Friday, 27 July 2012

Alex & Kevin's Wedding Invites

Hello!

I had another graduation card to share, but I just realised I still hadn't shared those wedding invites I did for my good friends, Alex & Kevin earlier this year!

It was an absolute pleasure being their "invites consultant" (haha), and it turned out rather nicely. And it was a great team effort to get it all done before Alex dashed off to Europe on her Elective. I just hope they don't mind me posting the invites here... because

So... Alex is a very blues girl. She loves anything blue. And it's not surprising that her bridesmaids will be wearing blue dresses on the big day, and her shoes are royal blue too. And surprise surprise, the wedding invites had to have blue too. They were rather keen to have their engagement shoot photo in there somewhere so that made it rather tricky coming up with ideas.

Somewhere along the track, I had one of those 'lightbulb moments' and thought, "Hey! We can have a blue frame with your photo inside!" Well, it worked and here is the after-product. It's quite simple, but does the job. Alex and Kevin both liked it, and that's a really sweet photo from their engagement shoot (had to blur out their faces... just in case).
 
  
By the way, it was my birthday yesterday, and (as requested) I got a new camera for it from my parents ;) Not a fancy dSLR as I had been eyeing up for the past 5 years, but something that will do the job for my trip to the Cook Islands soon. I had to test it out to see how it was in the room lighting, because the old camera (the cr** one) took horrible photos with semi-reasonable lighting. I'm satisfied with the quality for a super-compact camera, and it's still better than that old one we have.

We, together, made 100 of these all by hand. I had the Embellishment die cut and the frame all stamped and heat embossed (believe me, it was a big job) whilst I was living in the dungeon room out in Timaru Hospital (because I had nothing better to do there!). I probably inhaled half the embossing powder and will get some lung disease 50 years later, but hey, it made the job so much easier on the day. The three of us literally sat around the table and punched out wedding invites like some Asian Sweat Shop. Lol.

Btw, that photo was printed straight onto the PTI cardstock on a laser printer. Kevin did an awesome job aligning them on A4 paper to get it bang in the middle and two on the same cardstock too!

So, something a little different this time round. Hope you all enjoyed the post. Thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
STAMP: [PTI] Embellishments, Damask Designs
INK: [Versamark] Watermark Stamp Pad; [SU!] Not Quite Navy
PAPER: [PTI] Vintage Cream, Enchanted Evening
OTHER: [PTI] Mat Stack #5 die, Embellishments die collection; [Filigree] Embossing Powder (clear); Foam tape (lots of them lol)

Sunday, 22 July 2012

Still Ticking Along

Hi everyone! Sorry for lack of updates. My stamping mojo is slowly returning. Unfortunately, I only have 3 weeks left before I take off to the Cook Islands, which means a long time without my crafting tools.

Anyway, I managed to make a couple more graduation cards, so here they are.



It's surprisingly hard trying to make cards with the same graduation set over and over again. I totally wish I had another one, but haven't managed to find another set I like.

Anyway, I'm out for a walk soon, so got to go.

Thanks for coming around!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
{Graduated Sentiments}
STAMP: [PTI] For the Grad
INK: [VersaFine] Onyx Black
PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy
OTHER: [PTI] Woodgrain impression plate

{Navy Woodgrain Grad Card}
STAMP: [PTI] For the Grad
INK: [VersaFine] Onyx Black; [SU!] Not Quite Navy
PAPER: [PTI] Vintage Cream, Enchanted Evening
OTHER: [PTI] Mat Stack #1 die, Woodgrain impression plate; [KaiserCraft] Rhinestones; [We R Memory Keepers] Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (aqua)

Sunday, 8 July 2012

A card at last!

Hello everyone. It has been an awful long time since my last proper card post.

Things have been busy here with my last stretch of my degree in sight. I am chasing around ENT surgeons by day and organising my Cook Islands elective by night! I just bought my flights the other day and it's exciting and daunting all at the same time. I've never done any real travel in my life, unless you count immigration as travel.

Anyway, I only have 5 week left before I head off and the clock is ticking for me to get organised. I have set up a new mini blog for my elective so when I get time, I get to give everyone updates on what I'm up to.

So... card time right? About time! Sorry for all this wait!

I've decided that my stamping/crafting mojo has gone on a holiday of its own and that it isn't coming back any time soon, so I've made myself a project to get started. Seeing as I am graduating this year, lots of my friends are too! I thought I'd make as many graduation cards as possible before I head off. So far... only one. It took me about a week of saying "I will stamp tonight" before I even got out a piece of cardstock.


It's a simple card. I used blue and yellow to represent Otago University colours. And why chevrons? Because I just bought it off Laura on PTI forums haha.

It seems that taking photos in the evening without adequate ambient light + a smartphone gives you that slightly grainier look (i.e. poorer quality) + yellow hue. It's still better than the so-called proper camera in my house. I am planning on buying a point-and-shoot camera soon (just because my grand plans of buying a dSLR this year fell through when I bought a car instead!) so hopefully it will do a better job.

Thanks for all the wait. I hope to bring you more shortly. If someone sees my stamping mojo on holiday in America or elsewhere, please tell it to get back to NZ quick because I need it.

PS - That card I mentioned a while back finally got published in PaperCrafts Stamp It! Vol. 9 a couple of weeks ago. It is truely exciting to see it standing tall and proud, and right next to Betsy Veldman's! ;)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
STAMP: [PTI] Chevron Stripes, For the Graduate
INK: [PTI] Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise; [Adirondack] Earthtones Pitch Black dye ink
PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White