Hi everyone π
My husband and I just celebrated our 36th Wedding Anniversary. It hardly seems that we have been married that long - yet we have - and I am so lucky to be married to such a great guy. We went out for our evening meal to our local RSL and had a lovely, quiet day at home otherwise. I received 2 gorgeous bunches of pink roses and a beautiful card. Our daughter made us the most-amazing mini scrapbook album with photos of us from the last 10 years. We aren't ones for big celebrations and prefer to keep things low-key. I am definitely not one for dressing up and going to a fancy restaurant because (a) I like simple foods like Roast of the Day, and (b) it's too expensive, and (c) they have white tablecloths and I am so incredibly clumsy. I am also clumsy when I cook and are known as Messy Chef - a play on Masterchef - hee hee π
And now for story time: around 24 years ago, my boss gave me an $80 voucher for Christmas to a local and very fancy restaurant. We booked for 6.00 pm and we were the only ones there till about 7.30 pm. And then people started arriving really, REALLY dressed up - so much so that I felt more than a little underdressed - but I wasn't wearing jeans and was actually dressed up so I thought! I guess we were naive and honestly didn't realise that it was a fancy restaurant till we got there (pre-internet days for us) and saw the decor and then the menu and went, uh oh. The glasses of House Wine turned out to be $25 each as we mistook the menu for meaning $25 for a bottle of House Wine because it said: "House Wine $25" - and then realised our mistake - so that was $50 of the voucher used already! We got the cheapest food on the menu and were still over $100 out-of-pocket. It was just as well that we were both working at the time and it was pre-kids! And to be honest, I really had no idea what I was eating as the description was completely lost on me - food I was completely unfamiliar with. I am not taking anything away from the Chef of course - it's just not my scene - and having pub fare like a Garlic Bread Entree and a banging Roast of the Day makes me very happy and you are in and out within an hour. Suits me just fine π
Anyway, onto the card I made for my husband:
This is also my card for the following Challenges (click on the underlined links to take you to the Challenges):
- Crafty Catz Challenge - #691 - Anything Goes with No Optional Twist
- Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PBSC April - Anything Goes with Optional Easter
- Crazy Critter Challenges - Challenge #97 - Anything Goes with a Featured Critter
The main image is by Penny Black from their So Loved Set. I stamped the cat with Versafine Onyx Black Ink onto Bellbird Paperarts 210gsm Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper and coloured it using various brands of Watercolour Pencils and a #4 Round Paintbrush. I went over the black lines using an Anko Black 0.3 Pen to darken up the lines on the image.
I re-stamped the image onto a piece of the designer paper lining up the 'One True Love' from the paper to be the centre of the heart cushion then fussy-cut it out. I re-stamped the image again onto Watercolour Paper and fussy-cut the paws that are holding the cushion. I went around the edges with an Anko Black Brush Pen to hide any imperfections with my cutting. I glued the cushion and paws on using Tombow Mono Multi Glue and it looks really cool in real life because you can see a bit of dimension. I side-loaded a flat paintbrush with Folk Art Burgundy Acrylic Paint and went around the edge of the cushion to make it look a bit more rounded.
Here is a close-up:
The sentiment is by Impression Obsession - Sentiments 1 - which I have had forever and is retired. I used my Stamping Platform to ensure perfect placement and to stamp it a couple of times to darken it up.
I used my EK Success Arrows Border Punch to punch out some Burgundy Cardstock Hearts (the leftover punchies look like tiny hearts) and glued them on using Tombow Mono Aqua Glue then added some Uniquely Creative Clear Sparkle Brush to them for a bit sparkle.
The main image was diecut using a Lifestyle Nesting Circle Die. I diecut some Dark Teal Cardstock using a My Favorite Things Pierced Stax Circle Die then diecut Burgundy Cardstock using a Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle Die.
All the designer papers are by Bo Bunny - Love Letters - which are really old and are from around 2012. I wish that I had bought more of this collection as I just adore the colour palette and have used it alot over the years.
The bottom panel was punched using a Fiskars Scallop Border Punch. The Dark Teal and Burgundy Cardstock layers were trimmed to 1/16" using my We R Memory Keepers Perfect Layers Guides. I attached the Cream Ribbon in two separate elements then popped the panel up a little on scraps of white cardstock.
The Black Cardstock on the card base was trimmed to 1/8" and the Dark Teal + Burgundy Cardstock to 1/16" using my WRMK Perfect Layers Guides.
Once I had finished my card front, I glued it to a White Card Base.
And now here is a pic of the card inside:
The sentiment is by Avery Elle - Lots of Love - which was released in 2012 so long-retired. I stamped it using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then promptly smeared it......grrrrr! So I re-stamped it onto a separate piece of white cardstock and heat-set it using my heat-gun before I had a chance to smear it - then diecut it using a Lifestyle Nesting Oval. I layered that onto a Dark Teal Cardstock diecut oval.
I punched two hearts from Burgundy Cardstock using an Anko Heart Punch. I bought this punch in a set of 4 different punches from KMart. These punches punch beautifully and I am really impressed with them. I added some sparkle with my Uniquely Creative Clear Sparkle Brush.
I added the strips of designer paper just to tie everything together.
Thanks for visiting my blog today.
Jocelyn
Card Recipe - Front:
Stamps: Penny Black So Loved 30-457 clear set, Impression Obsession Sentiments 1 WP16 clear set (retired)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Back
Designer Paper: Bo Bunny Love Letters #13517517 6" x 6" Pad (retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Layers Tools, Kaisercraft Trimmer, Stamping Platform, Bellbird Paperarts 210gsm Cotton Blend Watercolour Paper, Watercolour Pencils, #4 Round + Flat Paintbrush, Folk Art Burgundy Acrylic Paint, Anko Black Pen 0.3 + Brush, Uniquely Creative Clear Sparkle Brush, WRMK Perfect Layers Guides, Cream Ribbon 1/2" or 12.5mm wide, Cardstock - Burgundy + Dark Teal + Black + Scraps of White, Square White Card Base
Dies: My Favorite Things Pierced Stax Die-namics, Lifestyle Nesting Circles, Spellbinder Classic Scalloped Circles Small S4-125
Punches: EK Success Arrows Border, Fiskars Scallop Border
Card Recipe - Inside:
Stamps: Avery Elle Lots of Love clear set (retired)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Designer Paper: Bo Bunny Love Letters #13517517 6" x 6" Pad (retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, WRMK Perfect Layers Guides, Heat-Gun Uniquely Creative Clear Sparkle Brush, Cardstock - White, Dark Teal, Burgundy, Black
Dies: Lifestyle Nesting Ovals
Punches: Anko Heart Punch #68775858