See "CARDS" Banner In Use!

Today I wanted to share a couple photos, from our daughter's wedding reception, where you can actually see how the "CARDS" banner I made for her was used.

If you missed my original post about making the banner, you can see it here.

Anyway, just in case you may be wondering about the strange surroundings in the background for what was supposed to be a 'garden' wedding and reception.... well... while the wedding turned out to be a beautiful, autumn garden wedding on the farm, the weather did NOT cooperate!! 

A cold front had arrived the day before and knocked temperatures from the 70's, down to around 40 for the high.... with the rain not clearing out until just hours before the ceremony! It was very damp, with the wind still blowing strong, so it felt like a huge evap cooler had been turned on us and we were all right in front of it's vent, brrrr! 

With the temperature so low, the wind chills were in the low 30's and the guests were wrapped up in their coats and heavy, handmade, old quilts that were passed out to all who wanted to be warmer! Members of the wedding party were nearly frozen before the ceremony was over.... literally teeth were chattering!.... It did make for a funny incident when the vows were being recited through those chattering teeth. We all shared quite a chuckle when the groom tried to speak, as he was facing in to the wind. He was so cold, he could hardly get the words out, LOL!

SO.... there was no way we were all going to enjoy an outdoor reception under those circumstances, let alone keep the food warm! It had to be moved inside the large shop barn... haystacks and all. That's why all the backgrounds in her reception photos have cars and car parts in them, LOL!

Anyway, here's a closer look at her vintage suitcase, card collector and the banner:

(As always, you can click on the photo to view it close-up)

The painting was a gift someone painted using their invitations for inspiration. I love how they "carved" a heart with the couple's names on the tree trunk :)

Thanks for stopping by today.... I love visitors! Please come again soon.

Get Well Card

A friend of mine recently had surgery, so I made her this very simple Get Well card.

(click on photo to view larger image)

I used a retired CTMH paper set called Bella, because I thought the colors and floral pattern would cheer her up! The sentiment is a vinyl sticker in shiny gold.

I appreciate you stopping to take a quick look. Come again :)

Masculine Anniversary Card

This is the card I made my hubby for our anniversary. It's quite large.... the Kraft cardstock base is a full 

8.5" x 11" piece, folded in half.... so finished size is 

5.5" wide x 8.5" tall.

I created the poster-type front in MS Word, using 12 different fonts. And I picked all different colors for both the backgrounds and fonts in each section.... making for a quite colorful card!

When I finally had it all arranged the way I wanted, I printed it out on white cardstock and cut it out, leaving a small white border all around as a faux mat.

Hope you like it.... my hubby did! :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Triple-Time Embossed Anniversary Card

I made this card for my BFF's anniversary last month. Instead of triple-time stamping, I wanted to emboss. I used Decadent Roses EF from Crafter's Companion. Each white, embossed layer is matted on to black cardstock. I think it helps to make the center focal "pop"!!

The center focal is completely glittered... except for the black vinyl sticker outline. It's hard to see all the glittery goodness in that photo, so I laid the card flat to see if I could capture the sparkle better.

After the glitter was applied, I then colored and shaded each section with Spectrum Noir alcohol ink pens. This was my first attempt at coloring over burnished glitter, but I think it turned out well.

Here's an even closer look at the center focal:

(click on photos to view enlarged photo)

I hope you like it, too. Thanks for stopping by today :)

Wedding Cake Gift Card Box #3

Well another wedding under our belts! Our beautiful daughter was married last month, and over the last few weeks, I've been sharing wedding projects I've made for her... 

This is the final project.... a white wedding cake gift card box, decorated in her wedding colors of mint and navy!

These boxes are truly a labor of love. Under the very top flower on the top, hides a gift card tucked down inside the middle of the top 2 tiers. Except for the lace around the base and the ribbon around each cake layer, this is completely made out of paper!

(click on photos to view larger images)

This a close-up of the front corner floral accent. I made these flowers myself out of cardstock. The leaves are made with mulberry paper in white, which I inked with mint to create their "green" color. 

At the top of this post is the view of the cake from the front. Going around the cake, the next photos show it from all sides..... first, the left side:

Next, the back:

Then the right side with it's cascade of flowers:

I think I used about 40 flowers on this project!! I handmade all of them except the 9 mulberry paper roses. I bought those (and the leaves) from 
I Am Roses. They were white to start with, but I inked the edges on 4 of them in navy. The other 5 larger ones, I painted with Starburst Spray from Lindy's Stamp Gang.... they are the solid "navy" ones. Finally, I sprayed all the flowers with their Scintillating Silver Shimmer spray! Yummy... seriously LOVE that stuff, LOL!!

This close-up of the flower cascade shows a little more detail, but still does not capture how incredibly shimmery all the flowers turned out! I used Liquid Pearls for the centers of the small ones:

I'm showing two photos of the top of the cake... one is a little closer look:

(click photo to view larger images)

That top carnation, with it's 4 leaves, is covering the gift card and slot. The flower is held in place with a pearl-topped, long floral pin. The entire thing just pulls out and then can be replaced after the gift card is removed!

I hope you like my creation and are inspired to try one yourself!

You can view my first two wedding cake gift card boxes by clicking on them in the left sidebar. There are links in those posts to the shops - Lindy's Stamp Gang & I Am Roses - and links to the tutorials for the handmade flowers as well. :)

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Thank You Cards

I had offered to make the wedding invitations for my daughter, but they had already decided on which invites to use. So she asked if I would make her a bunch of thank you cards.

Since my arthritic hands were still hurting from all the stamping I did on her Guest Book, I decided to make really simple, one-layer stamped cards that would not be any problem to mail... they are flat, LOL!

(click on photo to view larger images)

I made quite a variety, some vertical, some horizontal, as you can see, but she should be set with 144 of them in her wedding colors --- navy, mint and white!

Thank again for stopping in :)

Wedding Card

I made a wedding card for my DD and SIL.... it may seem like déjà vu 
because of this recent post - (click here). I made it the same, except I did a color change:

(click on photo to view larger image)

This card is the same size as the other one - 8.5" x 5.5" (a full 8-1/2 x 11 sheet just folded in half). I had to make my own envelope for this one, which took an entire 12 x 12 sheet of Colonial White cardstock!

I used one of my favorite photos of the couple while they were dating... (even though she hadn't gone 'blonde' yet at that time!)... and printed it out in Sepia. 

I used CTMH cardstock in Colonial White and Outdoor Denim. along with Outdoor Denim ink. The embossed panel is slightly raised with dimensional tape. Using a sponge, I distressed the edges and the raised embossed area with the matching ink. 

The lace-edged burlap is from a shop on Etsy. I just absolutely love it! 
I also used a wider version of it on the Guest Book album. (You can see the album here, in case you missed it).... The metal heart I've had for so long, I don't remember where I got it! It's attached using a hot glue gun.

Finishing touches are the little punched hearts, embossed & inked, and 21 pearls from CTMH (Mocha Opaques)!

Thanks for stopping by today. :)
Have a great day!

Another Anniversary Card

My nephew and his wife got married the day after my son's wedding, although it was a year later. I made this anniversary card for them:

This card is in CTMH White Daisy cardstock, so please forgive the photos... I got them slightly off in color, didn't I? Too many shadows, LOL, gave them a yellow tinge!

Anyway... the background of the focal area I made with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Starburst Spray, by spraying and then smearing it across the white cardstock with a scrap piece. I love these two-toned color sprays that sparkle, but you can not tell in the photo above just how sparkly the blues are. It even looks like a 3-tone color! 

Tried as I might, I could not get the camera to pick up all the sparkled areas of the card at the same time.... so frustrating! So I laid the card flat and tried that direction:

Now in this second photo, you can see SOME of the sparkle! And if you compare it to the one above, those sparkle areas are what looked like the third, really dark blue in that first photo.

Finally, I did a close-up and was rewarded with it picking up still more of the sparkle.... just not all of it... so I gave up, LOL!... I think you can get a pretty good idea from this one. All of the really dark blues in the photo are actually the bright sparkly blue you can see below at the top of the card:

Anyway.... I then stamped my silhouette image from Stampin' Up in Versamark, and heat-embossed it with fine white embossing powder.

I used Spellbinders Deckled Rectangle die to cut and emboss frame in another piece of cardstock. It's raised slightly above image with dimensional tape to give it some depth. Then the entire panel is also raised above the card base with same dimensional tape.

Thanks again for coming to look at my card. :)

Wedding Cards Banner

Another wedding project to share today!

My daughter is going to use a small, open, vintage suitcase to collect any cards the guests may bring. She asked me to make a banner sign to string across the inside lid, so everyone could just drop their cards down in the suitcase.

Her only request was that it had lace on it..... so this is what I made for her:

(click photo to view larger image)

I started by making my own tags from Kraft paper. They are about 6.5" long. Then I stamped my chosen image randomly filling in the area in Versamark and did some heat embossing with superfine white embossing powder. 

Then I used the sewing machine to add the lace. I next added the mint ribbon and decided on large, round brads to use to hold the tags onto the twine by wrapping the prongs around it. One problem... I didn't have any large white brads! So I used what I had -- gold ones -- and I made them white by heat embossing 4 layers of that white superfine powder to cover them. I think they turned out well, even with the bumpy texture it created on them.

I finished them off with 1) computer generated letters to spell "cards" in navy, which I ink-distressed the edges in Desert Sand, 2) a small 
hand-painted sparkling rose & leaves accent, and 3) a matching mint bow.

I sent my daughter a photo when completed (we live in different states) and I was thrilled that she loved the banner!

Thanks for dropping in again to see my work. Please come by again :)

Large Anniversary Card

Today I wanted to share an anniversary card I made for my son and his wife:

(click on photo to view larger image)

This is a larger card. I used a full 8-1/2 x 11 sheet folded in half, making the finished size 8.5" x 5.5". I used one of my favorite engagement photos of them and printed it out in Sepia. 

I made the card with CTMH cardstock in Colonial White, with the photo mat in Creme Brulee, along with Desert Sand ink.  Using a sponge, I distressed the edges and the raised embossed area with the ink before attaching it to the card base. The embossed panel is slightly raised with dimensional tape.

The lace-edged burlap is from a shop on Etsy. I just absolutely love it! 
(I also used a wider version of it on the Guest Book album I made for our daughter's wedding. You can see the album here, in case you missed it)

Finishing touches: a metal heart I've had for so long, I don't remember where I got it! Little punched hearts, embossed & inked, and 21 pearls from CTMH (Mocha Opaques)!

I hope you like the card and thanks for coming to my blog today! :)

Wedding Sparkler Labels

Just a quick post today.... 

At the wedding send-off, they've decided to use sparklers instead of rice, birdseed, confetti, etc.

I made these labels in MS Word.... 10 to a page.

I took the photo (sorry for my shadow) before I cut them apart. I also cut slits just above and below the words, for 2 sparklers to fit through each label..... like a ribbon slide.

I can't show them with the sparklers, as the sparklers had to be shipped by ground straight to DD from the manufacturer. I had to include these labels in one of 4 boxes I had to ship out to her with all the projects I've made for the wedding! 

I'll be sharing more projects soon.

Thanks for dropping in :)

Housewarming Card

My daughter and her fiance just bought their first home together for their blended family.... along with the 25 acre farm it's attached to, LOL!

So I made this beautiful window card for the occasion. It's my first window card, and I really like how it turned out. 

I made it 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" and popped up the window to create a little depth between the window, with its curtain valance, and the "wallpapered wall" 
of CTMH Bella stripes in the "room".
Here's a shot of the inside:

Writing is done in MS Word.... fonts used were 2 Peas High Tide and Leaf1. Of course the bird and 3-leaf are diecuts and the stripe I cut from the same Bella paper I used for the wallpaper on the front.

I also included some photo address labels and picture magnets as a small gift in their padded packet for mailing.... (small gift now because we already bought them a new bedroom set for their wedding!)

I used this photo of them all for the address labels, which say "Life is Beautiful" up in the sky area, with their name and address in the reflection on the water-covered beach. 

(photo credit: Mary Pam Sizemore)

I think she'll love them, as this was one of her favorite photos. I ordered them from Shutterfly, as well as the magnets, and they all turned out beautifully.

One magnet is a collage of some of their engagement photos:

(photo credit: Mary Pam Sizemore)

They have 3 girls between them, so one magnet is of them. I just love this photo and had one made for me, too!:

(photo credit: Mary Pam Sizemore)

(Just on a side note... our daughter stands 6'3" tall barefoot! And that toddler in the middle is hers. She's not even 2 years old yet in this photo, and her 2 new older sisters standing with her are 8 and almost 10 years old... but their mom is short, so it's understandable! But she'll outgrow them before long, LOL)


The final magnets are each 2x2.... the hearts and black lines are not really part of these break-away magnets. I just covered up ordering info that's printed in the middle and used the hearts to cover the girls names I had printed on them.

(photo credit: Mary Pam Sizemore)

They are all such cutie-pies!

Well thanks for stopping by for a few minutes to see my card. Have a great day! :)




CTMH products used:
Cardstock - Colonial White, Smokey Plum, Amethyst, Cocoa, Desert Sand,                       and Creme Brulee, Buttercup, Olive
Patterned Paper - Bella
Ink - Desert Sand 

Wedding Easel

We needed a sign of some sort, for the instructions on how to use the little message cards for the Guest Book. I had thought about typing up the instructions and putting them in a pretty frame on the table beside the book, but decided it needed to be double-sided since the table will not be up against a wall. 

This is what we came up with:

Sorry the photo is blurry.... (note to self: do not try to take photos when hands are shaky, lol!).... Anyway, I took the photo in a mirror to try to show the back easel. It is lower because it sits on the easel frame, but I think it will do the job.

While the Guest Book table might end up under a tree somewhere, it will be able to be accessed from both sides. With the 4 decorated navy gel pens available to use, more than one person could be sharing their well wishes or advice at one time.

So I thought a double-sided easel with chalkboards would fill the bill.... and my hubby found this wooden table-top easel at Walmart. It was unfinished, so he painted it white to match the Guest Book Box holding the mini-cards, pens, and envelope seals. He also found 2 small chalkboards and painted those frames as well.

Here's a little clearer view that's also closer up:

I decorated each easel with a simple corner floral and bow accent. Again I painted the originally white roses from I Am Roses with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays. I blended a few colors to get the right color of mint. 

Here's a close up of the flowers after I painted them. They are not put into the corner arrangement yet, but I wanted you to see how they sparkle... I just love Lindy's Starbust sprays!

(click on the photos to see larger)

The only thing is that I took this photo with my cell phone and the bigger blue rose turned out more like a royal blue on my monitor instead of the NAVY color it really is.... so frustrating! I wonder if I'll ever get this color thing figured out since I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Oh well, such is life! :)

I will use a chalk marker to write on the chalkboards so the instructions can't be just rubbed off like regular chalk. 

I hope you like this, as much love is going into all these projects for our only daughter. And I love that I can share them here and maybe inspire some creativity in others.

Thanks for stopping by again today. 

Wedding Guest Book

Our daughter is getting married in October. It will be an outdoor country-chic wedding at her in-laws farm in Ohio. I've made her several items for her wedding and the first one I'd like to share is the Guest Book.

I made this guest book with a 12x12 strap-bound scrapbook album. Her wedding colors are navy, a true mint blue, and white. I found a navy fabric album and decorated it, as well as the inside pages.

I don't know why it looks black in this photo (at least on my monitor), but it's definitely navy in color.

I custom painted white flowers from I Am Roses with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays (my favorite way to color flowers!) and I made my own 
2-tone small carnations. Then I built the arrangement on a piece of cardstock as a base. Here's a close-up:

The bling letters I purchased from ?? and they are self-adhesive stick-ons. 
I was surprised at how well they stuck to the fabric, even to the burlap! Thought I might have had to add fabric glue to have them stay put, but so far, so good!

The pretty burlap lace ribbon I purchased on Etsy... love it! It wraps around the entire front cover and is removable. I made it that way for shipping purposes... if I decide to attach the flower arrangement to the burlap before shipping, I can remove the strip to better protect the flowers from getting squashed!

Now for the inside....

The writing was done in MS Word in different fonts. It is double matted on mint and navy. I stamped a pretty flourishy corner vine in Mint Julep mid-tone ink, both from Hero Arts. 

The next four pages are just for the guest signatures. I used a gel pen in Navy to draw each and every line! I also scored a separating line between the 2 columns and stamped the same leafy vine in the corners.... used a finger dauber to put both colors of Navy and Mint Julep inks on to the stamp.

The rest of the pages look like this:

My daughter wanted something a little more than just the traditional signature book, so I painstakingly scored and inked and stamped all these 6x6 squares (4 per page), as well as the envelope flaps.... pages upon pages, LOL! ... Let me tell you, that with arthritis in my hands, this endeavor took me awhile to finish. I could only do 3 single pages per day. My hands were happy when I was finally done!

The guests will be able to fill out a small card with a greeting, marriage advice, well wishes, or whatever they want, then put the card in an individual envelope and seal it shut with a silver double hearts envelope seal. 

These are the little cards I inked and stamped in various ways:

The last page in the book I just made a pretty medallion image with the same stamp because I didn't want the book to just end with an envelope page and I didn't want to leave it blank either. I think it turned out fairly well.

My hubby built me a custom-sized box to accompany the Guest Book. It holds the little cards, the envelope seals, and the decorated navy gel pens for signing. It even has it's own little 'trash' bucket for the backing paper off the seals!

Well I'm finally done! I guess I should have warned you about a photo heavy post :)

Thanks for stopping by!

In Memory of...

Bear...

This is our baby (a 118 pound baby)! At least this was him 3 years ago when this photo was taken... which is one of my favorite pics. Fast forward to this year and he has a lot more gray on his muzzle.

A Rottweiler that stole everyone's heart... such a sweet boy! And smart as a whip.... without a doubt, the BEST dog we've ever had. He has broken me from ever wanting another dog, because it wouldn't be him. There's not another that could ever live up to him!

Bear would have been 10 years old in October, but yesterday we had to say goodbye to our sweet baby boy. It was late, and a very rough ending to an otherwise 'normal' day. Today I've have shed many, many, many tears and my heart is broken :(

He will be sorely missed, but forever in our hearts. 

Goodbye Bear 

My Poor Neglected Blog!

So WHY?? do I have a neglected blog?... I've been super wrapped up in my family and other projects (some of which I hope to post shortly). I also have needed (and still need) some "me" time as I have not been well for awhile now.

But the biggest project aloft is our daughter's wedding plans! I'm currently working on the guest book for her. And of course I MUST make another Wedding Cake Gift Card Box in her colors (that's the next project!) I'm just a lot slower these days with getting things done, depending on how I feel on any given day. I'm glad there's still almost 5 months until the wedding! I'll need every minute of it to get all the projects completed, LOL!

Any way.... hope to be back with a project to post soon. :)