Happiest of Birthdays

This lovely card was built around the Stampin' Up stamp and die set, Apothecary Art stamp set.  The flowered frame was stamped with black Archival ink and the sentiment in the same ink.  The flowers were colored using my Distress Markers (Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick, Stormy Sky, and Peeled Paint).  A little Scattered Straw was applied to the frame and then cut with the Apothecary Framelits.  The framelits set didn't come with stacking dies, so I fussy cut the piece of pink cardstock to frame my sentiment.  The flowers come from a Making Memories set of paper flowers that is likely at least 3 years old.  I random pearl accent in each center adds to the romantic feel as does the bling swirl out of the flowers.  I used my Scor-Pal to score the eight lines framing the front of the card and then sanded the paper with an emery board.  I really like this technique to frame the card front and with the bold pattern of the paper, it works very well.  The leaves were cut using the Cricut my Picturesque cart and shaped and inked to create dimension. 




The inside begged for a finish.  Here I die cut a Tilted Banner and stamped with the matching sentiment stamp inking the edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink.  A layer of the same patterned paper creates a decorative inside. 







Just a couple tiny pearls to accent the sentiment and the inside is done.  This card was made for my boss' birthday from the team.  We needed a black Sharpie to write on that patterned paper, but she knew who we were and it worked lovely.  Happy Birthday, Nancy!

I've entered this card in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog: Stamping All-Stars and  their Wednesday Challenge blog: Anything Goes.  They are always good fun, come on over and join us.

I've also entered this card in The Shabby Tea Room's Week #182 Sweet Summertime.  Check it out.

A Very Pretty Birthday Wish

One of my coworkers requested my help on a special occasion birthday card.  Oh boy, was I willing to help?!  I still had not played with my Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret stamps and dies that I picked up as a part of my classes at the CK convention in April.  April doesn't seem that long ago, but it has been eight weeks.


I started by stamping on some shiny vellum using my Shaded Lilac Distress Ink.  If you haven't created flowers with Heartfelt Creations' dies, they have a great video collection over at their website.  This video provides the instructions for the technique I used to cut these flowers from the vellum.  Just a word of encouragement- this isn't a precise/exact science.  Look closely at those flowers, they weren't cut perfectly, but you never notice in the final finished product.

I decided that the shiny vellum was not quiet enough- this is a milestone birthday that we're celebrating after all.  To amp up the shine, I applied a light layer of Champagne Glimmer Glaze.  This product goes on a lot like a very thin nail polish and dries very rapidly.  I then shaped each petal following the instructions from this video and glued the layers together. The centers were made using my Viva Decor Ivory Pearl Pen. 

The medallion was cut using Cricut's Sophie cartridge [accent4].  I cut the shadow from a dark textured cardstock.  The swirl was cut from a very old piece of K & Company paper from the stash.  The leaves were cut from Cricut's Picturesque cartridge [Leaves] and edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I also shaped the leaves.  I printed the sentiment out on a piece of cardstock.  After all that prep, the last step was the design.  I used this and then loosely interpreted the final card design.  I used a fair bit of purple in the design, but the pictures don't do it justice. 

The card was made from a chocolate brown cardstock so I needed to finish the inside to allow for additional sentiments.  I stamped one lonely little floret in the corner with the Shaded Lilac Distress Ink, finishing with a layer of Glimmer Glam and a small bit of glitter.  I think the card turned out lovely.  I'm sure having fun with all these flowers.  I'll have to move on to different tools soon enough.  Til then, enjoy!

I entered this card in Simon Says Stamp Challenge Anything Goes.   You have until next Wednesday, July 3rd to join the fun. 

Homemade Wedding Celebration Card

I've mentioned a couple of times on the blog about my cousin's kid getting married.  This card was created for her and her handsome groom.  I knew that I wanted to go monochromatic with the card and struggled a bit to come up with the design. 

I also knew that I wanted to go with my Heartfelt Creations Delicate Asters for the flower embellishment.  I first stamped the flowers using my metallic silver Brilliance ink.  Then I used the window method to die cut my flowers using my Sidekick.  A great picture tutorial is located here.  Then, I simply glued the layers of flowers together (two small asters and one medium aster) with my Crystal Accents.  Once finished, I added some glitter to the centers and along the petals (delicate work considering how slender these petals are). 

The frame is cut from my Cricut Picturesque cart using white cardstock.  I was looking for a way to bring it up off the card a bit and the metallic silver Brilliance ink added just the right aged look that enhanced the frame design.  The smaller picture captures a little of the real life look, though none of my pictures here are particularly good.  The sentiment was stamped using my Tilted Banner Sayings and the Brilliance ink.  These sentiments have really come in handy since I picked them up during the Patterned Play card class earlier this year.  A little bit of vintage seam binding ribbon and this card is done.

Inside I wished the happy couple a good life.  I'm waxing nostalgic myself as I have a milestone wedding anniversary coming soon.  Couple this with my parents 40th wedding anniversary and I am feeling very positive about the state of marriage.  I suppose, tis the season!