Homemade Wedding Shower Card and Wedding Card

Jessica, a co-worker, was married on Saturday. I had the good fortune to be invited to the L' Auberge in Del Mar, California. Her destination wedding afforded my husband and I the opportunity for a weekend away for the first time since our 14 year old was born. Time flies.

Wednesday before the wedding, we had a small celebration at the office. I made this simple (Tuesday night after work- real simple) card. We were to bring a gift that "made marriage easier". So, I brought a mini- food chopper on the pretense that it saves many tears in marriage. Tears from dicing onions, tears from fighting over who will dice the onions, many different tears...

The umbrella is from Cricut's Tie the Knot cart. I found the overlay that the cart provides to be too delicate and intricate given my simple design idea. In addition, the patterned paper was not cooperating and would tear rather than cut cleanly. This is probably a function of my blade age, but I was satisfied with the final design and left it at that. Ultimately, I cut one of the blackout images with brown cardstock and a second with the watercolor green patterned paper. I trimmed the handle and each of the "rain drop" edges on the canopy to allow the brown to show through. The sentiment was created in Word and printed out using my computer. A small scrap of white satin ribbon tied in a bow and glued in place and we're done!

Saturday was a fine affair and everyone enjoyed the ocean breeze as the sun set over the ocean.  Jessica was beautiful in her gown and Hunter was dapper in his chocolate brown suit.  I used Cricut's Tie the Knot cart once again to cut out the sentiment.  The black was cut using the shadow feature and the white was cut using the original image.  A piece of soft green paper to mat and a few pieces of bling was all it took to dress up this minimalistic card.    Dan and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend away.  We filled our time with seaside excursions to enjoy the ocean which included a tour of the carrier museum, Midway, Point Loma and our trip to Del Mar and the L' Auberge.  It's Sunday morning- we're off again for home, kids, dogs and our regular life.

Andie

Additional Cards for Operation Write Home

I decided to make a few more cards with my new Land of the Free stamp and the final leftovers of my BoBunny Liberty collection patterned papers.  Again, I wanted to make sure that I kept the focus on the stamp as it just plain charmed me.  These cards will go into the package for Operation Write Home. 

Cardstock: The Paper Company

Patterned Paper: BoBunny Liberty Collection

Stamp: Stamping Up, Land of the Free

Ink: Colorbok, Magenta and Close to My Heart, Midnight

Ribbon:  2" blue organza and 1/4" red organza

Card Camp Week 4

We were on staycation in Scottsdale this week.  We made a week of swimming and eating.  One of the more concrete traditions that our family has developed on our own is "vacation food".  Since we have a time share which we typically trade for a suite with a full kitchen coupled with the fact that as a working mom I am not the regular cook for dinner and our family and particularly my preference is to eat at home each night while we're on vacation.  We usually indulge in easy, but delicious comfort food like chicken stroganoff, steak and baked potatoes, and homemade pizza.  Dessert is often a chocolate milkshake made in the blender.  I've worked each day- coming home a little early to swim and also make dinners.  So, needless to say, I've not had much time for card making though I have enjoyed the inspiration and fun of watching all the other ladies make their contributions.  Here are the two cards I've made so far.  As a relaxing end to our week (we're home tonight), I may try to make a few more before Sunday night.  Don't, however, hold your breath!

The colors for this week are:

Trust the Goodness of Life

This card was inspired by a sketch provided by Kristina Werner.  I altered the sketch a bit, but  found the patterned paper from Basic Grey's Sweet Threads to be very pleasing in this design.  The stamp is from Close to My Heart and the flower is an embellishment from Basic Grey's Sweet Threads line as well.  A little Vintage Photo Distress Ink and we're all done.  Yeah, me on vacation!

A little of the Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges of the flower petals helped to distinguish between the very light blue of the flower and the white of the card.  Pop dots were used to lift the flower off the card for added dimension.

In Everything Give Thanks

This card sketch by Kristina Werner was the inspiration for my second card.  We'll use this card for a thank you to our wonderful neighbor, Cheryl, who once again watched our two beasts while we were away.  They don't hurt for a thing, but the fact that they really enjoy Cheryl as much if not more than the family says a lot about her dedication and attention while we're gone.  Thank you, again, Cheryl.

Cardstock Card: White, untextured cardstock and various solid and patterned paper scraps from The Stash.  I know for a fact that two of the green and blue patterned papers come from a sample set I acquired while working at a LSS approximately 5 years ago.  I know- hilarious ain't it.
Ink: Distress Ink- Vintage Photo
Stamp Set: Close to My Heart

 

 

 

 

I've enjoyed summer card class.  It has made me dedicated to taking time to craft, relax and enjoy the summer.  The kids are back at school Monday (we're a year round school system- 8 weeks off for summer) and our routine will settle into the busy but satisfying normal that is school, softball and church group activities.  Thanks for checking in on my progress and the encouraging words this summer.  Plus, haven't you just loved the posts Brandy has contributed lately.  She's got more, we just need to get them up.  Look forward to more in the future weeks.

 

Andie

Lady Notes

 These are simple note cards that I just put together by using the Graphic 45 Fashionista paper, three burnt red brads, and Cosmo Cricket printed paper, with some left over green ribbon from what, I don't recall.

 I plan to use these as simple note cards for any time I want to give a dressed up thank you or just a nice "hello" card.

Summer Card Camp Week 3

Time for another card for summer card camp.  I sure can say that I enjoyed working with this color scheme this week.  I've made many different card embellishments, though they haven't translated into different cards yet.  Here's my Live All the days of Your Life card:

 

Cardstock Card: Cream, untextured cardstock and glossy white paper
Patterned Paper: Unknown- they're from the Stash and probably have been around for ages.
Fiber:  Rich red felt rick rack
Ink: Distress Ink- Vintage Photo, Colorbok- Chestnut Brown
Glimmer Mist: Sunshine Yellow, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Chocolate

Stamp Set: Close to My Heart

Dies:  Cricut Picturesque

 

 

I actually used one of Kristina's techniques- fingerinking on the die cut embellishment.  The technique is simple in that you press an ink pad onto a craft mat (my Ranger girl, Brandy, gave me one like this) and spray a tiny bit of water creating a type of watercolor ink.  Then, you use your fingers and dab the mixture on the paper.  I also used Glimmer Mist for the same process layering on color to create this rich color.  I simply sprayed the mist onto the craft mat, didn't add water, and used the resulting mixture just like the stamp pad ink.  I tried a couple of times to create a lighter, more varied result and in the end chose this version I fussed over with quite a few layers of color.  I will confess my poor picture taking skills doesn't do this card justice.  Fingerinking is a new trick that I intend to use over and over again.

 

Andie