I've been away too long...

I can't believe so much time has passed since my last post! I have been away on a remote island, isolated from my friends and my artwork. Even though this beautiful photo shows an idyllic spot for a restful vacation, the truth is they work you to the bone out there! While the sun is shining warmly outside, I was stuck inside laboring away. No working on my tan on a pearly beach, or sipping an umbrella accented tropical libation for me. Cut, cut, cut! Stamp, stamp, stamp! Emboss, emboss, emboss, emboss, emboss! One day I will need to have an X-ray and the doctors will be puzzled about the metallic spots on my lungs. I will explain that years earlier I was stuck on this island and inhaled so much embossing powder that I have silver lung disease!

Truth is it was a labor of love. I have been making wedding invitations for my youngest son and his fiance for their New Year's Eve wedding. 

The color theme of their wedding is silver, platinum, and ivory. I used the Amuse shimmer card stock in platinum and silver brocade, with metallic silver for the outer folder and ivory matte card stock for the actual invitation and accessory pieces. I made a couple of different samples of invitation styles and they ultimately chose the original vision that they had for their invitation.

The invitation measures 5"x7" and is in a "landscape" format instead of the usual "portrait" mode. It has a flap that tucks under a label which is printed with their initials and embossed with a silver snowflake. I used Ranger super fine detail silver embossing powder and a snowflake stamp from a Making Memories cling stamp set I bought last year at Ink About It.

A sneak peek of what's inside

For the actual invitation, I printed it, justified right (all printing done with Microsoft Word and my trusty Epson printer) then stamped with the beautiful new Memory Box #E1410 Crystal Snowflake and embossed in silver.

When opened it measures 5" x 15 1/4" with a 1 3/4" notched and folded pocket. Now when we decided on the format, it didn't dawn on me that even though I could obtain 11" x 17" stock, there isn't a paper trimmer around the store or in my studio that can cut the card stock lengthwise! Thank god for Printing Solutions next door; they swiftly and efficiently cut the 100 sheets of card stock in half for me for a nominal fee. However I wasn't out of the woods just yet. I had to figure my plan of attack carefully. First I scored all fold lines with a scoring blade on my Carl paper trimmer (that is after I lost my scoring blade, purchased a new one, only to find the original one later). With the strip of card stock folded up on a score line, I then scored (through 2 layers simultaneously) 1/4" line down the length of the card stock, on either side. I snipped a 1/4" notch at the pocket score line, then cut off the rest of the 1/4" score line that I had just made, on either side. All this to get a scored 1/4" gusset to fold under and make a pocket with. Lastly, I cut the squared corners off the other end for the flap. The cutting for the silver metallic outer folder took 11 hours alone.  Have I talked you out of doing invitations yet?

There are 3 components inside the pocket; the reply card, reception, and direction information cards.

These pieces were cut so they would stack uniformly, and each one has - let's say it all together now -  more embossed snowflakes.

Now just for fun, I decided to make them a "fantasy" style invitation sample. I got the idea for this invitation on a drive home from work one night and had to make it come to fruition. One of the decorations for the reception are silver branches that will be in large vases on the tables. I took my cue from these silver branches for the following sample....

Imagine receiving a thin ivory box in your mail box....

When opened, it reveals a wedding invitation under a silvery branch, tied up in platinum organza ribbon and...

yes, snow!

Underneath is all the information needed to attend the crystalline event.

I had so much fun making this sample. The box is from the Paper Source and it is legally mailable (albeit costly). 

Please bear with me as there is more projects to be completed before the wedding in 32 days - yikes! I will post as often as possible in this time period and look forward to the quiet month of January when I can begin anew on my artwork and blogging about it.