Matryoshka Thinking of You

I made this card last night for my Grandma. I had a finished product in mind, and I am really happy with the results. It turned out just how I had hoped. :)

Started with A2 size white card/envelope; 3.75" x 5.25" white mat, distressed.

* I began by stamping 3 matryoshkas (basic grey) and 'thinking of you' (hero arts) in varying sizes onto smooth white cardstock. I stamped them with versamark dazzle champagne, and clear embossed them.

* I blended ink (dusty concord, spiced marmalade, broken china, and worn lipstick) over eat embossed image.

* With a 1.25" square punch, I punched each image out, so that each doll/sentiment would be placed in a different corner (think brady bunch credits). Gasp...Emily working with asymmetry (but still lots of symmetry, too).
* I rounded these with my corner chomper on the 1/4" setting.

* I knew I wanted them to lay perfectly flat, which can be tricky, so I ran them through my xyron create-a-sticker (old faithful!). This worked wonderfully, and they are still adhered wonderfully. (I've learned that it really pays to not only have a large, varying collection of adhesive, but also to take a moment to think about what will work best. With glue dots, or even ATG, I still would have had loose edges. The create-a-sticker was the best choice here.)

* After these were adhered, I cut the size ribbon I would need (american crafts, boutique bleu), and adhered with with ATG to the mat. Then I adhered the entire mat to the card using ATG.

* Finally, I used white enamel accents free-handedly to create a raised texture backgroud. I love how these add a soft, bubbly backdrop to the main image.

Voila!

Thanks for reading. :)

Emily

I was inspired by "Pumpkin Give Thanks Card" from p. 13 of the Winter 2011 Stamp It! magazine.

2 Wedding Cards

Saturday evening we attended a wedding of family friends - I made the cards from my boyfriend and I, and from my parents. These were my first wedding cards ever! Lots of fun.

This one was made using stamps (by Royal & Langnickel); the butterfly and 'forever'. They are all clear embossed over: pumice stone, bundled sage, tea dye, scattered straw, milled lavender, tumbled glass, and victorian velvet. Cut out by hand and adhered with foam dots. They're on a 3.75 x 5.25 mat, with distressed edges. Adhesive pearls at the bottom...because I can't make anything without adding something pearly. I was pretty pleased with the turn out. :)

I made this one way more complicated than I needed to...in typical Emily fashion. ;) Rounded, white, A2 card, with Corner Chomper (as well as the 3.75 x 5.25 mat). Edges inked with pumice stone. Cut Happily Ever After & its shadow in Bazzill white bling CS, and grey. These are adhered with foam. To the left are eyelets that I attached while experimenting with my new crop-a-dile. White Tulle woven between them.

The interior of both simply read 'CONGRATULATIONS' to allow for a more personal message. I had a lot of fun making these.

In the case that Mr. and Mrs. should see this, CONGRATS to you, it was an honor to be a part of your lovely evening!!

Top o' the Mornin'!

In my family, Saint Patrick's Day is a fun, peaceful celebration. It's one of my favorite holidays. My family has strong Irish blood on both sides, and it's something I'm very proud of. While some people celebrate only on March 17th, I prefer to take the time leading up to Saint Patrick's Day to reflect on my family's history, and fill my ears with beautiful Irish music, and my well-loved Irish movies. My favorite? Evelyn. I have a mondo crush on Pierce Brosnan, especially in this role.

SO, I have decided to make a few mini cards for the upcoming holiday. I made two identicals of this one, for me mum'n'dad. :)

- These measure approx. 2.5 x 3.25 on a forest green base. I was really at a roadblock as far as color inspiration until I paired the peach and mint. LOVE 'EM!

- The images were cut at 3", I believe (I had to play around to get it right).

- I spritzed the peach with copper pearl mist; yellow stickles on the rays. Copper paint dabber around the edging.

- The peach was pop-dotted onto the mint mat, which is edged with lettuce paint dabber.

- White mat on interior with negative of cricut scraps; sentiment (studio g) is stamped in crushed olive.

Hope this gets you in the springy, Saint Patrick mood. Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Emily

Through Rain or Shine

Got this stamp a while back and hadn't gotten around to using it until tonight. I have been on the hunt for really good white cardstock for stamping and getting inky. I experimented with this tonight on Bazill Coconut Swirl, per Archiver's suggestion.

This measures approx. 2.5" x 3.5" on Frosted Kiwi; mat colors are Sunflowers Light and Cyan. The stamps, both interior and exterior are from an itty bitty set by Unity Stamp, called Rain or Shine. I stamped them with black Archival Ink, and then colored and blended carefully with colored pencils. I added glossy accents over the umbrella lining and her boots. Cloud brad by Recollections; ribbon by American Crafts.

This was really fun to do; it was great to just do a mini project with my stamp collection. I'll give this to Josh in the morning - hopefully it will get his day off to a good start. :) Night, all. Thanks for reading! xoxo