Anniversary Card for My Honey and Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Monday to all and Happy Memorial Day for those of us in the USA. I am always thankful for those who have defended my freedom. Since both parental surname branches of my family tree arrived in the American Colonies by 1650 (one English, one Dutch), there has been someone who has served in every U.S. war from the American Revolution up through WWII (none in Vietnam or Iraq). Three of my great-great-grandfathers died in the Civil War. Both of my grandfathers served in the Army in  WWI and my dad served in the Navy in WWII. Thank you to everyone who served and serves!

  

This coming week holds another wedding anniversary for Honey and me. Wednesday will be 32 years of marriage. Pretty good for two crazies who only dated 6 weeks before tying the knot, huh? (Well, we both just KNEW...or thought we did and we've been lucky.)  Every year it seems I struggle to come up with a special card design. Honey is so so so supportive and proud of my hobby art. He patiently stops whatever he is doing and inspects and admires everything I make. And not to mention I can buy whatever I want. Plus, he also cheerfully lives in a house that looks more like a heavily-inventoried craft store at times, lol.

So, I feel the pressure to make THE most special card for him. (There have been years when I just gave up and bought a card, lol.) This year, I was not sure I could pull it off. I had it in my head to use a stamp I've had for awhile but never used before, Stamping Bella's Forever My Always. So, I'm staring at this week's Split Coast Stampers Wednesday Sketch (which was really hard for me to visualize at first) and then BOOM! it hit me to make what I call a split-level card. So that is what I've done and I LOVE IT! It wasn't that easy to photograph, so I hope I am giving you the full idea of it.

Here is the front as it opens. It's a 5x7 (A7) card with 1/2" cut off the front side edge so that you see the My Love strip when it is closed, hence, why I call it a split-level card...like a house, I guess lol. In addition to the adorable Stamping Bella couple stamp which I colored with my ProMarkers and fussy cut, the 3 sentiments are by Stamping Bella, Sheena Douglass for Crafters Companion and Avery Elle. I used VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and clear-heat-embossed them. The small flag die cut at top is My Favorite Things and the large flag die cut at the bottom is Avery Elle. The background was stenciled with Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilized Amber Distress Inks using a Memory Box stencil. 

And here is what the inside looks like as it opens.  The vertical My Love letters were die cut with QK Studio Alphas on my ancient QuicKutz Squeeze that still works perfectly. I adhered the letters to a strip of Teresa Collins Love Lines card stock that's on top of a strip of this gorgeous patterned paper I found in my stash and have no earthly idea who made, the back of the 12x12 had no info. I looked before I cut.

Here's the full open inside laying flat. Again, is this paper not gorgeous? All of the sentiments inside were stamped with VersaMark and then heat-embossed using Ranger Lemon Yellow EP. I love how the yellow just pops against the paper. Okay, the left side sentiment is Papertrey Ink. On the right side, top to bottom: Stampin' Up, Leave Memories, Avery Elle, Clear Dollar, Stampin' Up, Sweet Stamp Shop, Leave Memories and PSX stamps. I basically hunted through my Love stamp category and chose every stamp that spoke to me. {grin}

Here's the back where I've used the Teresa Collins card stock to mat. My Lawn Fawn siggie is stamped on top of a Lil' Davis heart stamp, both heat-embossed and then die cut using a Spellbinders Labels die.

 

 Some close-ups of the inside. Click to make bigger. I learned something from doing this. What I did was try to stamp in VersaMark 2 or 3 of the stamps at a time before heat-embossing. That's why it looks kind of random, because I was basically stamping blind. I finally got a clue halfway down to stamp then go apply my powder, stamp and powder, etc. That way I could see where I'd stamped the one above as I went along. The VersaMark ink stays wet so long I could have probably done the entire page this way before melting with my heat tool. Lesson learned! I thought about starting over to make it perfectly aligned, but that paper is so pretty I wasn't about to waste any of it. And Honey will not notice anything wrong at all.

 Close-up of my front image. I just get a kick out of these two! They are so cute!

One last view of my closed card. I do think it's Honey-worthy. Whew! Just thankful I came up with something he hasn't seen me make. :-))) Now, to the Challenges I'm playing with this card:

CHALLENGES:
1.  Split Coast Stampers Wednesday Sketch Challenge #750 - Sketch is shown above
2.  Scrapping4Fun Challenge #141: Masculine
3.  Love to Scrap Challenge #121: Anything Goes + Opt. Challenge Masculine - I have played the masculine option, this is a card for my husband.
4.  Mix It Up Challenge #25: Anything Goes + Opt. Mixed Media - I have played the option. I have stamping, stenciling, die cutting, heat-embossing, paper layering (collage) and coloring with alcohol markers and Distress and pigment inks
5.  Stamplorations Mixed Media Challenge May: Always Anything Mixed Media Goes with a Stencil

6.  More Mixed Media May Challenge: Anything Goes with Optional Pink - my creation is mixed media but I did not choose to play the color option. I have stamping, stenciling, die cutting, heat-embossing, paper layering (collage) and coloring with alcohol markers and Distress and pigment inks
7.  Love to Craft Challenge #34: May Anything Goes
8.  613 Avenue Create Challenge #221: Anything Goes + Opt. Twist Shaker Card - I did not play the twist.
9.  Country View Challenge May: Opposites - Man and Woman: Opposites Attract (describes our happy marriage this card is celebrating)
10.  Use Your Stuff Challenge #360: Mood Board - I was inspired by the red, yellow and grays, and I saw the board as very romantic, as in things you would do on a date in May...like an anniversary. :-)

11.  IkesWorld Challenge #120: E is for Emboss + Anything Goes - all of my sentiments and the focal image are heat-embossed.
12.  Crafting from the Heart Challenge #244: Always Anything Goes
13.  Outlawz Color Tuesdays May 21- Jun 3: Purple + 2 Other Colors + Tell Us Your Twist - I chose purple, red and yellow and my twist is use a stencil.

14.  Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge May 23-Jun 5: Twist is Masculine - my card is for my husband.
15.  Jo's Scrap Shack Challenge #283: Always AG
16. Try It On Tuesday Let's Party 10th Birthday Share
17. Lost Coast Designs Challenge #76: Use Some Words - I stamped and have 3 sentiments on my card (and a ton more inside). 

18.  Outlawz Festive Friday Challenge May 17-30: Anniversary/Wedding Theme

That is it for me this time. THANKS for visiting and come back! Catch you laterz, gatorz! XOX