Monday, March 18, 2013

Personalized Wedding Card


My daughter is of an age where weddings are the main social activity, it seems. Consequently, I am called upon to make wedding cards. Where possible, I try to incorporate papers or motifs from the couples' wedding invitations. My thinking is, if they picked it out for their special missives, surely they must like it!


The silver embossed paper above once held the invitation, which I carefully removed. I slid in some black cardstock and mounted a lacy oval cut from silver cardstock. I thermal-embossed the greeting in silver on more black cardstock and cut it to fit the inner oval. Et voila - a meaningful, personalized wedding card.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps
Ink: Ranger Embossing Ink
Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder, Spellbinders Floral Oval Die
Cardstock: Black Recollections, Silver


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Circular Thanks

Here' s a card where an embossing folder provided a textural background without competing with the main sentiment. I don't usually do Clean and Simple style cards, but I think this hits the mark.
I even made a matching envelope!

Stamps: Inkadinkado
Ink: Versamagic Thatched Straw, Encore Metallic Purple
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, yarn
Cardstock: Purple and yellow from my stash

Monday, March 11, 2013

Hearts for Christmas


Sylvia has a Christmas Card Challenge on her blog, and for the month of March, the challenge is to use a heart on our Christmas cards. Do click on the link and see her gorgeous, elegant pieced and embossed heart card. Stunning!

I am behind on my goal of pre-making Christmas cards this year, and coincidentally, the February Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge was *also* to use hearts. I was very inspired by Sylvia's heart, and decided to try my hand at that piecing and embossing technique. I die cut four Memory Box hearts out of four different printed papers, then sliced them all the exact same way and shuffled the pieces around. Once I taped them together, I added a bit of faux stitching with a marker and ran them through my Cuttlebug in an embossing folder, then hit the raised areas with some Distress Inks. I am sharing three cards from this slicing and dicing. The jury is still out on the fourth one I made - something to do with a new glitter glue and I not seeing eye to eye!


I recently acquired some Pink Paislee City Sidewalks Collection papers and love their retro feel so used them for all the cards. The "Keep Christmas in your heart" is a Waltzingmouse Stamp. The red and white baker's twine-accented button is actually die cut from cardstock using a My Favorite Things die.

The branch and holly berries are created with a Memory Box die for this second card. I am entering this one in the weekly Christmas Card Challenge. The strips of cardstock are there, if you look closely.

I tried creating my own banner instead of using a die cut banner. None of my dies were exactly the size I needed, and I wanted a striped border. I was surprised I still knew how to use scissors!
And last, but not least, I hearkened way back to Grade One in Lord Nelson Elementary School, where the teacher let us play with chunky silver glitter to create Christmas crafts. Whenever I use this Martha Stewart silver glitter I am transported back to that classroom.
Again, I created my own banner and the pennants with scissors. My Grade One teacher would be beaming with pride now!