Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 28 – Bella & Edward’s Wedding

This week’s theme was chosen by the very sweet and talented Margie, who challenges us to come up with projects about Bella and Edward’s wedding.  Visit Twilight Tuesday for all the challenge details and play along with us!  As always, please visit the blogs of the design team to see what lovely things they come up with this week.

Beth ~ Dani ~ Eve ~ Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

Ahhh, Bella and Edward’s wedding…sigh. I have all  sort of problems with Breaking Dawn that I won’t go into now; but I can say that the wedding?  Not one of them.  And although there has yet to be an official confirmation that Breaking Dawn will actually be made into a movie – the idea of seeing Rob in the wedding scene?  That would really be something to look forward to.  If you need to refresh your memory, read this passage from Breaking Dawn (from Bella’s point of view)…and swoon.

…I took in the crowd of faces all focused on me – until I found him at last, standing before an arch overflowing with more flowers, more gossamer.

I was barely conscious that Carlisle stood by his side, and Angela’s father behind them both.  I didn’t see my mother where she must have been sitting in the front row, or my new family, or any of the guests – they would have to wait till later.

All I really saw was Edward’s face; it filled my vision and overwhelmed my mind.  His eyes were a buttery, burning gold; his perfect face was almost severe with the depth of his emotion.  And then, as he met my awed gaze, he broke into a breathtaking smile of exultation.

Breaking Dawn, page 48 

For this challenge, I wanted to make something similar to a card I made for our Valentine’s Day challenge (the  two occasions felt similar to me).   So I used some of the same elements and a similar layout.  I used a JustRite stamper and their small letter set to spell out “Bella” and “Edward” and the date of their wedding. (Or the date that I think the wedding took place.)  I really wanted to use the sentiment “forever” again.  I mean, if there is any couple with whom you can use that term, it would be the Bella and Edward, right? 

Card Components:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink vintage cream; Stampin’ Up! Blush Blossom; Making Memories Bird Brocade Flower Patch designer paper

Stamps:  Inkadinkado (sentiment); JustRite Stampers and small letter set

Ink: Tsukineko Brilliance in Rocket Red Gold; SU! Blush Blossom

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: Frills border embossing folder, Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle dies; dimensionals; ribbon; Kaiser pearls

JustRite Monogrammed Notecard Set

Here is a set of cards that I made for my sister’s  birthday.  This set needed to be really special, so I had to break out the really good paper for this one!  The designer paper that I used for this set is from K & Company’s new Madeline line, which is just gorgeous and coordinates really well with Papertrey Ink’s Plum Pudding cardstock and ink. 

First up – the notecards (see the photo on the left) featuring that Madeline paper.   The monogram for the cards was stamped with the JustRite Stamper Damask Border kit and mounted (with dimensionals) on circles die cut with Nestabilities.   The lace border was done with a Martha Stewart border punch.  The Madeline paper and a panel embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder make up the background, which is popped up with dimensionals. 

Next came the box for the cards (see the photo on the right), done with the help of my Scor-Pal and made with the same materials as the notecards.  (The top of the box is basically another card front.)

And finally, the actual birthday card!  I kept this consistent with the set by using the same materials, but in a different layout.  I really wanted this Madeline paper to be prominent on this card, so I went with a square card (5 1/4”x5 1/4”), which gave me a little more room to fit that square panel.  The background, in Papertrey Ink’s Vintage Cream, was  embossed with a Fiskars Texture Plate (leaves) and I used an EK Success Deco corner punch.  The sentiment is from Anna Griffin and stamped and mounted on Nestabilities circles.  Pink Dew Drops are in all four corners of the card.  I really hope that my sister enjoys this set!

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by e-mail or RSS.

Components:

Paper: Papertrey Ink Plum Pudding and Vintage Cream cardstock; K & Company Madeline designer paper in Wild Roses

Stamps:  JustRite Stamper – Damask Border set; Anna Griffin (sentiment)

Ink: Papertrey Ink hybrid ink in Plum Pudding

Accessories: Cuttlebug: Swiss Dots embossing folder. Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle dies, Fiskars texture plate in leaves; dimensionals; ribbon; Dew Drops; EK Success Deco corner punch; ribbon; Scor-Pal; Martha Stewart lace border punch

A Christmas Card Recap

I hope you all had a very happy holiday! With December coming to a close, I didn’t think posting about individual Christmas projects would be all that interesting at this point, so I thought that an overall recap would work to catch me up.

This was my first year doing any handmade things for the holiday, and some really good things came from that. I really enjoyed it all so much and liked the way so many things turned out. Doing things for the first time this year, I learned a lot about what I would like to do in the future, and hopefully, learned some tips that will help me going forward. I saved all sorts of specs on the things that I made this time (dimensions of cards, details on the candle cover that can be seen in the slideshow, etc.), which I hope will help with next year’s holiday preparations.

You can probably tell that I’m trying to focus on the positive…because, really, things weren’t quite as well in hand as I would have liked! In jest, I’ve been blaming all of that on the ice storm that knocked out our electricity for three days a few weeks ago. But seriously, the window for using that excuse has long since passed. I would really like to do better in planning things out for next year – I have a feeling that starting things much earlier would be a really good idea. That can never hurt. I might even try to schedule things in (a schedule like – this week, work on this, etc.), if I get my act together enough to actually write that up. If any crafters have tips that have helped you to get all your holiday crafting done, or mostly done, please leave a comment and share!

Onto the cards — although I didn’t photograph every card that I made, samples of them are included in this slideshow. Even the Cullen cards are in there! My usual practice is to include a list of the components for each card, and with so many cards in this slideshow, I skipped that step this time, although the components for the card pictured above are listed below. However, if anyone is curious about what was used on any of these cards, please leave me a comment and let me know. I’d be glad to provide the details if desired — I love seeing that information myself.

Card components:

Paper: Canson Watercolor paper; SU! Riding Hood Red; Bazzill Bling cardstock in Emerald City; Sandylion designer paper

Stamps: JustRite stamper with small alphabet set; SU! Holiday Minis

Ink: SU! Riding Hood Red; Encore Metallic ink in gold

Accessories: Cuttlebug: D’vine Swirls embossing folder, Nestabilities circle and scallop circle dies; ribbon; dimensionals

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge #11 – A Very Cullen Christmas!

Happy Twilight Tuesday! Time for another Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge. This week’s theme, chosen by Rebecca at Bella Carta, is "A Very Cullen Christmas." First of all — love the title. It just reminds me so much of insanely campy Brady Bunch Christmas movie, and thinking of the Cullens and Bradys together is very amusing to me. Please visit Rebecca’s guest post on Tonya’s blog, Stamp Happens, for all of the challenge details and play along!

As always, there is a crafters’ portion of the challenge, along with a comment portion (details on that below). I loved doing this crafters’ part of this challenge! Already being in the holiday spirit really helped a lot, so I ended up with two cards. I thought that a dramatic look would be good for the Cullens, so I went with some bold reds on my first card. For some reason, I thought of using holly right away for a Cullen card, so a fake holly branch from Michaels did the trick here. I just cut off a leaf and a clump of berries and hot glued them together, and then adhered them to the card. Pretty simple! I used my JustRite stamper on this card (and on the second card below). I really liked this sentiment for the card — it’s got a gothic, old-fashioned look that I think works for the Cullens.

I think that Twilighters might recognize the "vegetarian vampire" joke built in to this second card. I just knew that I wanted to use a deer for a Cullen card! I used my JustRite stamper again on this card along with the JustRite small letter set, which I used to spell out "Happy Holidays from the Cullens." I love that small letter set — it gives you so much flexibility to make any sentiment you wish. I stamped a small holly leaf, from SU!’s Holiday Minis set, in the center of the circle, and die cut the circles from the Nestabilities petite circle set. I was able to use a couple of new products on this card, which is always fun! I used my new Nestabilities curved rectangles, a shape I like a lot, and a new type of paper. I’ve noticed that Becca of Amazing Paper Grace, who is truly one of the most talented paper crafters you will ever see, mentions using watercolor paper on her projects. I found some and used it for this card, and I was really happy with it. The paper I used is made by Canson and is of a 90 lb. weight, which is really substantial. The paper is an ivory color rather than a true white and has a bit of a ribbed texture; that worked well for this card, but it is something to know if you want to try out this type of paper. It’s got a bit of a different look than a smooth white cardstock. You can see the paper’s texture well in the close up photo.

For the comment portion of the challenge — discuss your favorite holiday tradition, and if you’re feeling creative, you can discuss what you imagine to be a Cullen holiday tradition. Or a tradition of any character in the Twilight world. My favorite, favorite Christmas tradition is sort of an obvious one — Christmas Eve is my favorite. Since I can remember, Christmas Eve has been the time when my family has done most of the Christmas celebrating. All presents were opened then (and you know, I can’t even tell you why it was this way), so that night is very special to me. I still spend Christmas Eve with my sisters, brother, and their children, without fail. Now that I have my own family, we are working to create some new special traditions for our daughter, including a few things to make her Christmas Day special. We’re finding that each holiday is more fun than the last one, as she gets older and understands more of what is going on.

As always, Twilighters, please join us and play along! And be sure to visit the blogs of the other design team members:

Beth, Stamp Insanity

Dani, Count Your Beautiful Blessings

Eve, This is Bliss

Jen, Deconstructing Jen

Margie, Oh Bumble Is Me

Rebecca, Bella Carta

Tonya, Stamp Happens

Card components:

Merry Christmas from the Cullens

Paper: Papertrey Ink white; Bazzill Bling in Red Carpet; The Paper Co. silver metallic; Doodlebug Designs white velour paper

Stamps: Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouettes set, JustRite Stamper

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Cuttlebug: Nestabilities circle and scallop circle dies; embossing powder – silver and red tinsel; red velvet ribbon; SU! ticket corner punch; red metallic brads; artificial holly branch; dimensionals

Happy Holidays from the Cullens

Paper: Canson 90 lb watercolor paper; Bazzill Bling – Red Carpet and Emerald City; SU! Always Artichoke; Basic Grey Wassail- Greetings designer paper

Stamps: Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouettes set, JustRite Stamper; SU! Holiday Minis

Ink: Versamark, Tsukineko Brilliance in Galaxy Gold; SU! Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Cuttlebug: Nestabilities curved rectangles, circle and scallop circle dies; gold embossing powder; SU! ticket corner punch; Basic Grey brads; ribbon; dimensionals

A Cinderella Birthday Card

I had been avoiding the world of the Disney princesses for the past few years; they’re just so…everywhere.  But I have finally started to give in a bit, as my daughter realizes that they’re out there.  I recently picked up a Cinderella stamp and made this card with it for a 4 year old girl’s birthday.  This is little girl who is really special to our family, which made the card fun to make.  However, I ended up using a rather strange layout that I’m still not so sure about.

After much research, I got a JustRite stamper recently.  And despite that research, I bought one that didn’t really suit my needs. I got a self-inking one, not realizing that it is not too flexible when it comes to changing ink colors.  So, at long last, I got one that I think will work well for me and I was eager to try it out.  I got one called the Damask Border Deluxe Kit, which is really easy to work with.  I also got the Small Letter Set, which allows you to personalize your borders with any message you like.  The letters are tiny, and you actually really do need to use the helpful tweezers that come with the set, but I love the flexibility that it gives.  The possibilities are endless!  Like so many other stamping products, the JustRite stuff is addicting.  I already want to get their Christmas set. 

Where the layout was strange was the circle on the top of the card; the Cinderella image ended up so large that there was no way to keep the circle on the front of the card without blocking Cinderella!  Coloring the card was really fun; it’s always nice to break out the Prismacolor pencils and the Stickles!  As is usually the case with glittery images, the photograph doesn’t show that very well. 

Card components:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white, Bazzill blue and pink cardstock

Stamp:  Cinderella:  All Night Media, Sentiment: JustRite stamper with small letter set; Number: K & Company clear stamp

Ink: Versafine Smokey Grey; Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: swiss dots embossing folder, Nestabilities square, scallop square, circles and scallop circle; Prismacolor pencils with gamsol; ribbon; Hero Arts gem flowers; Stickles in waterfall