Sunset Swan Anniversary

I made this anniversary card for my Brother in Law and Sister in Law.  When I made it I liked it but... and I think that is the problem.  It is the scene I wanted, just a lake and a sunset, but ....  I think it is missing something.  Initially, I attempted a no line watercolor with it and clear embossed the swans and even with the intensity of the colors in the back ground they were just lost in the scene so I over stamped with gray which created an interesting shadow effect with the clear embossing as a highlight.  I like this but I wish it was better and the only way to get better is to keep trying.

What it took - 
Card size - 8 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Watercolor paper, Recollections 110 lb white, 65 lb blue;
Stamp - Stampendous Swan Pair;
Ink - Versamark, Memento gray;
Color - Koi Watercolor

Golden start to married life...

 If you follow my blog you know I try to use invites and interests as a jumping off point for my card design for an event.  Well the invite for this wedding was actually silver with subtle hearts at the top. I looked for an appropriate silver in my local Michael's and couldn't find what I wanted so I went with Delicata gold.  Isn't it yummy?  I lined up the stamp in my MISTI so it would stamp in the middle of the cardbase and then I stamped and inked and stamped and inked and stamped and inked and stamped and ink and if you look at the closeup you can see there is dimension to the image! Knocked it out of the park we have a homerun!

Ingredients:
Card size - 5 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections: 110lb and 65lb white;
Stamp - Gina K Designs: Always & Forever;
Ink - Delicata: Gold;
Accessories - Spellbinders Nestabilities Heart; Dotted Swiss embossing folder; 3M foam tape

Swing card Anniversary

I found this card nearly impossible to photograph - I hope it comes across as pretty on screen as I thought it was in real life.  It is a diecut swing card but I modified it from the Splitcoaststamper tutorial as I didn't need to extend the die cut into the back of the card to get the swing.  I notice that the example in the tutorial is very 3D, well that just isn't going to happen in my international postage, card making world. HA!HA!

With lots of trepidation and too much worrying about getting it right the first thing I did was glue my patterned paper to my cardstock using YES! paste.  Oh my that stuff is gorgeous and I am glad I picked it up on clearance at Michaels.  It was my first time using it and I used the video instructions from Lindsay, the Frugalcrafter and it was sooooooo easy peasy.  It is going to be my go to way of adhering large sheets of paper to cardstock from now on.

I proceeded to die cut the card and the paper to cover the card and the cardstock to cover the paper that covers the card and... well you get the idea.

The inside panel is a happy accident.  I was going to go ahead with a really soft tone of pink and when I stamped it I thought, "Hmmm I'm having trouble actually seeing it!" so I ghosted it with gold metallic ink stamped over the top and I think it really looks special.  I will be honest, although this is an anniversary card it was LATE LATE LATE - so I just went with thinking of you.  You know, who doesn't like to be thought about?!

The front panel was stamped with Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 step stamps.  I kept is soft by stamping the same color with each step.  I LOVE that panel and look.

I decided I wanted to emboss vellum for the salutation (is there a better word? that seems so formal), so I die cut the vellum to fit over the center of the stamped panel and then stamped and heat embossed.

Once that was done some strategic glue placement and some pearls to accent it all.

With some left over patterned paper I decorated the envelope to match.

Ingredients
Card size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
Cardstock - Recollections: 65lbs; Vellum; Basic Gray: Sugared paper stack;
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps: 3 step Hearts and Roses, Whole Family; Hero Arts: CL342
Ink - Memento: Angel Pink, New Sprout; Versamark
Color - Gold pen
Accessories - Pearls, Zing!: White Embossing powder;
Tools - Spellbinders: Grand Dies; Scor Pal; Yes! paste