Wedding Day!

                                       

It comes to mind that I need to update the "About Me" portion of this blog as my middle daughter, Georgia, was married this spring and is now an entire US away from me in Florida!  My cute little paper crafting partner is now a wife and enjoying her own home & husband!

Georgia's wedding was beautiful and it was also the result of help from many loving hands.  You see, my new son-in-law, Billy was on deployment without knowing just when he'd be back in the US and further we didn't know of his leave dates or if he'd be allowed to travel because of the virus.  We only had about 3 weeks of time between "knowing" and the day of the wedding, so things around here were a whirlwind!

Just try renting some sort of venue, caterer, having flowers arranged or food prepared with only 3 weeks notice!  We found it to be impossible.... everyone was booked through June.... Solution: We had the wedding on our lawn.  We prepared the food - arranged the flowers (silks, fresh were 4 weeks to order) - did the decorating (with the help of many friends day of💖) - purchased our own tents (no rentals available1) & we were lucky enough to have a wonderful pastor who promised to make himself available no matter the day. Georgia found a dress that didn't need to be ordered

What An Adventure!!!

I thought I would share with you how we made our own announcements, thank yous and other paper crafted decorations.

I have to thank Nick at Unity Custom Stamps.  He made the rubber stamp for our wedding announcements and did a speedy job filling his blank so that we would receive our stamp as quickly as possible!!  Thank You Nick!!!

And it was beautiful!!  Because the month changed all I had to do was clip it out and write in the correct date.    First I stamped a background (Iron Swirls from JustRite) on ivory using several generations of stamping so that they were progressively more pale.  Each one was unique and so lovely!  I used Versafine Clair ink in my MISTI and gold embossed all 200 of them, some on vellum and some on the shimmering ivory paper!!  It didn't take as long as you'd think... maybe 3 hours!! Then I mounted the ivory paper on or under the vellum according to where I had the script embossed.  I still have not been able to choose which style is my favorite!!

Stamped on the vellum & mounted over cardstock

Stamped/embossed on paper

From there it was an easy matter to write in the date, once we had it, and get them sent off immediately since time was short!!  

   filling a candy bag. We also printed
"word" docs & accented them with
   die cuts that matched other wedding
elements & framed them

Here's the really fabulous part...  I carefully clipped out their names and used them elsewhere.  I'll share the "Thank you Gift tags" we put on the fill your own candy bags!!  I had to make a few more announcements and it was easy to insert their names back into the original stamp and flawlessly stamp again.  The trick is to just make one cut line and not trim edges after you've removed the cut away portion of the original stamp.  Then it will fit back together like a puzzle piece.

For Christmas I am going to remount their names onto a new cling so they'll have a "Billy & Georgia" stamp for envelope flaps, gift tags or whatever!!

What's also funny and not anticipated is that when friends and family began planning her wedding showers, I was not at all sure Georgia would still be here.  She was anticipating a May wedding and given the shower dates, I thought she might be married and gone before them!  As it turned out, they were married a week after the last shower -- another lesson in trusting God's plan!! I was excited to create invitations for one of her showers so I'll be posting a quick shot of those too!

 

Well, I hope you've had fun seeing & hearing about our Big Day!  I am still recovering ~ trying to catch up on ranch work and yard work ~ my craft room (Georgia's old bed room!) is a wreck but I'm looking forward to some quiet Autumn Days and the opportunity to make some fun stuff to share with you all!

Thanks for humoring me - I love sharing!  I hope God will bless your day with gratitude and friendship...

Trust in the Lord Proverb

  This Big Beautiful Stamp is from

Impression Obsession

The combination of embossing colors gives it a reflective look.  I also used a partial matt in dark blue which I think amplified the reflective effect. & the addition of gold foil washi... well, even more reflection! 

So I'm thinking a REALLY great 

verse to REFLECT ON this morning!

Blessings  

For more inofrmation on using multiple embossing powders on one image: https://hi-regards.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-love-my-nautical-stamps-so-much-i.html 

Expanding Your Inventory of Background Paper

I love background papers, but they can really add up $$ in a hurry and so many times I find the colors to be off just enough that I don't want to combine them.  Here's a little trick I use, I emboss plain papers that have the same color scheme as the original background paper!   

On this card, I used 4 shades of color (green, yellow, purple and taupe) that matched the Stamping up DSP I wanted to use for the base.  To keep it all cohesive I used gold on each of the papers using one of my favorite leaf stamps from #UnityStampCompany.  Then just cut and layer as you like!  This works great with different stamped backgrounds too, as long as the paper colors and embossing powder work with the patterned paper you are using ~ a WIN every time 💗

Of course it doesn't hurt to have a lovely image to stamp, like this one from Unity Stamp Co by Angie Blom!!

#HeatEmbossing #Unity #Autumn #Fall #Cardmaking

 

Hello Awesome!

 I love Autumn!!  In fact I think it's Awesome!! (hee! hee!)  All the amazing colors and textures...  Here's and idea for combining them on a greeting card.  

The background of this project was inspired by the way beautiful Fall leaves float down  onto our wood deck.  

To get the same sort of plank decking look, I embossed my paper with a wood grain folder, colored it up and then cut the pieces into 'planks' of different lengths and reassembled them onto the card front.  I really like the way this turned out.  

I made this a pocket card because there were a lot of layers on the front panel of the card making it thick/heavy.  Adding a simple back would make it so disproportionate.   I like the idea of using this on an Autumn scrapbook page with the 'hidden' journaling or photo card pull out.For me, the leaves are the star of the show!  I love to heat emboss on them.  If you would like to know more about how, here's a link to that blog post.  WARNING: Stamping on leaves is highly addictive!

Blessings to you my friends ~ I hope you are well and looking forward to this holiday season as much as I am, and I hope we all find the time, friends and family to enjoy it with ❤💛💚 

The Happiest

 Another fun card incorporating a giant aspen leaf!  What a pretty gift from Mother Nature, I saw this beauty when I was mowing the lawn!!  It takes me a long time to mow in the Autumn because I often stop to pick up the 'prettiest' leaves ~ I just can't run them over!!!  🤣

This time I stamped these pretty mandalas in 2 different metal tones, gold and copper.   The Unity Stamp Co kitty is one of my favorites because you can pretty much color a cat ANY way you want!!  Plus it's just so cute and steals my heart! 

I used some upholstery ribbon across a background I mono-printed earlier with oil pastels. 

If you would like more information about how I go about embossing on leaves here's that link. 

If you are interested in my method of mono-printing with oil pastels here's a link to that post. Enjoy!!

I love this combination!  I hope you enjoy it too and I hope you are having the most wonderful season!!  I love Autumn and I love what follows ~ Christmas!!!  Here's hoping you have MANY joy filled days as the year 2020 begins to close..... 

The inside counts!

 It just occurred to me that I should share the inside of the card from yesterday's post!!  One of my favorite cards, I just love stamping on pressed leaves.  

Because I thought it would be a display worthy card I decided it would be fun to do something unique on the inside!! I kept getting new ideas as I went so it ended up with a separate note card inserted into a corner bracket (so it could easily be re-gifted) and highlight my "Hi!" Notes label at the same time!  

I had a pretty oval die cut I wanted to use and luckily found a couple of great sentiments (from Unity Stamp Co.) that fit inside - with a little modification.  (I snipped out a couple of the leaves and relocated them.)  

Also, a second plain oval was attached to the very back of the card so it looks 'finished' from the back and also leaves (Ha! Ha! leaves!!!) another spot to wright a note :)

Many Blessings to you in this season of Blessing!  Happy Crafting

#Autumn #Leaves #UnityStampCo #EmbossingonLeaves

HELLO Autumn ~ I love you

  #Autumn. #Crafting ~ 2 of my most favorite words!  Combining them in real life is so rewarding!   

I am hooked on stamping on leaves and I think I'll start making framed wall art with them too  🍁            

Here's a link to the "Stamping Leaves" post if you want to learn more!

My goal for this card was to express the chilly-ness of Autumn while showcasing my stamped leaf!! The Sizzix embossing folder I used is one of the 3D folders that gives different levels of dimension.  I rubbed a little gold and then some white ink over the embossed paper it to amplify the dimension too!  

A heavier upholstery ribbon along with a lace edger conveys the cozier aspect of an Autumn sweater, don't you think? 

Blessings on your day!  I hope you stay cozy and find time to enjoy the little things (like leaves!) 💛

 

Best Witches

  This is one of my favorite #witch cards!  I used it in another blog post as an example of using #homemade plaid (link) paper (see the background strip?!) But I really wanted to give it its own post because I love the puff of purple smoke, super cool moon and the crazy streak of bats!!  

Have a wonderful #Autumn and Happy #Halloween