Glossy Accident - Almost

A friend of mine asked if I could make an anniversary card for some Scottish friends who will be celebrating their silver wedding anniversary.  Luckily it happened to coincide with a NBUS Challenge over at Darnell's Blog so I wanted to post it before to closed.  In my haste to get it photographed, I didn't wait until the glossy accents dried.

Do you see what I mean.  Fortunately I noticed before too much damage was done - phew!  It's going to lay flat for any future photo shoots.   

Unfortunately the silver detail on the hearts isn't visible in this photo because of the extra thick coat of glossy accents I had to reapply.  I stamped and embossed the heart from  WMS Celtic Heritage in silver on navy card.  I then used the heart die from the WMS My Heart die set (though any open heart die would do) and ended up with a celtic patterned heart.  

Here's a closer look at the hearts - boo boo and all!!!

The Cheery Lynn die is NBUS.  I had tried to use it before but the die cut is quite long and won't fit on a card front - if you try to truncate the die cut the middle bits fall out because of the design.  I had a light bulb moment and partially die cut one end, repositioned the die cut in the other end of the die and partially cut the other end.  Now there are three links instead of five so it fits on an A6 card front and the middle bits are intact.

Do pop over to Darnell's blog - you're sure to have a giggle !!! 

So glad you stopped by, your visits and comments always brighten my day,

Kate

50th Birthday Greeting for a Celtic Couple

This was a commissioned card for my friend Ruth. Friends of hers (a couple) are both turning 50 soon and she wanted a special card to mark the event.
The recipients are a Scotsman and an Irish lass, so I thought I'd go with a celtic theme.  I already had quite a few celtic stamps as I've always been attracted to celtic design (they're great for male cards and although he's a 4th generation  Australian, my father still considers himself Irish).
So loaded with a couple of mismatched celtic stamps and a thistle stamp and the idea of including a photo or a pocket for a photo, I had no idea how I was going to fill an A5 card front.  I turned to my favourite sources of inspiration these days - the WMS blog (always good for a laugh as well - Claire has a wicked sense of humour) and the WMS Gallery, and was promptly reminded that WMS have several stunning celtic stamp sets.  In fact one of them Celtic Heritage had both a stylised thistle and shamrock, as well as loads of other celtic elements and plenty of sentiments in an Uncial font.  So yes even though I did already have quite a few celtic stamps, I just couldn't resist.
The design came together really quickly once I decided to drop orange from the colour mix and just stick with a green, navy and white - I even found this great tartan to match in a Basic Grey Marjolaine 6x6 paper pad, and my sewing machine was behaving itself for once.
I lined the inside with white sheets stamped with the same celtic squiggle border stamp I used on the front pocket.
I used Chipped Sapphire and Peeled Paint Distress Inks - don't forget to ink your clear stamps with Versamark first before using dye-based inks such as these Distress Inks if you want a clear crisp image.
The "50th" I created using an EK Success Loopy Numbers set for the "th" - these are rubber and almost impossible to line up perfectly so I stamped this first and then added the die cut 5 and 0 (Tim Holtz Chip Block alphabet) afterwards.
Ruth seemed to like it when she picked it up this evening - I hope her friends like it too.