Hello Fellow Stampers ~
Oh My!! Last week got away on me! I feel so bad. I've gotten pulled into my sewing project(s) - yes, more than one!! LOL And with Mike's mom here with us, it definitely takes away from my spare time; the rest of my time I actually have to work my "real job" - yuck!! LOL I just have to hold on a couple more years; and then I'm going to retire for good and play all day with all of you!!
So this week is going to be a major catch up week!! This past Monday was our 1st Year Anniversary! We took Mike's mom back to her youngest daughter's home and got her settled there for the rest of the month! We're planning for her to return to her Assisted Living community after her birthday on October 2nd; some of the restrictions have finally improved a little; at least enough for her to go back and not be quarantined to her apartment. We'll get her back out at holiday time and keep her with us through the New Year!
Since we couldn't do what we had originally planned for our 1st Year Anniversary - a special weekend back at the Broadmoor - we decided to do the next best thing. So we spent the day in Colorado Springs - close to our wedding venue - and did some fun outings instead. We took a jeep tour of the Broadmoor area, Manitou Springs, Old Colorado City, and the Garden of the Gods; and spent the evening at the newly re-opened Flying W Ranch (recovered after the devastating fires 8 years ago) enjoying a Chuckwagon supper and wonderful old cowboy music! It was a really wonderful day! So hard to believe we've been married a year already!!
As I said, we're going to play some massive catch up this week -- starting with last week's installment of my 16 Weeks of Christmas; this card has been in pieces on my work desk all this past week driving me nuts!! LOL But finally, I think I got my arms wrapped around it and am quite happy with the outcome. I'm introducing to you all today the Sweetest Time Bundle. I love the candle set in this stamp set; and all the holly elements that you can play with between the stamp set and the die set.
I actually really enjoyed designing this card once I got past a couple of my hang-ups. Let me walk you thru some of the elements.
This card is cut from Thick Whisper White cardstock, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2", scored at 4-1/4". I layered out a piece of Gold Foil, then Cherry Cobbler, and finally regular Whisper White embossed with one of the textures from the Wrapped In Texture embossing folders set.
Those layers are wrapped with a piece of Real Red 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon from the Playful Pets Ribbon Combo. It's a lovely "brighter" accent to the candles which were stamped in Cherry Cobbler - and then fussy cut by the way! [So are the flames to the candles -- you can do it!! Just cut slowly!] I only left just a little white cardstock between each candle that barely shows.
I also used Clear Wink of Stella on each of the stripes of the candles -- be very careful doing this. Use only the very tip of your Stella brush, and stay within the "lines" -- Wink of Stella is like "water" for our ink and in this case will bleed the Cherry Cobbler very quickly.
The candles are popped with dimensionals. And then I went to town with the holly leave and pine cut outs!!
The nice thing about the berries is the image has a coordinating die to cut it out. I used my favorite adhesive (glue dots!) to layer and attach all the leaves and berries -- and the sweet little bows! You can see the Wink of Stella on the berries in this photograph!
Here you can catch a glimpse of the glimmer on the candles.
The sentiment was stamped in Mossy Meadow ink and I hand-snipped the tails!
The inside of the card was created to emulate the front of the card in a more simple manner. I did add Wink of Stella to these candles also!
It's really a pretty card - and carries a nice impact in person!!
I'm going to be back very shortly -- we have a BIG promotion going on today over at Stampin' Up! -- and I don't want you to miss it!!
Stay Tuned!!
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Hugs, . . .
