Wedding Card

This is the card I made for the lovely couple I mentioned in my last post.

I thought you might be interested in the process I used to create this card.

To begin, I reviewed the cards I pinned to my Pinterest board, and chose the first one on this page as my inspiration.   Next, I started pulling out embossing folders, Spellbinders dies, rubber stamps, ribbon and lace, bling, and an ink pad - anything I thought I might use.

Did you notice the most important element for making this card?  Yup - M & Ms, peanut variety!

I had only eight different embossing folders that were approximately 2" x 2": Cuttlebug's Fancy Corners and Formal Squares.  In the picture below, you can see how I taped four folders at a time onto the B plate for my Cuttlebug before running it through the machine. 

Next, I created the center medallion.  The stamp I chose was one long line, so using my Stamp-a-ma-jig, I was able to split it into two and properly position it on the center of a Spelbinders Fancy Tags Two.  (The ink is Cranberry ColorBox.)  I put the tag on top of an element from Spellbinders Twisted Metal Tags and Accents.

 After I embossed all my pieces, I needed to figure out how to position them on the card.

I played around with them quite a bit before I was satisfied and felt the design was balanced.  I'm strange like that - I have to have some things "just right", especially my cards.  The other challenge I had with this card was getting eight pieces secured to the card front with an equal amount of space between them.  There was a lot of measuring involved!  In the picture below, you can see that I started by taping down the four corner pieces.

From there, it was a simple matter of putting the other pieces on.  Before I used pop dots to attach the center medallion, I had to choose which ribbon or lace to use; I ended up choosing a beautiful tone on tone white ribbon.  It went around the card front, and was secured to the back using my tape runner. 

You can see how difficult it was to position enough pop dots on the back of the medallion.  I ended up cutting some in half, no easy task because they are so small!

I attached the red card front to my card base, which I pieced together using Bekka's excellent instructions at the bottom of her post here.  I finished off my card by placing a couple of pearls on the medallion.

Because of the size of my card - which, of course, I neglected to write down - I made my own envelope using my Martha Stewart Scoring Board.

This was a fun card to make.  I loved working with red (the couple's favorite color) and white, as well as finally using my small embossing folders to create this elegant card.

Wedding Gifts

Once again, I have been MIA.   Does anyone else find that their weeks just fly by?  I was turning the blocks on my husband's perpetual calendar earlier tonight and realized that it is July 14.  How did that happen?  Wasn't it just July 4th?  (Big sigh.)

Back on June 23, we attended the wedding of the daughter of long-time friends and our church's music administrator (who is the worship leader for the band I sing with).  It was such a beautiful wedding!  The bride made sure her dress was modest with the addition of a short jacket, and the entire service was centered on Jesus Christ.  There were even two trumpeters, which took Phil and I back to our own wedding 28 years ago.

Do any of you remember the mystery project I was working on at the beginning of the year?  It was Nathan and Diana's wedding gift.  I am hoping that by now they have opened their gifts and will not have the surprise spoiled by seeing this post on Facebook.

I decided to stitch My Beloved by Country Cottage Needleworks, but I personalized it by using their favorite color - red - for the lettering.  I also changed some of the other colors by choosing different shades of those that were charted so that they coordinated with the red.

I also brought out the red in the frame, which wasn't easy to find.  (A huge thank you to the framing employee at Michaels!)

I also stitched a Christmas ornament.  This was the third time (I think) that I've stitched this.

I will do my best to be back soon to share some cards I've made recently.

Cake, Flowers & A Card

Annelize, here's what's left of the wedding cake.  Remember you had asked for a picture of a piece?  What we did was purchase a small decorative cake, but we fed the guests from two large sheet cakes purchased at our local grocery store, which were cut in the kitchen ahead of time.  The top of the cake is now in the freezer, and we're working on the bottom layer.  Yum.

Grace's bouquet and Anthony's boutonniere were the only flowers that were fresh; everything else was silk.  Phil's brother-in-law, a former florist, took care of the fresh flowers, and he did a wonderful job.  We have the bouquet in a vase; I hope it lasts for a while.

Finally, a picture of the card I made for the newlyweds.  I used several Nestablilties dies (sorry, I wasn't up to making a list), and each layer is attached with Pop Dots.  The bow is my first using my Bow Easy.

The Wedding

It's over.  The event we planned for so many months is now behind us.  The wedding was wonderful.  Grace was a beautiful bride, and Anthony a handsome groom.  Most things went as we wanted them to.  And those that didn't, well, most were not that important.

So now, life is supposed to get "back to normal".  Whatever that means.  But what was normal on Friday is no longer normal.  I have a married daughter, and a wonderful son (in-law).  Come Monday evening, there will be two married couples, one single woman, two neurotic cats, and an overly enthusiastic dog living under one roof.  There will be adjustments as Phil and I continue to learn our place in Grace and Anthony's lives, and as Sarah adapts to having another man in the house.  The animals will think it's great that there are two more hands to feed and pet them though.

God has been so gracious to us.  Not only that He "show[ed] his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"  (Romans 5:8, ESV), but that by accepting Christ's death on the cross as the only sufficient payment for our sin, and allowing Christ to assume His rightful headship in our lives, we are His children.  The journey we have been on with Anthony and Grace these past 15 months has been incredible.  It has brought Phil and I closer together as we walked through courtship and then betrothal with Anthony and Grace.  Anthony has been a blessing in our lives, and we have learned much from him, and will continue to do so.  We have also learned more about our daughter.  And Sarah has been challenged and is growing spiritually and emotionally.  We are in awe of all God is doing, and we look forward to the months and years ahead.

It was difficult as the mother-of-the-bride to take pictures, but I have uploaded the ones I was able to get to Facebook.  You can go here to see them - you do not have to have a Facebook account to see them.  Should you not want to do that, here are a few you can enjoy.

 Me with Anthony & Grace

 Phil & I with the happy couple

 Looking to the cross

 The dads with Anthony & Grace

 The entire bridal party

 With my parents

 With Phil's mom

 

 The bridesmaids

 At the beginning of the ceremony

 Grace with her cousin, Jamie Rae, who was one of the flower girls

Grace had to get her favorite monkeys in somewhere!

Ring Attendant's Pillow

Traditionally, the ring bearer at a wedding is a young lad.  But in a departure from tradition - something Grace and Anthony like to do - they asked his niece, Alexis, to carry the ring pillow for them.  Grace chose a beautiful gown for her, reminiscent of her own bridal gown.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a picture of the dress; perhaps I'm not remembering it properly.  In any case, Alexis will look like a princess in her lovely gown.

I finally finished the ring pillow (which will not have the actual wedding rings affixed to it), and just tonight, managed to snap some pictures of it.  The final design is a result of looking at many ready-made pillows, a bit of my imagination, and much of Grace's.  It is a lovely pillow, and will make a wonderful keepsake. 

Grace found the pin in the jewelry section at JoAnn Fabrics & Crafts.

For the initials, Grace and Anthony found a font they liked, and my embroidery software (3-D Embroidery for my Viking Rose) digitized it.  I've not used that feature often, but I'm pleased with the result.

We are now one week away from the wedding.  I am still working on a few small projects, but hope to finish those up soon.  On Sunday night during Lost, I plan to do some hand sewing, a task I despise.  Then it's on to packing boxes to take to the church, and labeling 30 bottles of ginger ale, and 16 gallons of fruit punch with "DO NOT USE" signs, since they will be put into the church 'frig on Thursday.  There won't be a dull moment between now and Saturday night, that's for sure!

Wedding Preparations 3

It's been a long time since I've done anything with silk flowers, so making the corsages and boutonnieres has been time-consuming.  But the corsages are finished, and I am relatively pleased with them.

This is the corsage for Anthony's mom.  It is a wrist corsage.

My corsage is also a wrist corsage.  It was difficult to get a picture with the thing on my own wrist!  The flowers coordinate nicely with my dress.

Did you notice that both corsages have the white rose?  I thought that would tie them together nicely.

Wedding Preparations 2

Three more weeks before the wedding!  I am trying to use every minute of my days to their best advantage in order to get everything on my to-do list completed.  In the next few posts, I'll share some of my projects.

We have two women who will be servers at the reception, making sure the punch bowls stay full, as well as the munchie bowls.  They will also be in charge of the cake.  I thought it would be nice if they had aprons to distinguish themselves and keep their clothes clean.  I found a free patten on the Internet (sorry, I don't have the URL handy).  I did make a few changes in the way the front band/ties were attached.  Sarah beautifully modeled one of the aprons for me so I could snap some pictures.