A vintage wedding collage …

Whilst still designing my daughter’s wedding invitations, I took some time out to make some for a friend.  I was a little out of my comfort zone with this style of card, but the bride knew exactly what she wanted … a vintage-distressed look with a large mix of colours, from soft pinks, lilacs and beige, to darker colours such as grey and navy.  The bride also had a long list of images she wanted which would tie in with her wedding theme … bird cages, flowers, postage stamps, flourishes and, of course, the Eiffel Tower – as this is where her fiancé had proposed.  You may remember the engagement card I made for them here.

So, here are my bespoke vintage wedding invitations for Sarah…

I used several different stamp sets to create the collage to be able to include all the images the bride had asked for, including the hydrangea from a retired hostess set, which I love and cannot bear to part with.  The bride loved the finished effect with its tiny, fork-tied bows …

I also stamped the envelopes, front and back, to match …

The cards were lovingly hand-stamped and distressed -

and took many hours to complete…

Each card was unique in its own way and made a pretty keepsake for each of the invited guests…

So, there’s a vintage style wedding ahead - a wedding unique in design and with the intricacy of the collage, and the high quality Stampin’ Up! materials I used, the invitation has given a little glimpse of what’s to come.

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iPad birthday card …

The guy I made this card for is so hard working – taking holidays very rarely – but he does occasionally take a little time out for his passions … football, cars and gadgets!  So when he recently had a big birthday I made him an iPad card, using stamp images from different Stampin’ Up stamp sets…

I stamped each image in early espresso ink onto a coloured cardstock square, and then adhered to a basic black cardstock base with tombow multi-purpose glue, and added some highlights with a white gel pen.

Here’s what you need to make today’s card – all supplies from Stampin’ Up!

cardstock: basic black, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, certainly celery, poppy parade, pink pirouette, daffodil delight, wisteria wonder; stamp sets: happiest birthday wishes hostess set, open sea, circle circus, fox and friends, party this way, schoolbook serif alphabet (retired), sweetheart, artistic etchings, just soccer (retired); ink: early espresso; punches: square, circle; accessories: tombow adhesive, white gel pen.

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Up, up and away – one stamp set, three ways …

My favourite stamps from the summer mini catalogue from Stampin’ Up! is the Up, up and away set. I love getting new stamps to play with, and I absolutely fell in love with this set as soon as I saw it so just had to have it!

There are 3 birthdays in our family this month so I decided to get out my inks and make 3 different cards. The first is a one layer card on whisper white smooth cardstock …

According to Wikipedia, the first untethered hot air ballon flight, carrying human passengers, was made in Paris, France in November 1793, in a balloon made by the French Montgolfier brothers, so it seemed fitting to use another Paris icon – the Eiffel tower – for my card.

A little bit of masking and lots of sponging – and I couldn’t have done it without my stamp-a-majig of course! I think it makes a great masculine card and I know exactly the man I’ll be giving it to (I do hope he doesn’t read my blog or it will spoil the surprise!)

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Next I needed something a bit more feminine. I like to look at my stamp sets and see what else they can be used for, as well as what they are intended for – I get more use from my stamp sets this way. Here I used one of the hot air balloon stamps to make flower petals…

I stamped a sentiment from the Happiest birthday wishes hostess set vertically to look like the stem of the flower, using my stamp-a-majig to line it up perfectly. (I have definitely had my money’s worth from that stamp-a-majig! I think I use it for nearly every card I make! Love it! )

I added some of the gorgeous twitterpated designer series paper from the summer mini catalogue at the bottom of the card, and punched out a couple of leaf shapes using a small circle punch, adhering them to the card with stampin’ dimensionals.

I also added a line of doodle dots and dashes around the edge with a stampin’ write marker pen in certainly celery.

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And my last card is cased from one I received from a lovely lady and fellow Stampin’ Up Demonstrator, Susan Yeager, who I was lucky enough to meet recently on a trip to the USA. I think it’s such fun, really showcases my favourite stamp set beautifully and she kindly agreed that I could case it. Thank you Susan – love it!

And a view from the side…

I changed the sizes to make a UK standard A6 size card when folded flat, and the card does fold flat so it fits perfectly into a standard sized envelope – fab!

This 3D card was so easy to make using the new scoreboard, also available in the summer mini catalogue from Stampin’ Up. The scoreboard is lightweight and easy to use, with a storage compartment for accessories such as the marker pegs or score tool – love that! And the marker pegs are such a great idea, especially if you have a lot of the same sizes to score – you can just set the markers at the correct measurement and score away!

The board is marked in inches, but there is a metric board and a diagonal board available too, great for making envelopes! Stampin’ Up think of everything!

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Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Card recipe: cardstock: whisper white, regal rose, certainly celery; stamp sets: up, up and away, artistic etchings, happiest birthday wishes; inks: real red, night of navy, bashful blue, certainly celery, black staz-on, regal rose, so saffron, early espresso; accessories: stampin dimensionals, tombow multi glue, sticky tape, stamp-a-majig, scoreboard, twitterpated dsp.

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Confetti, celebrations and cupcakes …

My friend, Jon, took his girlfriend to Paris for her 30th birthday – you might remember the 30th birthday card I made for Rachel here. 

One fabulous evening in Paris, under a beautifully lit Eiffel Tower, he got down on one knee and proposed.  How romantic!  And of course she said yes. 

Inspired by the gorgeous projects Jenni Pauli has on her blog, I used the Eiffel tower image from the Artistic Etchings stamp set, and the appropriately named Confetti stamp set from Stampin’ Up! to create this modern looking engagement card in whisper white and pool party, with a little touch of crumb cake too …

I used stampin’ dimensionals to adhere the hearts and the whisper white layer to the card. 

A sprinkling of adhesive rhinestones added some bling, and a tiny bow in crumb cake seam binding ribbon completed the card. 

 And I’ve been doing a bit of baking …

 my daughter asked if I would make cakes for her friend’s wedding

… a large cupcake for cutting … 

and some individual cupcakes too …

Such fun to do and yummy too!

The bride wanted white buttercream icing on the cupcakes, which is really difficult to do as butter is yellow!  So I asked everyone I know – including my cake teacher - and also searched the internet … and the solution?  Goat’s butter!  Not only is goat’s butter really pale (almost white to begin with) but it is delicious too!  And the more you beat it, the paler it gets! 

I added a double layer of whisper white satin ribbon from Stampin’ Up! around the base of the large cupcake.  Stampin’ Up!’s ribbon is not only good for card making, it’s ideal for cake decorating too and is a bargain at only £6.75 for a whole roll! 

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Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Card recipe: cardstock: whisper white, pool party; stamp sets: artistic etchings, confetti; inks: crumb cake; accessories: stampin dimensionals, mini glue dots, adhesive rhinestones, word window punch, scallop heart of hearts embosslit, small heart punch, crumb cake seam binding ribbon, stamp-a-majig.

Thanks for dropping by today