Continued..a short history through cards

I find that it takes so much time to create nowadays. I don't get down to my desk very often and when I do its a mad rush to make something in the few moments I have before the kids find out where I am. Then when I'm done, my desk looks like this..

That reminds me, I have a wedding card to make.

I decided to share some of the cards I have created in the past. You will see how my skills have improved though the amount of time I have to do it in has reduced.

This is the first major card project I did, the birth announcement for my oldest daughter. I made about 40 of these, mostly at 2am.

As you can see, I was fairly new to the whole stamping thing and the stamps I had were pretty cheesy little foam backed things. The little blue flap on the front opens up to reveal the (handwritten) baby stats. This was 11 years ago.

The second time around, I wanted something simple (so it would be easy to repeat). A short time before this I had discovered Stampin' Up! stamps and became a demonstrator. I used their paper, ink, and stamp image for this card 8 years ago.

Just one stamp and a pretty ribbon.

Daughter #3's card was only slightly more complicated. I was no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator (5 years ago) due to lack of sales and mostly time, but I still like their products and used some for this card as well.

I used their papers and a cute baby feet stamp in Versamark ink to give a watermark look on each color block.

Now comes our 10 year anniversary. Gabe and I got married in a court house with just a few close friends and family. There was 12 of us crammed into a tiny office as the justice of the peace preformed our ceremony. We had a get together with more family a couple weeks later but it was not planned by us and not what we would have done.

We weren't really expecting anyone to do anything for us for the big 1-0 so we decided to throw it ourselves. We had a very small gathering with just about 20 people and we threw ourselves a fancy tea party. Gabe even rented a tux. We made most of the food ourselves, with a little help from friends, and bought 12 teapots for the tea. (Gabe got them on sale here, along with some wonderful tea blends). I made these invitations for the party.

This card had two Stampin' Up! images, one in Versamark and one stamped into paperclay.

The image was stamped in paperclay and dried. Then I painted it with acrylics and "aged" it with antiquing gel.

It was an accordion style card with collage images stamped on the pages and it included a quote, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." by Mother Teresa.

At the tea we included cards at each table with instructions to help make it run more smoothly.

This image was a variation of the cupid picture we had on the windows during our wedding reception. Our only contribution to it, we felt it fit perfectly. I'm not sure where the image is from, but we made copies for these simple cards, backed with rust colored card stock and tied off with pretty ribbon.

And last but not least, the "announcements" for my son. We decide to call them "introductions" since he was announced 7 months ago and we still have about half of the cards to send out. (Sorry guys, at least I got them made before he could talk!) I had to make about 40. (By the way, I did start it before he was born, but we also moved 3 times, never mind your normal pregnant 30something tired.)

For these cards I didn't want the usual cutesy baby blue, or little cars, or footballs, or any other traditional boy thing. (If he's anything like his papa, he'll be more into juggling and hat tricks than sports and cars.)

I found a nice paisley that wasn't girly and had some blue in it (I'm not completely against it) and paired it with a nice brown with a subtle argyle pattern on it, then mounted them on cream card stock. Copper colored eyelets add a nice accent as opposed to the ribbon used for the girls.

I got my husband, who is a artist in his own right though he wont admit it (he did these when he was about 17 or 18), to sculpt the D for me. The background is paperclay stamped with a lace image and antiqued. Then Gabe sculpted a master D and made a mold out of it. All the D's were then "cast" in paperclay, painted in a blue to match the paper, and antiqued before mounting them to the lace. Then the whole thing was mounted to the card itself.

I think Gabe did a great job and I wish we could work together on projects more often. (I have lots of ideas that incorporate sculpted pieces but its by far not my best area, where he is great at it). I may be able to talk him into more, I just have to be patient as he is a last minute kinda guy.

I think my skills have improved, and I really enjoy making cards, maybe I should do it more often. What do you think?

Meliss

P.S. The site for Faces Past was also designed by Gabe (when he was still learning web design). It happens to be my mother-in-law, Michelle Mastel's, site. She is an accomplished porcelain doll sculptor. Her civil war bride is a beautiful piece of art and an all around favorite.