Monday 23 May 2016

30th Anniversary Card

Tomorrow is our 30th wedding anniversary. I cannot think where the years have gone! Sometimes it seems like yesterday, and yet we are rapidly approaching the year when I will be able to say that I have been married to my lovely hubby for half my life!

So – today, I made him a card. I departed from my usual thought that man cards never have flowers on them, and decided to celebrate my hubby’s love for our garden and its flowers.

09 Completed Card

I have been so inspired by the work of Diana Taylor of Velvet Moth Studio that I took a leaf out of her book, having been completely bowled over by her recent tag in browns and creams. She used a flower stamp set which she recommended to me a while back, and today was the first time I had used it.

The background had been sitting in my backgrounds folder for several years. It was a bit of an experiment when I made it and I had never found a use for it, but thought it would be ideal for this card. It was made using a Tim Holtz Texture Fades embossing folder with a dark brown Core’dinations card which I had sanded after embossing, to reveal the paler colour underneath. I had then added some clear embossing powder around the edges. It is pretty dark and grungey and I thought this would offset any femininity that might attach to the flowers.

01 Embossed Background

This is the Heartfelt Creations Botanical Rose stamp set, as recommended by Diana.

02 Heartfelt Creations Floral Stamp

I stamped the flowers twice on a piece of scrap white card, using sepia archival ink.

03 Stamped Flowers

When I bought the stamp set, I decided not to buy the accompanying Botanical Wings die set because I thought the shapes were simple enough to fussy-cut and I could save myself the money. However, after spending quite a long time fussy-cutting all those flowers and making my hand tired, I thought it would be worth investing in the die set as well, so I have now ordered it. As well as dies exactly matching these flowers, there is also a butterfly included in the die set and one can never have enough butterflies!

04 Fussy Cut Flowers

After cutting out the flowers, I inked them with Gathered Twigs distress ink, using a home-made blending tool.

05 Inking the Flowers

I then hand-embossed the flowers using two sizes of embossing tools on a piece of fun foam.

06 Embossing the Flowers

The final touch was to add some gold gilding wax to the petals.

07 Gilding Wax on Flowers

I found a couple of leaf trails in my stash which I’d cut ages ago with Sheba, my Cougar cutting machine (must get her going again… I’ve made a start but need time to concentrate on that particular job!), and after colouring them lightly with some Old Paper distress stain, glued them down onto the background piece, along with a few strands of sisal (also recommended by Diana), using Scotch Quick-Dry adhesive.

08 Leaf Trails and Sisal on Background

Using the same glue, I layered the flower pieces and stuck them down over the leaf trails and sisal, and added a bit more gilding wax.

09 Completed Card

I mounted the piece on a piece of cream card and then onto an A4 white card base folded in half and cut down to 7 1/2 inches tall. I inked the edges with Gathered Twigs distress ink and spattered it with water, blotting it off to leave paler marks. I repeated this process on the inside of the card and stamped a “Happy Anniversary” sentiment inside, using sepia archival ink.

The final touch was to add a few spots of gunmetal Stickles glitter glue to the centre of each flower.

I am happy that I was able to make this entire card from stuff already in my stash, and using scrap card for the flowers. I’m also delighted that I have finally found a use for that background piece!

All ready for tomorrow. Talk about short deadlines… I hope he likes it!

(P.S. I think he’s forgotten it’s our anniversary tomorrow… lol lol!!! Shall I forgive him?!!)

8 comments:

  1. Hi Shoshi, thank you so much for letting me know about this, I LOVE it! Happy Anniversary to you and hubby, I hope he's remembered! You deserve a gold medal for cutting all those out by hand - I don't blame you ordering the die as well. I love the background, it's really effective and very appropriate for a man's card. Strangely enough I was looking through my stash for an item that I've never used for my 'Forgotten Stash' monthly project and I found the bark effect embossing folder - I've chosen something else for this month but thought I might give it a go at some point - you've totally inspired me as I was feeling rather stumped with it and wondered why on earth I'd purchased it! Thanks also for the mention, I get so much inspiration and information visiting your blog it's nice to think I can sometimes return the favour!!
    Enjoy your special day,
    Diana x

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  2. Happy Anniversary!!!! Beautiful card. I love how you fussy cut the flowers.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Aiyana. So glad you like it. Die-cutting the flowers will be a LOT easier than fussy cutting in the future. Shoshi's getting lazy in her old age...

      Shoshi

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  3. Oh Shoshi, thank you for your lovely and generous comments - you are kind. Regarding the die, I position it over the flowers with the cutting edge down, and tape it down in three or so places with scotch tape, then carefully flip the whole thing over and lay it on the cutting pad so you just see the back of the paper that has the stamped images on, if that makes sense - it's completely opposite to what you do normally with dies - there is probably an easier way but I haven't worked it out yet!
    I had to laugh that hubby forgot - sounds just like my mine, although the first year we were married we got a card through the post from a friend and neither of us could remember the exact date of our anniversay so had to find our marriage certificate to check! We knew it was the 23rd or 24th so we narrowed it down quite a bit!
    Have a lovely evening and enjoy your Chinese meal - I love Chinese food so I'll be thinking of you while I tuck into my jacket potato!
    Diana x

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  4. I just LOVE this card! And you're right, there's no such rule that says men's cards can't have flowers on them! Especially, if it's for a wedding anniversary. You must have a lot of patience to fussy cut all those flowers, but it was well worth it! Great background texture too! Happy anniversary - may there be lots more to come!

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  5. PS. We regularly forget our own anniversary - both of us! If I want him to remember things like birthdays, etc, I have to drop little reminders along the way! Men are rubbish at remembering dates!

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  6. Hi Shoshi, this is such a lovely card and I especially like the background. It's really kind of you to share the tutorial of how your card was made. Many congratulations on your Wedding Anniversary. I've been married for 34 years and I can't believe how quickly the years have flown by. I hope you enjoyed your Anniversary meal and I wish you all the very best for your hospital visit on the second. Crafty hugs, Sandra X

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  7. What a stunning card, the dark background with the lighter flowers gives such a beautiful effect! Like you I love Diana's work and it was through her I was directed here....

    Big congrats on your anniversary, - we will hit our 42 years milestone in two weeks time....

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