Wedding Invites & Venetian Masks!!

Hi Blogland. I really don't know where this week has gone... I do recall posting on Tuesday, and yet Friday is now here and where has the time gone in between?? Ho Hum!!
The reason time has flown is mainly because I have been concentrating on getting some Wedding Invitations finished for a couple. They came and saw me last December and I said I would put some samples together for them. They came back in January and we agreed on the final design which I started on straight away. Well, with over 200 invites, and RSVP's to do you don't want to leave it to the last minute now do you.
With one thing and another they have only just come back to me with the final wording for the invites and RSVP's, in both English and Italian I might add!!And here they are...They have an unusual theme of Tea for their wedding. I didn't want to appear rude so I never asked why. Although I would have asked eventually! I just assumed that the Bride to be may work for a Tea company or be tea total or something like that. Anyway, now I have the wording it all makes sense. They are having an Afternoon Tea after their Ceremony instead of a traditional Wedding Breakfast, and therefore that was why they went with this theme.Oh and the Bride is tea total and works for a tea company and her surname is Tetley... Na, not really!!So with all the English and Italian invites done and ready for them to collect I will make a start on the Table Plan, Post Box, Menu's, Place Names and Favours.. Ooooohh I need a cuppa now!!!
So, seeing as I don't have a project as such to share with you today I have borrowed one of Super Sis' (Joanne) amazing projects...She amazes me in all that she does with her parchment craft. And this is no exception. Although it looks perhaps impossible to do to the untrained eye, myself included, she assures me that the project is quite simple and doesn't take too long... Yeah, whatever!!I think you'll agree... SPECTACULAR!!!
Right, I'm off to boil the kettle for that cuppa.
Thanks for checking us out..
See you soon.
@ndy.

Come dine with me...

Hi Blogland.. I know, get me... 2 posts in as many day's!! Today I want to share with you a project I have been working on for the Cuttlebug Blogspot Design Team. This weeks theme was Dinner Invitations. Specifically Thanksgiving, but due to the fact that the Current DT has quite a few international members (American, Australian, Dutch and of course us Brits!, sorry if I've missed anyone!) who don't really do thanksgiving we were given leeway to choose another type of invitation.
So here's mine...I don't know if the programme has been syndicated world wide, but here in the UK we have a TV programme called "Come Dine With Me" where a group of up to 5 complete strangers cook for each other. Each night it's someones turn and the rest visit their houses for dinner, and snoop around their house and see how they get on with each other. They vote (secretly) each night and at the end of the week someone wins £1000.. Honestly it's great viewing as some of the people are soooo pretentious and get their comeuppance from their fellow diners... Anyway, my friends and I are planning to do something like this between ourselves, not for the TV cameras obviously, just for fun.. And I thought an invitation along the theme might score me a few extra points.... So here's how I put it together..I took the plate image from the Wall Decor Cricut cartridge and welded 2 of them together using the Gypsy machine to form my base card.I'd planned on doing an Easel card so folded one of the sides in on itself.I then cut out a single plate shapeand attached it to the half folded card to form the Easel.I then cut out my dinner set, again from the Wall Decor cartridge, ooopps far too big for the base cardso I cut it out in a smaller size.
The dinner set looked great but needed something around the edge. I decided to use a Creatables die I have been meaning to use. Your die cutting machine is sooooo diverse, be it the Cuttlebug or the Big Shot as they take most manufacturers embossing folders and dies. If you fancy giving a Creatable a go here's how to use them in the CB.Take your A & B plates,add your card stock and dies, cutting side down.Add your C plate and pass through your machine.
Once cut, turn the die over with the cut out image still inside it. You know, just like a nestie (Nestabilitie). This time we are going to emboss the die...Now, add your NEW TOY ALERT!!! NO Shims Required Mat!! yep that's right, this mat does what it says on the tin, well cellophane packaging actually. This slightly thicker tan mat negates the need to keep on adding scrap bits of card stock (shims) when embossing. If you are anything like me I usually grab the first piece of card which comes to hand which is probably a piece I am working on and of good quality and therefore quite expensive just to use as a shim.This time, finish off with your B plate and pass through the machine to emboss your die.This was attached to the card with the dinner set,and remember earlier when I cut the dinner set too large for the card? The flourish from the cut out dinner plate worked perfectly for the stand of the easel.I then joined my phrase together using my Gypsy machine and the Calligraphy cartridgeand added them to the card.Voila! Bon Appetite...
I did also have time in a busy week to attempt a Thanksgiving invite.It's not my best work, but I did have fun playing around with it...
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon..
Andy.

And the winner is....

Happy Bank Holiday everyone! Well, to all our followers in the UK anyway, perhaps everyone else has to go to work this Monday? Including me!!First things first, the winner, drawn at random, of the Independence Day Cricut Cartridge is.....BRENDA, from Michigan in the US. Well Done & Congratulations Brenda, the cartridge will be winging it's way to you very shortly. Hop on over to Brenda's Blog and check out some of her fantastic work.. It's very inspiring..
So, on to today's project.. In my last post I shared with you an idea using some left overs from another project, well I still have a few of those pears left over, so here's another project.It could be used as a "Get Well" or "Thinking of you" card, the sentiment says's it all! "When life serves you lemons, make lemonade". And here's a step by step..I cut 3 Lemons, from the Preserves Cricut Cartridge, using the Lid function @ 3" and took a selection of Adirondack Inksand coloured them.
Yep! they look like little yellow fish!, so if you have a project that ever calls for little yellow fish, now you know where to get them..Once coloured, I then glazed them with Glossy Accents.I cut a Colander from the From My Kitchen Cricut Cartridge using the Blackout Function at 4 3/4",attached high tac tape to the backand applied it to my card, I domed the image slightly to give it some dimension.I embossed a strip of Gold Mirror card using another folder from the Preserves Cricut Companions Cuttlebug Set. Although there aren't borders in the set as such, I embossed down one side of the embossing folderand then turned the card around to emboss the other endto form a continuous border.Then applied it to the card.
Time to fill up the bowl!I added two pears which I had already coloured and glazed,before adding the lemons..I printed my sentiment out from my PC and cut it out using a scalloped edged circle Nestabilitie, and used a slightly larger Circle in Gold Mirror Card to matt the Sentiment onto before applying it to the project..So there you have it, another few of the pears used.. Thanks to Toni for the Home Decor/Recipe Cards ideas for more uses for the pears.. Watch this space! Enjoy your day, whatever you are up to... Thanks for checking us out, see you soon..
Andy.

The perfect pair!! PEAR

LONG POST ALERT!! Grab a cuppa, it's ganna be a long one, but oh so worth it!!
Hi Blogland, I have a friend who has just got engaged and is planning an engagement party in September.. For me September is Autumn, although with this global warming lark September can be as hot as mid July! I remember when I went back to school after the summer holidays, the leaves were falling off the trees, it was cold, it was wet!! pretty much like it has been in the UK for the past few days!! Hey, perhaps things are not so different now then!! Of course this is just a generalisation for us in the northern hemisphere, apologies for all our antipodean followers, you must be approaching Spring I guess??! Anyway, enough waffling..As their engagement is in September my card for them has an autumnal feel to it..
This week in our lessons here at Pinnacles we have been doing a technique called Iris Folding, NO! not folding a lady called Iris, although we do have a lady called Iris in our Wednesday Evening class, bet she got the shock of her life when she looked at the lesson sheet and saw this technique was coming up!! She still came to the lesson regardless, if a little apprehensively!!
For Iris Folding you need (a little old lady called Iris, folded in half and then half again!) NO! stop it!! You need a template of some sort,I chose a template of a pear which was cut from the Wall Decor & More Cricut Cartridge. And like with most templates you will use either the positive or negative image for your project,for the lesson, we used the negative image,which meant I was left with around 100 pears, of 50 pairs of pears!! Oh what to do with them, my first instinct was to bin them, but what a waste!! So I have incorporated them into a few projects.I took a couple of the images and coloured them with some Adirondack Ink (Lettuce)shading around the edgesto give dimension.I then added some Red Pepper ink to add more colour and shade, at first I though ooopps, too much,but they came our really well, almost good enough to eat!!You know me at the moment, if it stands sill long enough it's ganna get a blast of Glossy Accents!!Whilst the Pears were drying I took a piece of card stockand coloured it with the Lettuce Adirondack Ink,Embossed it through the Cuttlebug with one of the Embossing Folders from the Preserves Cricut Companions Cuttlebug Sets which matches this project perfectly I think. The idea behind the Cricut Companions is that they complement their respective Cricut Cartridges, but you don't need a Cricut to use them, they are Embossing Folders!....Once embossed, I went over the image again with the Lettuce,and then with Red Pepper, this project is sounding more and more like a Waldorf Salad recipe.. Lettuce, Red Pepper, Pears!! eeeekkk.I also randomly glazed some of the embossed images with Glossy Accents and put to one side to dry.I took this selection of Inksand randomly applied them to a White piece of card stock.
Punching out a border with one of the NEW EK Success large edger punches.
Glazed them, and put them by to dry.I printed my sentiment from my PC and coloured the paper with the Lettuce and Red Pepper Ink to tie the project together,cutting it out with a small Nestibilitie Circle and also cutting out a slightly larger circle in Gold Mirror Cardand layered the Two together, sorry photography is not my best skill!!I added a strip of card stock to my base card,attaching the now dry leaf border with foam pads and cutting it down to size..Matting my embossed piece of card onto some Gold Mirror card,before mounting it onto the final project.Adding the pears,and finally the sentiment.
Sorry for the long post! it took me 2 days to make the card (including drying time) and almost as long to write it up on here!! You've done well if you've got this far!! LOL. Hope this project gives you some inspiration for your Autumn crafting projects.. You still have time to win this Cricut Cartridge, so don't forget to leave a comment..
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon..
Andy.