Chelsey's Wedding Card

 So two weekends ago my baby girl got married! It was a great time and a beautiful day. Fortunately they got in just before the new Covid rules were applied and the smoke was just a little hazy that afternoon. The next day the smoke was so thick we could not see very far at all. 

I had to make their card really special of course. I wanted to use Forever Fern again, it is such a beautiful set. I made a 5 X 7 card so I would have lots of room to write everything I needed to say on such a special day. I used some unusual colours but I am happy with how it turned out.

I started with a Thick Whisper White card base. On top of this I added a piece of Gray Granite cardstock and on top of that I added a piece of designer paper from the Peony Garden DSP set. On top of this I placed one of the circular shapes from the Forever Gold Laser-Cut Specialty DSP. It is a stitched circle with many leaves coming out of it. It is hard to see the circle as it is covered up but the leaves are still visible poking out from the other layers.

I added some vellum leaves that I cut using the Forever Flourishing dies to add some character to the card. On top of that I layered some leaves from the Forever Fern set that I stamped in Soft Sea Foam and Blushing Bride and cut out using the corresponding dies. I added some more gold leaves from the Forever Gold Laser-Cut Specialty DSP set. 

I stamped the sentiment from Forever Blossoms in Versamark on some Whisper White cardstock and added gold embossing powder and heated it to melt it. I cut this out using the Layering Circles dies. I added a Gold Hoop on top of the sentiment piece and popped this up with dimensionals in the center of the card where all of the leaves meet. I added a small bow using the gold twine from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo pack and attached it to the sentiment piece using a glue dot.

What I used for today's card:

Forever Fern Bundle

Forever Blossoms Stamp Set

Thick Whisper White Cardstock

Gray Granite Cardstock

Whisper White Cardstock

Vellum Cardstock

Peony Garden DSP

Forever Gold Laser-Cut Specialty DSP

Gold Hoops Embellishments

Layering Circle Dies

Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

Versamark Pad

Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad

Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad

 

I wanted to use more neutral colours with  gold on this card because it went well with the Save the Date cards and the original wedding invitations that Chelsey and I made. These were all her design ideas and I am so proud of her. It was so fun to make these cards with her. Of course the dates are not correct as the date had to be changed because of Covid. 

We also made the wedding favours and decorated them. We made the jam together and the honey is from a family friend who owns Bill's Honey Farm We had the stamps made up at Fast Stamp so we could make the tags totally personalized for Chelsey and Russell.

For those of you who are not on my Facebook, here are a couple of pictures from the big day. One of the happy couple, the world's most adorable flower girl and ring bearer and finally, one of me with the bride and bridesmaids in front of the limo on our way to the ceremony.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed today's card as well as the invitations that we made. Chelsey has a real talent for creating. I hope that she will make more time for this now that the wedding is over and she will have more time to play.

Stay healthy and keep creating!

Terry

Prized Peony Bundle

 Hello my friends! I hope you are all doing well. Today's card was made for a friend (Shirley) to give to another friend of ours (Mary). Shirley was diagnosed with cancer and is in Hospice. She asked me to make a special card for Mary to thank her for everything that she has done for her. Of course I was honoured to make a special card for her. 

I know she likes red and flowers so that is where I started. I used the Prized Peony Bundle to make three  peonies out of Real Red cardstock. Before I assembled the peonies, I sponged some Whisper White craft ink onto the edges of the petals to soften the appearance of the flowers. I cut the center out of  So Saffron cardstock and stuck them in to the center of the flowers.

To create the card, I started with a Real Red card base. I made a larger card again (5 X 7 inches) so that there would be lots of room for Shirley to write a special message to Mary. I wanted the flowers to go on a Whisper White mat but needed something between that and the card base so I decided on Old Olive. Before I attached the peonies to the Whisper White cardstock, I embossed it using the Subtle embossing folder. Since I made a larger card, I had to run the cardstock through twice to get the whole piece embossed. There was a slight line where the two met but I purposely made it towards the bottom of the cardstock because I knew I was going to put a ribbon there. It hides the line perfectly. 

I cut the leaves out of Old Olive and Garden Green cardstock and adhered them together. I placed the three peonies at the top portion of the card and added the leaves under the flowers where I felt they looked nice. I added this piece of cardstock onto an Old Olive mat and wrapped my ribbon around it where the embossing line was. The ribbon I used was the Crinkle white seam binding that I coloured with my Real Red Dark Stampin' Blend. I love how it is so close to the true colour and it dried almost immediately. I also tied a second piece around this piece of ribbon and tied it into a bow. I added this card front to my Real Red card base using many dimensionals.

I stamped the sentiment from the Prized Peony stamp set using Jet Black Stazon ink onto a small piece of Whisper White cardstock. I then cut it out using a die from the Stitched so Sweetly set. I matted this onto a piece of Real Red cardstock and added it to the card front using dimensionals.

What I used for today's card:

Prized Peony Bundle

Stitched so Sweetly Dies

Subtle 3D Embossing Folder

Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon

Real Red Stampin' Blends

Jet Black Stazon Pad

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad

Real Red Cardstock

Old Olive Cardstock

Garden Green Cardstock

So Saffron Cardstock

Whisper White Cardstock

Note: after I prepared this blog post to be ready for posting Shirley passed away. She passed on Tuesday afternoon. My plan was to go visit her on Wednesday but that obviously didn't happen. We had a good visit last week when I saw her but she was much more tired than the previous time I visited. I know she is at peace and is no longer in pain. Be free Shirley!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this card. Maybe make a card for a friend as a thank you or give one to another friend to pass on to thank another friend. A homemade card can say so much more than you know.

Stay healthy and keep creating!

Terry

Team Swap Cards

 As you are reading this post, my little girl is getting married!! Well, maybe not at this exact minute but it is wedding weekend. So hard to believe that it is finally happening. The kids have been through so much because of Covid. Their original wedding date was set for May 23rd but it had to be canceled because of the pandemic. I totally understand that but it has added some extra stress to the day. We are all so happy for them! I will share their card next week.

As previously promised here are pictures of all of the beautiful cards I received in my team swap. We were to make one for everyone in the swap plus one for ourselves. I featured my swap card on August 27th if you would like to go back and have a look at it.

I received 11 cards in total and they are all gorgeous! In no particular order here are the cards.

Card #1 is from Jan Lariviere. She used the Poinsettia Bundle to make a 4.25 by 4.25 square card. I don't know if it shows well in the picture but she put Wink of Stella on the petals of the poinsettia. I love the colour choice that Jan used. Beautiful!

Card #2 is from Cindy Bertrand. She used the Snow Wonder Bundle. I love this snowman. He has such a happy face. I also love that Cindy used rhinestones on his hat where the holly berries would be. 

Card #3 is from Debby Evoy. She used the Snowflake Wishes stamp set with the Snowflake Splendor Designer Series Paper and the Winter Snow Embossing Folder. The Snowflake Splendor ribbon is absolutely stunning. It looks good in the picture but in real life it is incredible! I like how Debby used some of the snowflake sequins to add some interest and so cleverly used a snowflake to dot the "i" in Wishes.

Card #4 is from Gabi Chennells. She used the Gift Wrapped Bundle and the Best Plaid Builder Dies. I love all of the layers used to make the plaid look. There is a gold foil, Mossy Meadow, Misty Moonlight and Crumb Cake cardstock all layered together to make a plaid piece. The bow was stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder and gold sequins bring it all together. 

Card #5 is from Amy Jasper. She used the Beautiful Autumn stamp set and used some nontraditional colours to create her card. It is hard to see but there are also a few leaves stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder. Such unusual colours to make a beautiful card. Love it!

Card #6 is from Desiree Spenst. She used the deer from the Festive Post stamp set and the brushed metallic cardstock. She also used the beautiful Evergreen Forest 3D embossing folder. She covered the trees with Wink of Stella. Desiree used Soft Seafoam for her card which in my opinion is an unusual green for Christmas trees but it is gorgeous.

Card #7 is from Susan Martin. She used the Cherish the Season Bundle. I love how the bells look with the gold foil. The die embosses the bell while it cuts it out. So smart! Susan used gold embossing powder on her sentiment to tie in with the gold bells and the copper in the DSP. I love how Susan stamped the boughs under the bells and added the blue rhinestones to tie it all together.

Card #8 is from Dominique Paul. She used the Tree Angle stamp set and the Stitched Triangle Dies to create this card. There are a lot of different layers in this card. On top of the DSP there is a piece of Whisper White that is embossed with the Evergreen Forest 3D embossing folder. On top of this piece is a stitched circle that is embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder. On top of this is the three trees and then the sentiment. The bow is in the Real Red Braided Linen trim and then to tie it all together are some Red Rhinestones. Gorgeous card!

Card #9 is from Xenia Stanford. She used the Autumn Goodness Bundle. Again there are many layers to this card. I had to show 2 pictures because it is a Z fold card so you need to see it opened up to get the full effect. Xenia used the Celebration Labels Dies and cleverly lined them all up so that when the card is closed they align perfectly. I love how the wheelbarrow and the fence are embossed when they are cut out. Xenia also used the Greenery embossing folder on the front of her card and the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing folder on one of the Celebration Label dies on the inside.

Card #10 is from Michelle Pattison. She used the Snow Wonder Bundle along with the Brightly Gleaming Specialty DSP. Michelle made a 4.25 by 4.25 Z fold card. It is adorable! I love how she perfectly lined up the DSP on the front panel and the back panel. That means the cards were made one at a time rather than in batch mode. That means a lot more work for her but we appreciate it. The Gold Glitter Enamel dots tie in the Pretty Peacock in the card base and DSP with the Mossy Meadow trees. Beautiful card Michelle!

Card #11 is from Lisa Hartery. She used the Gnome for the Holidays stamp set to create a 3D Cube Pop Up Box Card. I have never done this kind of card before but definitely have to give it a try now. This is amazing. I have a couple of pictures so you can see it from different angles. And it folds flat so it is easy to mail. Lisa did so much colouring and fussy cutting to create this card. It is amazing!!

Thank you so much to everyone that participated in the swap. I love all of the cards.This is such a great way to get ideas for ways to use the stamp sets. Sometimes it is not good though because I convince myself that I don't need a particular stamp set and then I see it in one of these gorgeous cards and then I realize that I really do need it!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed all of the cards and it gives you some ideas of what you can make.

Stay healthy and keep creating!

Terry

Blossoms in Bloom

 Hello my friends! I hope you are all keeping well. It has been a very stressful past few weeks in my world. I won't get into it but it just makes me think that we all need to be kinder to others. We don't always know what they are carrying.....

So on to today's card. This card was made for a very good friend of mine. This gal is such a kind, caring, giving person that she deserves the best. She is always willing to help and was a huge part of me getting my blog going. We went to Las Vegas in November to Stampin' Up's Onstage. She was the perfect roommate and travel companion. I hope when we are able to travel again we will be able to do more trips together. This was a milestone birthday for her so I wanted to make a special card for her. She likes simpler cards so I didn't want to go over the top. I got the idea for this card from a card done by Anna Helman that I saw on Pinterest. This was a technique that I haven't done for a long time so was excited to give it a try again.

I started with a piece Basic Black cardstock. I attached it to a piece of adhesive sheet. I die cut out the outline of the blossoms using the corresponding die from the bundle. Then I placed a piece of Shimmery White cardstock on to my Stamparatus. I laid the die cut blossoms piece onto the piece of Shimmery White cardstock where I wanted the stamp to go. I placed the stamp over top of the die cut image and picked it up with the plate from my Stamparatus. I removed the die cut image and inked up the stamp using Seaside Spray ink. I added some Misty Moonlight and Night of Navy ink to the stamp using sponges. Then I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped the image onto the Shimmery White cardstock. It gives a watercolour look to the stamped image. I repeated the whole procedure and stamped the yellow flowers and leaves. For the leaves, I used Granny Apple Green and sponged on Garden green and for the yellow flowers, I used So Saffron and sponged on Crushed Curry. 

Once the stamped images had dried, I added the Basic Black die cut outline. I had to be very careful not to lose any of the center pieces. When I peeled the backing off of the adhesive sheet, they wanted to stick to the backing so I had to use my Take Your Pick tool to pick out each little piece. That was the only finicky part of this card.

I stamped the sentiment from the Peaceful Moments set with Stazon Jet Black ink and used my Stamparatus again. I was able to ink it up and stamp it twice to be sure it was a nice dark image. I layered the Shimmer White cardstock on to a Basic Black mat and attached these on to a Seaside Spray card base.

What I used for today's card:

Blossoms in Bloom Bundle

Peaceful Moments Stamp Set

Shimmery White Cardstock

Basic Black Cardstock

Seaside Spray Cardstock

Adhesive Sheets

Seaside Spray Classic Stampin' Pad

Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad

Night of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

Granny Apple Green Classic Stampin' Pad

Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad

So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

Jet Black Stazon Pad

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed this card and will give this technique a try. It can be done with any stamp. Just ink up your stamp and then spritz it with water before stamping. It will give your stamp a watercoloured look and change it completely. I would recommend using either the Shimmery White cardstock or watercolour paper. Regular cardstock might be too thin and cause your image to spread rather than soak into the paper.

Stay healthy and keep creating!

Terry