Happy Anniversary!

Well my goodness, it’s been quiet around this blog for the last month, hasn’t it!  I won’t bore you with the details, suffice to say:  Life sometimes gets in the way and it can take up valuable crafting time.  How dare it! 

“What a darn cheek”, I hear you say.   I agree.  How VERY dare it, indeed!

I’ve been trying to fit a little crafting time in, and one of the things which was on the list of ‘To Do’, was an anniversary card for my truly lovely neighbours.  Big M  (aka Mr. Cobs)  learnt that they were going on a fabulous holiday to celebrate their wedding anniversary, so he shared the news with me and of course … I instantly went into ‘must make a card’ mode, and this, dear readers, is what this lovely blog post is about.

I’ll put in as many details as possible in case this card inspires you to make something similar for someone you know.  But if I leave anything out, please feel free to ask in a comment.  Comments are moderated (to delete ‘spam’ before it gets onto the blog) – so your ‘question’ or comment won’t appear on the blog straight away.  But I will reply asap, I promise, cross my heart, hold up my pinky finger and say “Honour Bright”.  (yerrsss….  Shirley Temple was a part of my growing up.  My mother loved the films).

Anyway … let’s get on with it, shall we?

The ‘base’ card I used was a 5×5″ ready scored card (by Craftwork Cards), in a beautiful soft biscuit colour, with white polka dots.  I began by cutting half of the front of the card off, diagonally, and then on the reverse of the cut off piece of card, I sprayed it with plain cold water from a very fine mist spray.  I let the water penetrate the card and after a moment or two, I curled the card round a little tube, to give it that lovely curve you see in the photograph above.  If you do this – hold the card there for a moment, to kind of ‘set’ the curve and give it a memory of where you want it to be.  Then set it on one side to dry while you get your papers chosen and cut to size.

For this project I chose papers from Docrafts ‘Papermania’ in their Parisienne Blue range.  The doily is also from this range.  I cut a 12×12 into 6″ squares, then cut one square diagonally, and also cut a doily in the same way.

I fixed the triangle of paper and the doily to the curved piece of card first, (you might find this easier to do if you drape the curved card over the edge of your desk and work with it that way),  then fixed a 6×6 sheet of the paper to the card, as shown.

I attached the curve back onto the card again, and using strong red tape, I taped it down to the front of the card. I then punched two holes through the curved piece of card, and the card front (now attached, beneath it) and then ensured the curve stayed exactly where I wanted it to be by using a tie of thin organza ribbon through the punched holes.

My attention then turned to the back, and I made a card stand for the back, so that the wallet card would stand up when it was finished.  (Imagine a school photograph, which has one of those stiff fold out bits on the reverse, enabling you to stand the photo up without a frame.  The card stands I make are the same sort of thing).  I then finally fixed the ‘loose’ front in place, along the inner bottom, thereby creating a wallet style card.

I added some metal, vintage style corners in place, using some strong glue and my craft clamps.  (Bought some time ago from The Range for next to nothing.  I HIGHLY recommend them!)

Corners fixed in place and not moving, ….  then came the fun stuff!

The Roses came from my stash.  I buy flowers anywhere I find them.  If I see flowers which I know would work perfectly on cards (or albums etc), I buy them straight away.  Finding the right flowers when you need them can be a task and a half sometimes, so I try to have a selection already in the craft room so that I have them when I need them.

The roses I chose for this card are a kind of delicate to touch, silky flowers and I fell in love with them because of their softly folded petals and the way they curled at the edges.   I tucked them into the curve of the card and added silky green leaves wherever I thought they were needed.

I made a big bow using some wide, pretty blue Organza and added a satin ribbon from the Parisienne Blue range on top, to layer,  and also tie the biscuity colour of the card into the ribbons, and finally, I added a large rose to the centre of the ribbons and fixed it in place.

Next came the tags which I wanted to tuck into the pocket.  I used some beautiful royalty free images and also stamped a ‘post card’  onto some card, then vintaged it up using a warm brown ink pad and duster brush.

All around the edges of the tags I kind of sprinkly, embossed some very fine, golden embossing powder to give them a bit of pizzazz.  The stamped message that you can just about see on the tag behind the postcard above reads: 

Marriage
1. A legal commitment to live as
husband and wife
2. Wedlock
3. A close and intimate association
4. A pledge.

Which kind of sums it all up in a few words, doesn’t it?.  I loved it!  It was perfect for this tag.

And finally …  this card would never have fit into a regular envelope, so I made it a matching box, which I lined with contrasting papers from the same Papermania Parisienne Blue range …

The card was ready and waiting for my neighbours when they came home from their holiday.

Thank you so much for coming and spending some time with me.  I’m sorry that it’s been a bit quiet around here, Thank you to those of you who so kindly kept me in your prayers and sent me messages.  You touched my heart in so many ways and kept me plodding along.  Thank you.  I want to say I love you, for it.  And I do – but not in a creepy way you understand!    . . . aw, you know what I mean.  (chuckling to myself here).

Have a truly blessed rest of your day.  I hope your weekend is fabulous and that the sun shines warm upon your face  …. just not so hot that it melts you though!

Heaps of love and squishy stuff …