Marc And I “Do” Crafting Together For The First Time …… Continued ….

This card is A5 in size ……..

Marc wanted me to make him a card that incorporated an old sixpence to give to the bride whose wedding we had been working on ….

I had an inkling of an idea on the Saturday, but it took me until late Monday evening to put all together ……..

I wanted it to take all the ideas and die cuts we had used on all the other bits and pieces we had done so that the theme flowed, but it took a couple of days because we were constantly throwing new ideas at each other, and trying things that sometimes didn’t quite work out.

I wish you could have heard us ….. debating, trying one idea, erming and ahhing, trying something else, and then more often as not going back to our original idea ……

I lined the card with a thin, plain, white paper and then added a red velum insert that Marc had punched a while ago for another project, and then a bit of loopy writing and a few tiny red flat backed gems finished the whole thing off,  done and dusted!

Marc And I “Do” Crafting Together For The First Time …… Continued ….

This is the pile of booty that Marc and I put together during my visit, and I think Marc has since added a few more things……… what is he like????

The matchboxes (below) are to put small pieces of jewellery or keyrings in made by Marc ……

……. but they proved to be the most frustrating and difficult things to put together ever, despite our using the Stampin’ Up matchbox die my son Tom managed to get from America ….. they look lovely when put together, but believe me, they would try the patience of a saint, and Marc said that for the first time he realised how impatient I can be!!  Needless to say, I left ALL the matchboxes to Marc, who fortunately does have the patience of a saint!!!

After Marc had worked out how to put the insides together he then went on to emboss the outsides ….. and cutting even more blue glitter birds out (Sizzix Sizzlits Singles Die - Bird Swallow Patch Embellishment Item #: 12786329), which I believe may now be discontinued.

On it’s own the bird didn’t look right, so we added the flower, but had to fiddle fart with them because the stem was white and needed to be coloured green, and they were soooooo tiny ….. aghhhh,

But something was still missing ….. first Marc added a plain flourish and then a silver flourish and then a glittered glittered ….. before finally wondering out aloud how they would look with a bit of writing and a doodle or two on  …….. and since he says I can write on a pinhead, guess who got that job ???????

My template and guide is at the bottom, marked so that I could compare and write the real thing in around about the same place each time!

Marc then followed the idea through again with the fridge magnets he made, seen here backed on contrasting presentation cards.

There were also packs of tattoos to put together and since I have got home I have made a card to go with some wish bracelets ………….

That’s one thing about Marc ……. he knows how to make a woman work for her keep, but we had such a wonderful, wonderful time and there were huge hugs and a few tears when it was time for me to leave ………. BUT here’s an even more WONDERFUL thing …….. we are now busy making plans for Marc to stay with me for a week in the summer ……. he has a bucket list and visiting the delights of Wolverhampton is on there ………. now how brilliant will that be?????

Marc And I “Do” Crafting Together For The First Time …… Continued ….

These are the place settings Marc and I put together for the wedding he is “doing” ……. I think they measure about 4.5 ins x 4.5ins. They are made using a pack of card blanks which we scored about half and inch either side of the fold so that they would stand up. 

We then spent most of the morning die cutting all the shapes we needed, plus extra’s for other things,  Marc on his Cuttlebug and me on his BigShot.

I typed and printed out a pile of pin poems, cut them to size and stuck them down using foam pads at the top of the inside of the card and used matching ready made toppers that Marc already had to fill in the space at the bottom. We then built up the scored bottom, using two layers of foam tape, plus another shorter one in the middle which was further embellished with a length of self adhesive ribbon to accommodate three of Marc’s beautiful pins.

The final touch was a red ribbon tied through a single hole punched at the top and bottom of the card to bring it all together and help them stand up.

Et voila, a place setting and wedding favour all in one!

Working On A Project With Marc ….. For The Very First Time!

I didn’t see Marc at Easter because of my Icelandic trip, but it felt so awful and so strange, I was pining big time ….. so when I found out that Virgin were offering train tickets to London for just £5.50 at half term, well it would have been most rude not too make a considered purchase, wouldn’t it?

So, I arrived at 7.30 just in time for supper and for us to watch Gogglebox, our Friday night programme of choice together for the first time  …… and enjoy an aperitif or two ……….. well, neither of us know how we did it, and I am not sure I should really be telling you this for fear of you feeling ill of me and Marc and our habits  ….. BUT these are our empties …… OMG ….  and I don’t even drink, except for high days and holidays, by rights I think we should both be dead ….. but we didn’t even walk funny, talk stupid, pass out or get into a fight ……. the room didn’t even spin, we just talked and talked and talked until it became light and then it wasn’t really worth going to bed!!  …. We had our last drink at 8.30 on Saturday morning and then started to work…..  because despite this awful, awful tale of debauchery we were on a mission and had much work to get through ……. Marc had a wedding to “do” and I was there to help.  He really didn’t have much of a theme/idea to go on ….. just the title Roman Holiday …. which Marc decided to link in with 1950’s style tattoos.

My first job was to embellish a pile of white lunch bags that were to be filled with favours (also to be made by Marc) with tattoo designs that Marc had drawn up. The idea had been to simply print them out on his printer, but erm….. the ink was running low ….. and we were stuck, until I suggested that if I could find somewhere in Notting Hill that had a copier all would not be lost ……

……. and that’s when Marc and I started bouncing ideas off each other that would continue for the rest of my visit! The colours were pretty flat and faded then Marc suggested that I went over them with ProMarkers before having them copied …… a genius idea, because when they were copied the paper took on a glossy texture and the colours became so much deeper and richer with what appeared to be a crude but perfect rough shading to them ……

Each tattoo design, one for the front and back of each bag, then had to be mat and layered on red, glittered using translucent diamond dust which went everywhere, and I mean everywhere, and the names of the bride and groom and guests written in my best loopy writing!

In the end it looked like as if a whole herd of fairies had partaken in a wild and wanton party where fairy dust had been scattered with unbridled abandon  ….. my eyes were so sore, I was coughing up glitter and Marc and I were twinkling for England!

At Ar first I thought the bags might be a little over the top or not quite as precise as I would have liked …..

….. but sometimes when you are working up close to something for a long time you can’t see the whole picture anymore and leave them for a while and then go back to them …….. and when I did I was soooooooo pleased …….. but there was more work to be done, as you will see tomorrow.

Candy Rainbows

My friend Josie sent me this picture and link with Tom and Laura’s “rainbow” wedding in mind ……
http://catchmyparty.com/photos/525090 – it’s an idea I have seen before and I just love ….

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/03/st-patricks-day-rainbows/

They are made using American sweets/candy called Twizzlers ….

….  I checked out to see if they are available over here, and yes they are …. from Amazon, Ebay and other online shops specialising in American products, with prices varying from £1.19 a pack to £1.99+,  so making them for every wedding guest would be rather prohibitive ….. but nevertheless it’s such a lovely idea ….. it’s one to keep on the back burner! 

I may also try and find a few packs when I am in Las Vegas to bring back because when I did a Google search on them there were lots of other lovely ideas I would also like to try out.

http://www.icandystore.co.uk/twizzlers-rainbow-fruit-twists-53g-403-p.asp

http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/store/Hersheys-Twizzlers-Rainbow---American-03453201.html

Tom And Laura’s Wedding Place Settings

Well…Tom and Laura’s Crafty Wedding Dream Team of Denise, Sarah, Emily, Daisy, Lucy and me can’t rest on our laurels for too long as we now have all the place settings to do …..

….. measuring 7.5cms x 5cms and mirroring the wedding invitations I am hoping that they won’t take too long to make …. and then they will be off to the Lovely Laura to work her magic ….. as she has the most gorgeous handwriting.

The tables will also be liberally sprinkled with more punched flowers with a few “diamonds” added for even more sparkle …. it’s going to look sooooo beautiful!

The Final Finishing Touches to Tom and Laura’s Wedding Invitations.

I bought seventy five130gsm C5 envelopes from eBay to put Tom and Laura’s wedding invitations in.  They cost me £7.38 inc. P & P  which I don’t think is too bad, but I thought that I could make them a little more special……

….. so cut papers in the same colours as we had used for the punched flowers and then lined the envelopes with them, using only the smallest amount of PVA glue to make sure that there were no wrinkles.

I then thought that I ought to make a little “something” to add to the back of each invitation to show how just how unique they were and who had made them….

….perhaps drumming up business for this very successful dream wedding team!!!!!

Tom and The Lovely Laura’s Wedding Invites Almost Finished ….

Well….. “The Wednesday/Thursday Tom and Laura Crafty Wedding Club” set up chez nous, to make the wedding paraphernalia for Tom and the Lovely Laura’s wedding has finally finished their first project ……

…. to wit … 50 invitations in two basic designs, but each one is slightly different, because the make up of colours used for the flowers was left entirely to Denise, Sarah, Daisy, Emily, Lucy and me …… and are so Lovely Laura.

After our last session they were left drying all over the room, with just the ribbons to trim, as you can see from these pictures.

We were all so chuffed with ourselves ….. and spent ages just gazing at all the different combinations.

I don’t really think I made putting the heart/printed part of the invitations together easy for myself ….. because I know that, if I had the patience, I could have set up the print and cut facility up on my Silhouette to do it, but I have only done that once …. and it took me two days to get right and in the process almost sent me stark staring mad!!!!

So …. first I created sheets of invitation “toppers” in Publisher …..

……  in three colours, pink, purple and turquoise to match the ribbons, in Papyrus font size 16.5.

And then …. the Heath Robinson bit ….. I held a plastic heart template behind the card to centre the text, and then, trying not to move the template, drew round it, again on the back of the card …….. I know, I know …… talk about long winded!

The hearts were then duly cut out ….

.... then mat and layered on white linen and mirror card.
There is one more fiddlefart finishing touch to go ….  of which I will show you tomorrow.

Almost There …… Tom and Laura’s Wedding Invitations.

Production of Tom and the Lovely Laura’s wedding invitations is about to start, I’d got the designs pretty bang on, it was just a matter of what colours to go for. 

All along Laura said she wanted “a rainbow” wedding, and had already purchased miles and miles of ribbon with which to make her own and bridesmaids bouquets, plus guests buttonholes and table centrepieces, so the obvious thing to do was to link the ribbon colours in with the invitations etc. and as they were vivid rainbow colours, it was a piece of (wedding)cake to find papers to match. 

The plan now is to use both designs, making 45 of each, using either a purple, turquoise or pink coloured ribbon, with silver (punched) dragonflies.  There is a little fine tweaking to do, like matching up the colour of the printing to the ribbon used, but after that,  Wednesday nights will be a flurry of activity as anyone in the family who wants to do a bit of punching and sticking is invited round for “Crafting Night”

Effectively  no two invitations should be the same, because once we start our production line,  it will be up to the individual maker as to which colours they use to put the flowers together …… so each guest will receive something really, really unique.  I still have to order the envelopes, which we will then line with paper that matches the ribbon on the invitation.

We shall also be using the punched daisies as table confetti with a few gems scattered in, and, if it’s possible, for the real confetti.

After the invitations, the place cards should follow …..  but my mock up looks very bland at the moment (above), but in the new revised colours and a different leaf punch they’ll be banging!!  Very HAPPY days!!!

Robust Excitement ….. Experimenting With Wedding Invitations

As you know my son Tom and The Lovely Laura are getting married in the summer (2013) and as Christmas  had a strange sort of feel to it this year, and, to be honest, the TV was flipping awful I decided to put some of my energies into working on a few simple ideas for wedding invitations during the quiet times,   ….. nothing concrete … just something that Tom and Laura could look at and think about …….

(For obvious security reasons I have removed the date)

I have told them that there is nothing that can’t be changed and that the colours are simply to show them what can be done …. and so can be altered to suit any colour scheme. 

I know which style I like best …. but it’ll be interesting to see which idea they will go for and how it will evolve over the coming weeks,  so that it will be exactly as they want.  Watch this space!!