My hubby is turning 40 in a few weeks, and I'm planning a somewhat fancy celebration, and as tradition holds (tradition meaning that I do this for all my 2 girls' birthday party invitations), I make invitations that are a bit over the top...I had a fun idea to make a shaker frame and ran with it. This plus one of Papertrey's newer sets, called Table Service, which I absolutely love, and I had the makings of some super cool invitations!! :)
I plan on submitting one of these to the Paper Crafts World Cardmaking Day contest, so I will go ahead and write the instructions for making the cards here, since I have to do it for my entries anyway! I have never been published, and frankly, have felt like I'm not good enough to submit anything, but I've been feeling very convicted lately to, in the words of Nike, JUST DO IT!! So I will resist the feelings of inadequacy and send it in... ;) I have decided to submit, submit, submit, from here on out, so I'm marking the beginning of my quest right here, right now! ;)
There will be a LOT of pictures on this post, as I didn't have enough patterned paper to make all the invitations the same...in fact, I made 5 different variations, so I had to have pictures of them all, plus lots of detail shots. Since I have to give them all away (and given my attachment to them based on how much time it took me to make them), I took LOTS of detail shots for posterity.
1) I started with really nice textured cardstock from Stampin Up for my card bases (from the Neutrals collection). Trimmed a 5-1/2" x 9" piece and scored at 2-3/4" and 7". (this way you have a little bit of overlap when you fold them).
2) Next I trimmed a 5-1/2" x 1-1/2" piece of patterned paper for the flap. (whatever patterned paper I used for the front of the card, I used the same paper, but the opposite side, for the flap; they coordinate perfectly that way!) I cut this piece with a Papertrey Edgers #1 die and attached it to the back of the larger front flap of the card.
3) I then cut the two pieces of patterned paper for the front flap, leaving just a tiny margin around the edges, and adhered these.
4) I used Papertrey's Half & Half dies to cut the gold wrap that goes all the way around the card. To do this, take an 8-1/2x11 piece of cardstock and trim a piece just wide enough to fit the die (about two inches) by 11". Place the die at the very top of the CS and run it through the machine once; then take the die and turn it around and move it down, lining it up with the ends of the cut line and run it through one more time. You end up with one solid piece close to 11" long and the decorative edge on both ends. This wraps around the card perfectly. Align one decorative edge of the die cut piece with the right side of the card and then just carefully fold it to wrap all the way around. I used an adhesive roller to attach it to the back and both flaps of the card, leaving it unattached on the right front side of the card. All this is AFTER stamping it on the decorative edge with a coordinating stamp from PTI's Half & Half stamp set.
5) I then cut a mat piece in a coordinating patterned paper or solid cardstock color for the front focal point with the Layerz Mat Stack 1 die. Cut two more pieces from a neutral cardstock (I mostly used Naturals Ivory CS from SU) using the smaller Mat Stack 1 die. In one of these Mat Stack 1 pieces, I used the 1-3/4" circle die from Papertrey's Limitless Layers dies to cut a circle out of the center. I then adhered the Mat Stack 1 piece without the hole in it to the Layerz Mat Stack piece.
6) Finally, time to stamp with Table Service! I stamped the silverware and "TO" and "A" on the outside the Mat Stack 1 piece with the center circle cut out. Then I put it on top of the 2nd Mat Stack 1 piece (to make sure the circle opening was lined up) and stamped the plate from Table Service.
7) I used the number stamps from Get to the Point (also a PTI set) to stamp the "40" in the center of the plate in Versamark ink. Also added the tiny "TH" from the Make a Wish Additions set. Sprinkled the whole thing with gold embossing powder and heat set.
8) Next, I die cut a 1-3/4" circle from clear acrylic (I save all the plastic sheets that my PTI stamps come on, thinking I'll eventually have a used for them - I have TONS - and so some of them were finally put to good use!) and glued this to the back of the circle opening of the Mat Stack 1 piece using glue dots.
9) Now it's time to attach the shaker frame circle foam piece (got these from Stampin Up; they're a new item in the Holiday Mini catalog). These have adhesive on both sides and paper over the adhesive on one side. I pulled one piece from the card they come on and turned it so the adhesive side was up (paper side down) and laid it on my craft table. Then I took the Mat Stack 1 piece with the acrylic "window" now attached and lined it up with the adhesive side of the foam piece, so that I could get it behind the circle window with no part of the foam piece showing. Stuck it down and voila, I had the top piece of the shaker frame ready to attach to the 2nd Mat Stack 1 piece (with the plate and the embossed "40TH" on it).
10) Before I could attach the top piece, though, I had to add the glitter. I took a popsicle stick and used it to scoop a little bit of glitter from two different colors (clear and platinum) and poured it on top of the 40 until it was almost all covered. (you'll have just a little pile of glitter in the center of the plate). Then I simply took the paper off the back of the other side of the shaker frame foam piece, lined it up with the 2nd Mat Stack 1 piece, and stuck them together. My focal point was done, and ready to be glued down to the front of the card on top of the gold wrap-around piece.
11) I used Papertrey's Double Ended Banners dies to cut the two pieces for the last stamped part of the card. Stamped the "YOU ARE INVITED" on the longer banner and trimmer one end (it's too long to fit across the front of the card otherwise); stamped "BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION" on the shorter banner; then attached them both to the front of the card..... DONE!!!
Phew! A lot of work, but fun, and worth it. I figured that I'll only be making invitations of this magnitude for my husband's birthday every 10 years, so I wanted to go all out! ;)
So here are the pictures of these invitations:
(this is the one I'll be sending in to the World Cardmaking Day contest)...
Variations:
Supply list:
Cardstock: Neutrals Collection Textured, Brushed Gold, Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla (SU); Soft Stone (PTI)
Patterned Paper: from Timepiece collection, Dot & Numbers (Bo Bunny); from Chocolat assortment, Sucre (s.e.i.); from Now & Forever collection, Dawning Damask (Imaginisce); from Lost & Found - Madison Avenue - Cherish collection, Pintuck (My Mind's Eye)
Stamp Set(s): Table Service, Half & Half, Get to the Point, Make a Wish Additions (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Early Espresso, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip (SU); Dark Chocolate (PTI); Gold embossing powder (CTMH)
Embellishments: Glass glitter (SU)
Tools: Layerz Mat Stack 1, Mat Stack 1, Half & Half, Double-ended Banners dies (PTI)
