Mr and Mrs

As regular readers of my blog know, I have a lovely friend, Emma, who I met on the internet and who thoroughly inspires and encourages me to be a better and more adventurous crafter :)  I miss her if we don't "speak" for a couple of days, however briefly!  We don't get many chances to actually get together as we live about 2 hours away from each other, but we do Skype regularly!  In fact we try to have one day a week when we craft together via Skype!  It's an arrangement that works really well, other than if one of us has the perfect embellishment that would finish off a layout but it is two hours away ...

So, when Emma and I are crafting together, we will often pick a sketch (OK, usually it's me who picks the sketch, Emma is much more easy going and open to suggestions than I am!) and do it together.  This week was no different!  We are always amazed at how differently our layouts turn out.

Have a look at Emma's page HERE and you will see what I mean!  And HERE to see the sketch that we both used (one of us more than the other ;)  )

It was a funny old sketch this one!  It looked like it would be easy.  It looked like it had potential.  However, both Emma and I struggled like mad with it!  I even said that I didn't think that I would like the end result ... until I finished it that is.  Literally by placing the journalling strips on, it all came together, and now I have to say that I actually rather like it!  So that should be a lesson to me - don't give up!  Of course that isn't always the case ... and Emma didn't like it to such an extent that she took her layout apart and more or less started again!

The papers are Cosmo Cricket's Tea for Two - love them!

Carole x

Such a Perfect Day

While I was still buzzing about the wedding, and got my hands on the first batch of photos, I created this layout:

A very, very simple layout, but quite effective (I hope!)  Since the happy couple were sat at a table signing the register with a beautiful table arrangement in front of them, I simply continued the flowers out and over the photo.

The bow was made from the ribbon that was tied around the beautiful bouquet that I was presented with at the wedding:

See what I mean?  Very simple.  I used the last sheet of Bazzill spotty card that was left over from creating the wedding stationery - originally about 12 sheets of 12 x 12 (and in case you are wondering, yes, I have now also made the thank you cards!) and teamed it with kraft just like the invitations then just added lots of flowers :)

Carole x

Wedding Card

As promised, here is the wedding card that I made for my lovely sister and new brother in law for their wedding.  It was touch and go whether I would actually be able to find the time to make the card before the big day, and many times I wished that I had settled on a more simple, straight forward card :)  However, I made the time and I was really pleased with the result - I think the bride and groom were too, but they were a little overwhelmed at the time!

As you can see, I used supplies from the wedding stationery, so that it was totally co-ordinated (if you knew my sister, you would understand!!!)  It is a large, three fold (A5) card which I tied up with ribbon.

I was very brave (although I must admit to practising first!) and splatted with Mister Huey on the kraft card, just to break it up a bit and to let the words do the talking.  This is the first inside page of the card.

And here is the inside :)  Once open, the bunting hangs between the two outer sides of the card.

I used some photos that I had printed from when Jo and Jamie came down to visit us a while ago and stuck one on each inside page.  A pair of love birds a tag, a ticket and an appropriate sticker and the first page was done.

The middle page I kept quite simple and sewed a variety of small buttons in a heart shape around my favourite of the photos - time consuming but really effective and so pretty.

The third page is quite busy, but I love all the layers!  I wanted to include a glassine bag, and filled it with all sorts of hearts, some punched, some sequin type hearts and all the little circles that had come out of the tags that I die cut for the place settings for the wedding!

I nearly forgot to leave some space for writing the card, but stamped congratulations on the back and we all wrote a message to the happy couple!

Carole x

The Wedding!

Sorry for no blog posts for AGES but life has been a little bit manic around here, ever since we got back from our lovely holiday in Portugal in fact.  In fact, there were more blog posts while I was away because I took the time to schedule a few posts!

So, part of the reason that it has been so busy here is that the BIG day was approaching ... and I had tonnes of wedding stationery still to make before my lovely sister's wedding day!  Obviously I had made the invitations and the other bits that were sent out with the invitations way back in May, but other bits I couldn't make until the guest list was finalised (like the table plan and place settings).  I also had it in mind that I wanted to make Jo and Jamie a unique wedding card, but that was putting myself under even more pressure ...

The actual invitations consisted of a bundle of different cards (invitation, gift list, RSVP card) all tied up with string and with a label tied on.

The invitation was printed onto kraft card (and getting that to go through the printer was a nightmare all on it's own - thanks to Alex for helping me with that!).  The corners were rounded, a heart and bunting were punched out and all inked up, then out came the sewing machine to sew on the bunting.  The RSVP card was postcard size again with rounded corners and a punched heart, and the gift list was postcard size and again with a heart.  The little label was cuttlebugged and stamped with yet another heart - the inking alone of all the hearts and bunting literally took HOURS!

So, after our holiday we still had the table plan, place settings, table numbers, and order of the days still to do!  Alex very kindly helped me again with the printing then I set to work on the rest of the bits.

The Order of the Days were quite easy!  The place settings not so!

We printed the names onto A4 kraft card first then had to cut the tags out trying to centre the names on the tags - and another inked heart!  These were then tied around the napkins on the tables.

The table plan was nine cards like the one above, again with the bunting but also with a number and they were all stuck onto a gorgeous vintage mirror that Jo and Jamie will have in their home.  These table plans were what caused me the most stress - table 7 had to be done 4 times (for various reasons, only one being our fault!)  Every time I thought it was all done and dusted I received another distress call from Jo and duly had to start all over again and drag out the sewing machine!!!

The bride and groom presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the wedding reception which was just lovely, and I had many compliments throughout the day about the stationery :)

This post wouldn't be complete without a picture of the happy couple now would it?!

It was a fabulous, amazing, happy wedding day, absolutely perfect.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and was proud to have played a little part in making their day so lovely (might have cried a little bit too!!!)

Will be back to show you the wedding card I made, and also the mini album I made for Jo which we presented to her on her Hen Night ...

Carole x