A Special Wedding Card

I've discussed how, as card-makers, some of us are guilty of not sending a lot of cards. My theory (stolen from Jan Tink, because I think she nailed it) is that even if we have a bunch of cards on hand, when we need a card for someone we know it has to be special, which means we have to make it just for them. Then we run out of time and it doesn't get made so it doesn't get sent. The end.

Today I am going to attend the wedding of my son, Alex, and his bride, Jenn. Naturally, I needed to make them a very special card. Very.

Here's what I made:

There's a lot going on here, so I'll inundate you with detail shots. But first: the background. I was working with my usual 4x5.25 piece of card stock, and I scored it in both directions using my Martha Stewart mini score board.

I put a piece of SU Rich Razzleberry satin ribbon across the front for contrast for the hearts:

First, I embossed the Hero Arts Lace Background with clear EP on some SU Very Vanilla card stock, and die-cut a heart for the bride. I also die-cut some extra Very Vanilla hearts and stacked them to give the heart some dimension and heft.

For the groom, I cut a bunch of black hearts for stacking, plus a white one for the shirt. After the white one was stuck on top of the stack, I stuck on a piece of Rich Razzleberry taffeta ribbon for the cummerbund, then I went to work on the top black layer.

For the tux, I marked spots at the top where I wanted the lapels to start, then cut down the center to where the embossed edge was. I scored both sides from my pencil marks down to the end of the cut line, then turned it over to the back and re-scored the lines so they'd fold in the right direction. I used my bone folder to give them a good crease on the front and glued the layer down on top of the stack.

I tied the teeny tiny bow for the tie, punched a hole in the heart layers with my paper piercer, then sewed the bow into place. Then I colored three tiny pearls with a black Sharpie and lined them up in the remaining space. I added one pearl to the neckline for the bride.

I then carefully layered them on top of each other and stuck them down with a combination of dimensional adhesives. I actually used part of a black dimensional adhesive under the black heart.

You can kindof see the lapels are sticking up in the next shot for the sentiment:

For the sentiment, I used SU Rich Razzleberry ink with Versamark so I could emboss it. First you ink the stamp with Versamark, then you ink it with the dye ink, stamp it, then cover it with clear embossing powder. You can emboss with any die ink this way and get a perfect matching color!

I also got a little crazy and did a pocket on the inside, since I wanted to give them some gift cards for their honeymoon. Here is a side view of the card::

I had to sacrifice a whole sheet of Very Vanilla card stock for the base since I needed it longer than 8.5". I cut the base 8 3/4" long and 5 1/2" wide, then scored at 4 1/4 from each long end. This gave me a 1/4" spine to accommodate the thickness of the pocket:

Yes, it's thick, and a little uneven, but that's okay! I did this the hard way: I cut a ton of rectangles, then die-cut a rectangle from each of them to give me u-shaped pieces that are just wide enough to hold a credit card. I glued them together, one at a time, to get the stack. Then I cut another rectangle from the lace-embossed piece I used for the bride's heart and made the top of the pocket:

This is a job for the Silhouette, which I still have and will set up in my new house. I will.

Oh, and if you didn't notice, check out that tux heart:

There is a white layer (actually two, since I messed up), but there is no white showing on the sides. I went over the edge with a black Sharpie. I stopped at the edge of the lapels so the white shirt is still white on the top edges.

This is a one-of-a-kind card, and a labor of love. I really like how it turned out!

So tonight my boy gets hitched to a great gal. I'm so happy for them!

Thanks for stopping by!

For You

The packing and purging continues here in the Crooked Household. OMGOSH I have a lot of stuff. I've started packing the craft room, and in a week or so I won't have anything left out. I'm working ahead on DT assignments, and I have a few more to complete before I can finish packing. Thank goodness for the scheduling feature in Blogger, because all of my October projects will be pre-scheduled.

While packing today, I selected a few pieces of 12x12 paper to leave out, and I took a break to make this:

That's a piece of old Basic Grey paper that I matted with a piece of some SU blue from the miscellaneous 1/4 sheet card stock box. The ribbon (haven't seen that in a while, eh?) is SU French Blue, so you know it's old.

I cut up the whole 12x12, so I have parts for 5 more cards. I think I'll make them and use different sentiments, then I'll have nothing to put away. Whoot!

Thanks for stopping by!

SOS #120 - Kids

It's Tuesday, and time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash! This week's theme is Kids. We'd like you to make a card for a kid, or use a kid theme. That's it!

I decided to make some monsta cards for OWH using my neglected Taylored Expressions Love Monsters stamp set. Here's the first one:

I used a piece of paper from the Basic Grey Oliver 6x6 pad and cut it to 4"x4". That left me with two 2"-wide strips, which gave me an idea. I used two pieces of the paper and made two of that first design, then two of these, using the 2"-wide strips:

Really quick cards! They could be sent home to a child for any reason - general love, thinking of you, whatever. And I bet they'd work for a boy or a girl, but especially if the kid likes monstas!

I was sorta following this old sketch from Fusion Card Challenge #17:

Now it's your turn! Go dig into your stash and find something to use to make a kid-themed card, or a card for a kid, then come back to Shopping Our Stash and link us up so we can see what you've made!

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: Taylored Expressions Love Monsters, Spellbinders tag die, and the following:

InLinkz.com

A Momentous Occasion

It's happened. I've finished a roll of washi tape - my first!

I didn't think this day would ever come. Granted, I used it to hold up signs for my crafty sale, but still.

Oh, and this is the best 4+ minutes on the Interwebz of why I don't like people being plugged in all the time and how I think it erases all social skills:



YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c#t=40

Also, The Ladies came by for my crafty sale today and made a decent dent. I am so grateful for them. I miss them so much - the easy camaraderie, the ease of talking about just about anything, the people that GET you, ya know? But we also agreed that it's a LOT of work, so there's that.

I hope to get crafty tomorrow so I have something to share here.

Thanks for stopping by!

ABNH + WPlus9 Collaboration

Hello! This week over at A Blog Named Hero we are collaborating with WPlus9. I think the Hero Arts and WPlus9 products work together fabulously! Here's what I made:

I liked the idea of a huge sunburst and a small "strength" sentiment. It just feels right to me. I stamped the Hero Arts Starburst background in Butter Bar, and the WPlus9 sentiment in Hero Hues Black. The heart is from another WPlus9 set (linked below). I stamped it onto a scrap using Pale Tomato, then fussy-cut it and put it in the center of the sun.

I like how this turned out. :)

Then I got all crazy and made a second card:

I opened my new Hero Arts Silver ink and man, is it yummy. It's pigment, though, so make sure to give it time to dry. I'm wearing most of mine. *ahem*

I stamped the single heart from the WPlus9 Banner Love set multiple times with Memento Luxe Love Letter ink. I even got it mostly straight! I tied a piece of SU taffeta ribbon around the stamped piece and then stuck it to a Hero Hues red note card.

Here's a close-up shot of the bottom of the card:

Since Stickles and I don't get along, I squirted some onto an acrylic block and used a tiny paint brush to paint it onto the hearts. Then, in a effort to get yet another color of red onto this project, I colored some Hero Arts pearls with my R29 Copic marker and added them above the sentiment.

Why not stop over at A Blog Named Hero to see what some of the other DT ladies have created with Hero Arts and WPlus9 products!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies for the first card:

InLinkz.com

Supplies for the second card:

InLinkz.com