

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #27 Sunset

Welcome to my first post as an official design team member for Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges! I am so excited to get started!!

This week's challenge is being sponsored by Ginger Snap Scraps with a $5 Gift Certificate. They are a great site so be sure to stop in and have a look at what they offer!

The challenge theme this week was 'sunset' and this is what I came up with:

The process to make this card was fairly simple although it took a bit of time.  I started with a panel of Pink Paislee Mistables paper.  I haven't used it in a while and it was fun getting inky.  I blended various colours of chalk ink with a blending tool to get the sunset sky effect.  I added some Smooch Spritz to add a bit of shimmer.

For the sun I die cut a yellow circle, trimmed it down to the size I wanted, inked the edges with orange and a smidge of purple, and adhered it to the main panel. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a few holes around the circle, and corresponding holes around the outside edges.  I threaded lengths of satin ribbon in a sunny yellow shade through the holes and adhered them on the back with Zots. 

For the card base I chose white and inked the front edges with orange and purple.  Once the main panel was adhered I added some gemstones and  adhered the sentiment with foam squares.  More gemstones were added as if they were sprinkled over the sentiment.

I kind of went to town with the gemstones on this card but I love how sparkly it is!  This would be a lovely card to receive on a rainy day, don't you think?  :)

Why don't you join in the fun with us?  You can add your project to the Inlinkz at the bottom of this post, or you can visit Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges.  Either spot will add you to the same list!  Add your project by midnight eastern on Thursday July 12  to be entered into the draw for the Ginger Snap Scraps prize, but if you miss the deadline don't worry!  You can jump in at any time through the year!  You can even catch up with past challenges as they are all open until December 31, 2012. 

Visit Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges on Friday July 13 to find out who won the prize! The winners will be included in the next challenge post.  :)


I used the following supplies for this card:

Cardstock: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120# Pure White, Pink Paislee Mistables.

Ink:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Wisteria, Warm Violet, Tangerine, Yellow Citrus, French Blue.  Smooch Spritz Pralines and Cream.

Embellishments:  American Crafts Premium Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Up! Basic Jewels Rhinestones.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG, foam squares, Zots.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile, sponge. Ranger blending tool.

Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day everyone!  We will be joining in with our city's Canada Day celebrations a little later but in the meantime I came up with this card:

I obviously got some inspiration from the Canadian flag, but I started with the maple leaves.  You'll never believe where they came from! One of the teams at work was having a bake sale for charity and where selling these cute little Canada Day cupcakes and they were decorated with these felt maple leaves.  As I was admiring how cute it was I realized that it was a felt sticker.  Only a small bit of the stem had touched the icing, so I wiped it off and it was good as new!

When I peeled the felt off of the backing I realized it was just clear acetate, and since it was already in the shape if a maple leaf I decided to use it too and coloured it with a red alcohol marker.  Perfect Canada Day embellishments!

Once I had my embellishments I chose cardstock (went with the easy choice of red and white)  and pulled out my Cuttlebug.  I used some new embossing folders I got from Scrapbook Steals, roughed the edges of both panels with a distressing tool.  I added ribbon to the red panel, and added the maple leaves to the white panel.  As a last minute thought I decided to add the heart button with some more white ribbon.  The button came from a pound bag of buttons I bought years and years ago that I never think to use but since I thought the card needed something I thought a button might work.  Once the white panel was assembled I foam taped it over the ribbon.

I didn't want this card to be completely without sentiment, so I added a simple white panel with distressed edges to the middle of the card and added a simple 'thanks sentiment'.

Making this card was fun to make - patriotic with just a touch of fun.  :).   And now I better go get ready to join in the celebrations.  I can't wait to see my son's reactions to the fireworks this year!

Happy Canada Day everyone!!


I used the following products:

Cardstock::  Stampin' Up! Real Red, Whisper White.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up!  Kindess Matters

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black.

Marker:  Bic Mark Its Rambunctious Red.

Embellishments: Button from stash, white satin ribbon from stash, maple leaf decoration  from a cupcake.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG, foam tape.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Lifestyle Crafts Embossing folders Bloom set, Tim Holtz distressing tool.


I am entering into the following challenges:

1. Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes 
2. Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes
3. Simon Says Stamp - Sporty and/or Patriotic
4. Use it Tuesday - Be a Patriot  (button from stash, ribbon from stash, maple leaf cupcake decoration)
5. Hiding in My Craftroom - Freestyle