Ink to Paper December 2019 Release - Guest Designer

Hello everyone.  I am here today with a post as a Guest Designer for Ink to Paper this month.  How exciting for me!  Then when I got my crafty parcel,  I was even more excited because, at long last, I knew what to do to create today's project.  This project has been on my desk since late October but I needed to have it completed before Christmas Eve. Until my parcel arrived, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. 

A few years ago, for family members, I started making a keepsake using the couple's wedding invitation.  I do it large enough to frame, but small enough to still be affordable.  Because it is 8.5 x 11 inches in size, they can easily find a ready-made frame for it or if they want to go all out, they can have it matted and framed.  Today's project is inspired by their invitation and this fun wedding photo on the right; a totally unstaged moment as you can see.

This is my son-in-law's sister and she is becoming like a daughter to me.  Ana actually passed the bar exam before she graduated from law school - isn't that impressive?  Her husband just got his Ph.D. and did his dissertation so they are pretty conservative for the most part.  It was fun to see this less conservative photo of Ana from their wedding.

Their wedding took place during our move back to Texas last year, and we ended up not being able to attend at the last minute, so we've had to relive it via photos.  I think this one is so much fun.

While I had already purchased specialty cardstock for this project, if you wanted to create a similar look as far as the colors, you could use Lilac Grace, Amethyst Allure, Winter Wisteria, and Royal Velvet.

 
Using the various stamps and dies from the Cake Creations Stamps and Dies,  I created a kind of replica of their wedding cake.   You notice I didn't say duplicate!   I started by die-cutting the full-sized cake base from White Cardstock but cut the bottom layer off as theirs was only the two tiers. You can cut the whole cake and then there is also a die for each layer of the cake so that you can use however many layers you like.  There are also decorative layers that can be used such as stripes and dots.

As you can see, they had edible gold flakes on their cake to match their invitations, so I wanted to include that little detail.  I freehand fussy cut the layers from cardstock to give it the marbled and gilded look.  Then I ran a quickie glue pen along that line where the colors changed and added Nuvo Gilding Flakes (from the Papertrey Ink Modern & Marbled Kit) with a tiny ¼ inch wide flat brush dipped into the lid of my container of gilding flakes.  If you haven't used these, they can have a mind of their own, so go slow and cautiously when you open your container.  For a project of this scale, you'll have more than enough flakes in the lid to use on your project.

Because I was also trying to imitate the look of the marbled layers on their cake, I used Nuvo Dream Drops in Indigo Eclipse.  The dream drops are iridescent and also pick up the color of whatever they are on top of.  Of all the Nuvo Drops, the Dream Drops are my very favorites. They come in 6 colors (although I haven't looked at them for a while) so there may be more colors now.

For the flowers on the cake, I die cut the flowers and leaves from the shimmer cardstock scraps and then stamped and heat embossed the detail layer using Versamark with gold embossing powder.  In this particular case, I didn't want the white outside border for the flowers, so I cut the basic shape from colored cardstock.  I also like this look for many other projects.  Sometimes I use plain white and don't mind the border and other times I use colored scraps.  I have a scrap bin full of colored cardstock scraps, so either option works and it's a great way to use those scraps. 

Using the Pierced Feature Frames: Rectangle, I die cut the background pieces where the cake is. Since it also has the interior piece, I cut another and then used the interior piece to add the additional pierced detail layer. The cake stand and the gold layers were cut from gold foiled cardstock which if you've been here before you know I use a lot! 

Since their wedding was a multi-day event, they also had the little Weekend Event enclosure and I wanted to be sure to include that on their keepsake.  Ana loves jewel tones and purples in particular.

I also wanted to make a card that had a similar feeling to the large piece, so I used the same cardstock and made another cake, this time with three tiers.  I added the gilding flakes to the layers just free-handed with the Quickie Glue Pen.  I normally use Multi Medium Matte for my liquid adhesive, but for this small, fine detail, the Quickie Glue Pen works better.  For the largest background layer on the card, I die cut the Bold Borders: Stitched from the darkest purple cardstock and then embossed it with the Border Bling: Tin Stitched Die.  This die doesn't cut, but it embosses that detail into the card stock.  I know this will come to be a favorite.

The middle layers are also die cut using Pierced Feature Frames: Rectangles and using the two leftover pieces from the larger project, I inlaid the smaller piece into the frame.  I wanted to keep this design very simple so I chose to just use a larger flower from the Tag Creations: Modern Gift from several I made previously for all of my gift card holders that you can see in my October 2019 Keeping Christmas post here.  I still have a lot of the assembled flowers left, so I just need to cut more foliage and make a few more gift-card holders.  Since I am giving this to the couple at Christmas, I wanted to use the Poinsettia.  I stamped and heat embossed the "Mr. and Mrs." from the Cake Creations stamp set in the same gold embossing powder.

Another tip that I would like to share is that when using the Nuvo Drops, roll them back and forth in your palms or set the closed bottle inside a cup of warm water to help them warm up and be fluid.  Practice on a scrap of cardstock to get an idea of how they flow.  I've found the various types to each work a bit differently, so it's important to check the flow of the one you want to use to make sure it is warm enough to be fluid.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I'll have another project for you in a few days featuring a few more products from the December 2019 Ink to Paper Release. The products I've used are linked below and I always appreciate it very much when you use my affiliate links.


Affiliate Links may be used at no additional cost to you.

I2P - Border Bling: Stitched Shop at: PTI/ITP	I2P - Border Bling: Tin Stitched Shop at: PTI/ITP	I2P - Cake Creations Die Set Shop at: PTI/ITP	I2P - Cake Creations Stamp Set Shop at: PTI/ITP
I2P Perfect Match Amethyst Allure Ink Shop at: PTI/ITP	I2P Perfect Match Lilac Grace Ink Shop at: PTI/ITP	I2P Perfect Match Winter Wisteria Ink Shop at: PTI/ITP	I2P Stamper's Select White Cardstock #110 Shop at: PTI/ITP
Kokuyo Long Dot Adhesive Shop at: SSS	PTI Modern & Marbled Kit Shop at: PTI/ITP	Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS	ScraPerfect No Clog Tip for Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS
SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Mini Craft Snips Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS
Tonic Nuvo Dream Drops - Indigo Eclipse Shop at: SSS