Wedding #2 of the Summer!

You know what that means!

Outside: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink), Stampin' Up!/Sizzix embossing folder, Stampin' Up! flowers, Simon Says Stamp bling, sheer ribbon

Inside: Stampin' Up! Congrats

Rocking the Wedding Card

My nephew's getting married this Sunday.  Wait, I didn't say that with enough panic: MY NEPHEW'S GETTING MARRIED THIS SUNDAY.  I recall spending all of the month of June in, hmmm, I think 1983 with my sister-in-law waiting and waiting and waiting for Clint to make his entrance into the world.  When I finally went home (they lived a bit away from my hometown at the time), he decided it was time to arrive.  Some quick medical issues and surgery later, a scary time for all, we had the newest Paul grandchild, named after his father's favorite actor.

Clint is now, obviously, grown, and is a member of the band Men and Whales (Clint's on the far right...dude with the cat on his shirt).  So, when their Save the Date card came and it had an LP on it, I knew this wedding card needed to share that rock and roll theme.  

I found this file through Silhouette's site.  With some strategizing, what I call the "Mix Tape Card" was born.

The alphabet I used was Mini Monograms from Paper Smooches.  The letters lined up beautifully on an acrylic block (I used Martha's "Small Footed" blocks).  

I decided to be a bit grungy with the inside, which is good because the black ink and I kind of hated each other tonight.  I kept thinking I had a stamp with "You Rock!", but could only find the "Dude, You Rock!" and "Girly, You Rock!" from this favorite set.  Then, out of nowhere, a set I won years ago sat there with a "You Rock!" sentiment just staring at me saying, "You really have too many stamps."

I just love this card.  I love that he will remember and appreciate cassette tapes.  I hope he understands the love that went in to the card.  He's a great young man, and I am so happy to see him happy.

Guess I can show you now...

I was holding off on posting this, as I was unsure if the bride reads my blog, and, if so, I didn't want to spoil her surprise (because, come on, if it's the week of your wedding, you have nothing to do but browse craft blogs).

Well, let ME tell YOU... this Bella can't even hold a Christmas light to the actual bride. She was STUNNING, and I AM biased. I tried to come close to her color choice, but I think it was closer to Tempting Turquoise, and I used Taken with Teal. Close enough, in my humble opinion.

The background is wrapping paper from Target (I used it on her shower gift and card, also). I really like it on cards. It adheres nicely, and I think it looks pretty cool. Her invitations had a balance of gray and turquoise/teal to them, so I went with that flow. Coloring took place with Copics and Stampin' Write markers. The main stamp is bridalpartybellas from stampingbella.com. The paper is SU! Basic Gray and Taken with Teal. I used some "pop dots" for depth. To make the bride "pop," I filled her dress with Stickles. :) Fun.

I'm back!

Yeah for summer! My schedule has slowed down tremendously, school's out, my kids are home with me (and I'm one of those nutty parents that enjoys that very much), and, after a dose of crafting with my gal pals yesterday, I am ready for a creative summer. I have so much to catch up on!

I decided that I will use the thing that gets me motivated the most-- music-- to inspire me in my creations this summer. June is a CRAZY month in my family. Birthdays and anniversaries galore! My niece is even expecting my great niece this month... another June birthday for the fam! Geminis unite!

I had been listening to the song "All I Believe In." What you might remember about me is I am what you might call a "Twihard." Love the Twilight books. Like the movies. Love RPattz and am totally Team Edward. See how off-track I got just saying Twilight? OK, well, this song is on the soundtrack for New Moon. It's so peaceful. Give it a listen (ignore cheesy video...spend time reading the description of the artists if you wish).

So, with that in mind, I had hearts in my head. Next weekend is the wedding of a friend as well as my own anniversary (18 years). So, I felt inspired to hit one of those two occasions. I think I'll be using this as Scott's anniversary card from me.


Cute, simple, sweet.

Size: 4.25 x 5.5"
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic Gray and GP white
Ink: Stampin' Up! Craft White and Basic Gray
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Always and Whimsical Words
Also used: Pop dots for one of the hearts and paper piercing

Craftiness on Crack

OK, the first thing you should ask when someone wants you to make wedding invitations for them is, "How many do you need?" I asked this way too far in to the process, and I got the answer of 200.

At first, an air of tedium enveloped me. Despite my OCD nature, assembly-line type activities are not appealing. However, as of late, I have actually enjoyed completing them. It was a brainless quiet time that gave me some satisfaction, albeit delayed.

So, as of today, the 200 invitations with their three layers each, one of which was embossed, their matching response cards, and their stamped envelopes are all finished. They will be delivered on Monday. Here is their story.

The specifications I got from the bride indicated that her colors were watermelon and canary, a la David's Bridal, and that she was going to inject daisies into that mix as well. I knew the watermelon would have the ability to take over the invite if allowed, so I tried to keep it at bay.

I found the watermelon metallic paper at Scrapbook Friend'z, as well as the initial color of textured canary cardstock. Alas, the canary color was in a few different hues, as my order of paper was delayed from Friend'z, and I found myself scrounging colors as similar as possible. It all worked well because the canary was embossed with Cuttlebug's Stylized Flowers embossing folder and was then layered between the watermelon metallic base (5 x 7") and the translucent white vellum top layer (4.75 x 6.75"). On this layer, I sampled (via MS Publisher)the watermelon color from the David's Bridal site and used that as the ink for our script.

The script I used was French Script MT. The type style for the response envelopes and for part of the response cards was Candara is all caps.

I used Jolee's Daisies vellum stickers, and let me tell you, thank God for eBay. They only came six usable daisies to a package, so I had to order a boatload (well, 34 packages) of them. I found them from various eBay vendors for well below retail and reasonable shipping. I originally found them at Meijer, but they were $2.99 retail. I got them from eBay for about a dollar less per package on average.

I have to also give a shout out to LCI Paper, whom I found online. Great envelopes. Great prices, delivered exactly when they said they would be.

The response envelopes were a bit frustrating. I could not program my printer to take them (a little larger than 3 x 5"), so I ended up printing the response address on clear labels. When the labels were on the envelopes, they looked so plain, and, quite frankly, slightly off center (I think I loaded them wrong in the printer). So, out came the stamp!

I started by stamping the small flower from SU!'s Simply Said set in SU's So Saffron. I stamped it twice next to the address, and three times on the back flap of the envelope. Then, it appeared that there was a disconnect with the stamping, so...

Yes, you are correct. I stamped on the other envelopes as well. The inner envelope has three small flowers where the names will be written. The outer envelope has one flower on the flap (it's a V flap) and three in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope.

So, I finish tonight, and I start cleaning up my area, which has been a train wreck for a couple weeks due to this work in progress. What do I find? Another set of response envelopes! Man, when you think you are done, and a pack of 25 envelopes pops up out of nowhere, it can really throw you for a loop!

Now, I really am finished. They need to be stamped, labeled, and sent, and I believe the bride and her party will have the fun with that part.

Total cost: about $425 for materials.

Odd Little Cake

Holy cow. This card for IC136 took way too long to make. First, I started out wanting to use the Champagne cake as my inspiration. Well, that just would not do what I wanted it to do for a wedding card. Then, I decide I shall go with something far more basic. So I choose the Paisley cake. At first I was just doing the bottom panel with flowers as a border. It looked like part of a cake when I thought I was finished. So, I thought... make it a cake. And voila... hours later, let them eat cake! :) Still looks fairly simple, though. That'll be our little secret.

I have to say... it is amazing the cakes that are on the website from which we were to be inspired. Absolute works of art.

Size: about 4.25 x 5.5 inches
Paper: Bazzill gray, Papertrey white
Stamps: None... it's all me
Accessories: American Crafts Ultimate Gel Pen, SU! Pretties set, Cuttlebug Swirls folder