Saturday, November 17, 2012

50 Years

A family friend's parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage today with an open house.

50 years.

Sadly, that is becoming more and more rare in this day and age.

I definitely lack in the 50th year anniversary stamp sets.  It would seem that the snarky (but full of love) cards that I tend to make for the Toad, don't translate well to golden anniversaries.  So, I pulled out some gold craft foil that a friend sent me, some pretty paper that I had in my stash (I'm cringing at the thought that the paper was for another 50th wedding anniversary gift that never got completed) and my metal embossing tools.


This photo doesn't have the glare off the metal, but looks bronze instead of gold



Here is the golden view!!

I had a brief thought that I should have taken photos of the embossing steps when I was almost done with the embossing steps! OOPS!! That's what happens when someone  is under a time crunch to get the card done!!

Basically:  I printed out the numbers on my computer and then traced onto some tissue paper. I die cut the metal with Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares and flipped my metal over to the back side and then used a pointed refining tool (or a stylus would work) to trace the numbers onto the metal.  I then alternated working on the back side of the metal, on a thin mat, with a paper stump and refining the image on the front side, while on an acrylic mat.  Here is a video that I did previously to show this in more detail.  After I was done embossing and refining, I filled in the puffed numerals on the backside with some light weight Spackle.  
The flowers were made from Spellbinder's Rose Creations by Donna Salazar using a combination of the gold metal and the background paper.  The card base is Gina K's Pure Luxury White, which is strong enough to hold all these layers without bowing.  

I seem to be in a little bit of a rut using the basic same layout and flower dies as my last card, LOL! Guess that is what happens when one hasn't cleaned up the tools from the last creation! HAHA!  I suppose I need to step outside my little box! Not to mention, CLEAN off my desk!! bwhahaaa!!

I enjoyed working with metal again.  I think I need to dust off those tools a bit more often!

'Till next time................










Friday, November 16, 2012

Just a Quick Note

Raise your hand if you HATE word verification?!

(picture Arnold Horshack here, raising his hand and saying OOOO, OOOO, OOOO!!) Yes, I just dated myself with that picture.  Does ANYONE remember Welcome back Kotter?

I really hate word verification as it is a pain in the patootie to figure out the weird fonts and combination of letters. 

But, I am going to have to turn it on for just a bit.  I'm getting several spam "comments" a day, and while blogger has done a great job at catching them, I'm hoping that by turning on the word verification for a few days, that they will just GO AWAY and I can turn it off again soon. 

I need to start working on a 50th wedding anniversary card or frame for tomorrow.

Should be back within a day or so with something to share unless Mojo flees in having to face creative demand on a tight schedule yet once again!! haha!!

'Till then..................explore some creativity!!

 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Vintage Rose

October 30.  Uhhh.  It would seem that I feel off the edge of the earth for a little bit!

In reality, while I haven't been crafting, I have been creating.

For the Annual Fall Fair:
250oz of homemade caramel.
150oz of Apple Pumpkin Spice dip.
Two pans of brownies, and 100 dipped S'mores marshmallows.

Before I even recovered from that tornado that hit my kitchen, I became "General Mom" and went into over drive, barking orders to the troops, aka The Toad and Kiddo's, to get a layer off the house to host a part for  the Oldest Kiddo's class that got changed to our house at the last minute.

This week, I TOTALLY went the opposite direction of being productive.

Unless you count the four books that I have finished since Sunday afternoon.  Which, for me personally, was a wonderful escape.

But I have warned myself that the mini book vacation is now over.  Time to snap myself back to reality.

My first reality check came in the form of a needed birthday card for my mother in law.  Whose birthday was actually on Tuesday, but will be celebrated tonight.

So, being the Queen of Procrastination, I waited until today to start thinking about it.

While the card took a bit of a different turn than I had originally started out with, I'm happy with the end results.  The card is kicked up a notch from CAS (clean and simple) but not too BAM! Does anyone besides me remember Emeril's cooking show?!



One of my goals this past year has been to use the vast amount of supplies that I already have, versus buying anything new.  I did break down a couple of months ago and bought Donna Salazar's Rose Creations, but justified the purchase with the knowledge that it was TWO YEARS ago released and has been on my wish list since!! 

Basic Details:  Card base is Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K).  Designer paper is K&Company (oooold, from my stash), Spellbinder dies used for all the die cutting.  Stamp is from SU's retired It's Your Birthday. Tattered Angel's Glimmer mist in Vanilla Bean gives a slight shimmer to the rose.  Rose edges were sponged in Distress ink Victorian Velvet.  Leaves were sponged with Distress Peeled Paint while still in the die.  Bottom corners rounded with 1/2" corner rounder. 




'Till next time................remember to take time to explore some type of creativity, whether it be something that you create or the creative works of others!