Wedding Anniversary Card

Today is our 26th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it’s a whole year ago that we celebrated our Silver Wedding and spent a few days away with my parents in Woolacombe in a wonderful posh hotel! I also made my hubby a very special present, and an equally special card made from scraps of fabric from my wedding dress.

One can’t celebrate in style like that every year, of course, but this year my hubby is taking me to the newly revamped Exeter Museum which he says is brilliant. If all goes according to plan, I’ll do a blog post about that when we’ve been.

This year I’ve done a considerably scaled-down anniversary card, but nonetheless, I am very pleased with it.

To make the background mat layer, I took some pale green card and embossed it with clear embossing powder using a Creative Expressions U-Mount Script Texture stamp. I then distressed the edges using Pine Needles Distress Ink, which made the script appear pale green against a darker green background, fading to less visible in the centre, although of course the texture can still be felt. I added a small amount of Faded Jeans Distress Ink around the edge but not so far in, and then splattered water onto the surface. After blotting with a paper towel, the splatter marks could clearly be seen where the ink had been removed.

This mat layer was adhered onto the base layer, an A4 sheet of plain white cardstock, trimmed down slightly, the edges having been coloured with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I designed the banner scroll and heart in Inkscape, and these svg files can be downloaded free from my SkyDrive. See the link in my sidebar for all my free files. All of these embellishments were cut using Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine, from white card, and then coloured afterwards, apart from the mat layer for the banner scroll, which was cut from dark brown cardstock.

The mat layer of the heart was coloured with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The smaller, top layer of the heart was coloured with Pine Needles Distress Ink, and dried with the heat gun. After this, I spread some Zig Two-Way Glue (large chisel tip) all over the surface, and when this had dried, applied variegated green gilding flakes, rubbing them well with the texture sponge to give a shiny metallic finish. I distressed the edges slightly with some more Pine Needles Distress Ink. After sticking the top layer onto the mat layer with Pinflair Photo glue, the whole embellishment was added to the background using dimensional self-adhesive foam pads.

The banner scroll mat layer was cut from dark brown cardstock, and the top layer from white, which was coloured first with Antique Linen Distress Ink, and then the edges coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Using my Inkylicious Ink Dusters, I was able to create some shading and dimension on the scroll.

The sentiment was stamped using Ranger Archival Ink in sepia, using my new alphabet stamp set. I was thrilled to get this at a very reasonable price from Ebay. It came in a nice little wooden box and reminds me of an old-fashioned printing set! It’s a great addition to my creative arsenal and I am sure I shall use it a lot.

I deliberately placed the letters in an irregular pattern to complement the torn and distressed look of the banner scroll.

The top layer of the banner scroll was adhered to the mat layer with Crafter’s Companion Stick & Stay permanent adhesive spray, and while this glue was still wet, I eased the banner scroll over my fingers to create curves in it – unfortunately this doesn’t show up too well in the photos. I adhered it over the heart embellishment using Pinflair Glue Gel, with a good dollop in the centre to retain the bowed shape, and underneath the ends, so that they curve upwards.

Altogether, I am very pleased with the colour scheme, and how this card turned out. I think the more emerald shade of green goes very well with the grungey brown of the Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, and the two are nicely brought together with the variegated green gilding flakes. I haven’t used gilding flakes very much, but really like the effect, but unfortunately the photos don’t do this justice. It’s always the same when trying to photograph reflective or glittery surfaces.

Happy Anniversary to my dear hubby!