Wedding Invitations ~ Finally

(I can't tell anymore if it's my laptop or my phone that is changing the color of my pictures but it makes me sad, especially when I put so much time into making something. ) 

Some might be aware that our daughter's wedding was not what it was supposed to be back in 2020 as we were 3+ months into the Covid lockdown and venues were closed, people were discouraged from having large gatherings, and well, I think you know the rest.  While they didn't have their planned wedding celebration, they did get married on the day that they chose and we crossed the border into another state (which meant we had to quarantine when we got home) to be witness to it.  Only their parents (and Maverick at 1) were there with the officiant.

Subsequently, when all those restrictions were lifted they tried to reschedule something at the earliest they could.  That was not to be as they couldn't get it in before their venue went out of business a year later and all those other weddings that had to be postponed gobbled up the days.  I've seemingly lost all track of time and I don't remember when they finally found the new venue and date but it's going to take place this August 5th.

Colors were picked out and dresses were purchased back in 2020.  The bride's also.  But as we neared the date, several found out that their dresses no longer fit, includind the bride, so there were multiple purchases on that front.  I had stocked up on the cardstock that I thought I would need for completing the invitations that she asked me to make.  I was more than grateful to LeAnn of Wee Inklings for coming to the rescue when I discovered that my stock didn't included enough ink for the stamped parts and she shared what she had.  You see, some of the colors that I was using were retired in the interim and no longer available through the company.  

Rachel wanted something simple, but of course pretty, and mentioned eucalyptus leaves.  I had a few things in my stash tucked away with the eucalyptus leaves and hearts, and a new lace panel that I thought would give it a nice touch.  (Once you scroll further down you will hopefully see the true color of blue that it is.)

This is how it would come out of the envelope.  The navy and lace with the heart is a belly band encompassing the invitation and the response card.  It is meant to be off-center so the response card covers the wording underneath and the eucalyptus motif just barely peeks out of the band.

The lace panel was die cut and adhered to the navy band.  (A lot of confetti was created here!)

The wreaths were stamped in two steps and die cut and then added to a die cut heart.

This was the two-stepped stamp on the back of the response card.  I have a die to cut these out and make a wreath out of for her when she is done with them.

The inside of the invitation was printed on our printer initially on all that I needed only for me to find out as I was cutting them apart (they were printed 4 to the page) that the ink from the inkjet printer was smearing on the white cardstock I used.  Luckily I was able to take that page of 4 to Staples and have copies made on their copier that did not smear.  The next step, after cutting to size was stamping them with the eucalyptus, layering on the navy and adding to the backing.  As you can see, I also stamped and die cut another sprig of eucalyptus for the foldover.  The response cards were printed on the printer strangely without any smearing problem.  

You can see the blue better below I hope.  

We've been working on a couple other projects getting ready for the wedding in less than a week.  I'll be preparing a checklist tonight of all the things we will need to bring.  The wedding is in Lancaster, Pa. and we have to be there on Friday morning for the rehearsal as the venue is being used for a wedding that evening.  It's about a 2 hr. drive from here so there won't be any running back home for anything forgotten.  Just hoping for nice weather.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

ICAD 2023 - Weeks 5 & 6

 We were having the kids up for the weekend before the 4th of July so I was trying to work ahead on some of these, it was finding the time to post that threw me off.  So we have two weeks together again.

Day 29 - Evergreen

Die cut paint chips in shades of green with some Micron line work in between.

Day 30 - Playground

I used a sheet from an old softball score book for this.  Colored the diamonds with my prismacolors and the lyrics are from Madonna's song heard at the end of "A League of Their Own".

Day 31 - Charcoal

The quote refers to how Halloween flowers surely would have charcoal black petals.  Done in watercolor pencils, Sharpie, and gel pen.

Day 32 - Cottage

I used a gingerbread house die cut and gave it a summer face lift to make a sweet little cottage.

Day 33 - Perspective (Off-prompt)

Dot markers and Micron

Day 34 - Summer

Patriotic holidays, sunshine and full moons, and a yard full of purple and pink flowers say summer for me.  Watercolor pencils and Micron.

Day 35 - Astronomy

Watercolor pencils based on the Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 31, 2015.

Day 36 - Imaginary 

I'm showing this in black and white and in color because I really didn't like the way the computer/phone depicted the colors.  I couldn't edit it to show what it looked like IRL.  But there are some imaginary plants and fairy bugs.

Day 37 - Metallic

I used my metallic dot markers to make this and could't decided whether the white background or the black background showed it off best.

Day 38 - Zodiac

This was created using zodiacal information on our immediate family members and includes the chocolate pairing for those signs as was featured in an article I saw for National Chocolate Day that same week.

Day 39 - Levels

I was going to go with the simple version of these levels and then.....

Decided to add the background with a marker that has a tip that makes the three lines side by side.

Day 40 - Chandelier

Maybe a view from beneath.  Done with those metallic markers again.

Day 41 - Float or Buoy

I used some neon flag stickers and cut them up to create these floats that HWNSNBP thought were bird houses.  I know they're not traditional colors for such floats but I think it looks summery.  I scored the card before adding them to look like siding and just drew in the ropes and nails.

Day 42 - Trivia

A little quiz with a little line work.  What's your guess?

More coming up soon.

Ooooh, It's the Middle of July Already

 A catch-up post long in length and photo heavy - apologies up front.

First a couple of birthday cards recently sent.  One freshly made and the other from my stash.  In case you're wondering, the bee card is new.  I've seen a lot of bee motifs around lately.  $Tree has/had some pretty dinnerware with bees that tempted me but I left them for someone else. 

This card was done quite a while ago and was in a box of cards that I had done for Teapot Tuesday many years ago before they were dedicating them to a particular person.  I knew it would be perfect for someone who loves pink and tea.  

Our daughter and SIL celebrated their 3rd anniversary this month and are actually going to have their second wedding, or wedding reenactment next month since it had been postponed due to the Covid restrictions on their original date.

HWNSNBP and our SIL did some surf fishing when they came to visit from Delaware and caught several sharks.....which they sent back into the ocean to get even bigger.

The full moon on July 3rd.

And Maverick painting a flag sun catcher for the 4th of July at the condo.  He is so careful for a 4-year-old.  He may have not followed the pattern, but he kept the paint in the stripes.

Grandma got to spend a lot of time with Beckham when the rest went to have fun in the condo pool.

Back home, our lavender is going crazy.  The cleome volunteers show up in many places in the yard and I let most of them stay where they bloom like here in with the lavender.

A tub full of dill to hopefully lure some swallowtails to lay their eggs and feed the caterpillars which will in turn become butterflies I hope.

HWNSNBP built "tomato cages" for us and our daughter and daughter-in-law.  This picture was taken at the beginning of the month.  The plants are now almost to the top of the cage and a bit crowded so we already know that next year there should only be one in the cage and not two.  He basically did this because they were having problems with squirrels and we with the deer eating the tomatoes.  Usually we just put some wire fencing around ours but HWNSNBP had this idea that grew and grew and, well, you see what it came to.  (I love that he wants to do these projects but sometimes he tends to go overboard.  I've been trying to get him to make a simple plant hanger for me.  We bought a beautiful hanging plant on sale and he says it's too heavy for the bird tree branches so I drew a plan for a hanger that can be added to the pole with the worm feeder on it for him to make.  Something simple that is getting turned into a weeks-long project.  I'm just hoping the plant doesn't die before it gets done.

Finally caught a rainbow on the way home from some errands.

The reflection of the trees in our backyard pool.

Rachel's bridal shower....it was a small gathering that her bridesmaids put together for her and they did a wonderful job.  She was so happy with everything.  

Dad brought the boys and HWNSNBP at the end when things were coming to an end.

I loved the floral arrangements that her friend put together.  Notice the little pineapples - she loves the pineapple motif.  Don't be surprised if we see that again soon.

On the way home to Branchburg we got behind this bus.

The next day we got to see GS1 and his parents.  He's happy those teeth are coming in.

It is cherry season and it wouldn't be complete without a picture of my favorites!

My strawberry pink hydrangea is turning blue, which is okay with me, but I did love the strawberry color too when we got it.

More voluteer cleome.  At dusk we have the solar fairy lights around the bird tree that light up.

And here's another fun vehicle we got behind in our travels.  

I'm still doing my ICAD's and will be back with a post on that and somemore soon.