Simon Says Stamp ~ Diecember

Hey crafty friends, I have a post to share today, which was commissioned by my youngest, hehe, not really commissioned as such but certainly the direction dictated and requested by him! He had a teacher who got engaged very recently, one he had a great connection with these past two years and really admires, so my son really wanted me to make a 'special' card to celebrate his teacher's engagement. I was of course happy to oblige and this is what I came up with. 

I have some lovely Spellbinders dies which have shaped elements to them and thought the outline die from this Becca Feeken set would be so lovely as a 'different' and very definitely 'hand-made' engagement card. So I pulled that out and diecut the pretty metallic sheen aquamarine cardstock I had in my stash. I took a sheet of Hammermill Cardstock 100lbs and folded it in half on the longest side and with the die over the top edge so it leaves a fold, diecut this with the same Becca Feeken frame to create the card base. I found a beautiful embossing folder in my stash which is from Simon Says Stamp called Sparkling Facets and ran the metallic cardstock through with this folder. It's so dimensional and so pretty in person.  

I found a beautiful matching ribbon in my stash which I have collected over the years, many from local craft shops. I was beyond delighted with how well the ribbon matched the cardstock! True tone on tone match! I really love organza ribbon, it's my favourite and my 'go to' for special makes. So I created a double bow, which many of you will have seen in my previous makes and I credit to the lovely Jak Heath for her fabulous tutorial many moons ago. I've memorised how to tie these now and can do it so easily.

I had a perfect sentiment to add to this creation, which is from one of my favourite designers for Simon Says Stamp - Cathy Zielske. Her line, CZ Designs, has some fabulous die sets in it and I knew when I saw this one it would be good to add to my stash for just this sort of moment. I have made two cards with this sentiment recently and will share the second one soon. The crisp clean lines of many of her sentiments really appeal to me. I also love that all the words in this sentiment are joined, so there's no extra tricky lining back up to do once it's diecut. I cut the sentiment from the same beautiful aquamarine paper and then diecut the shadow for it out of some beautiful 'new to me' and totally influenced by the lovely Amy Rysavy, Pearled Gold Vellum Paper. This is from the Tonic Studios range and it's so sheer and shiny and pretty!

One final shot to try and capture the sheen and shine on the vellum and the beautiful metallic sheen cardstock. I had to angle it to the light for it to play nicely! But you see the texture and shine in this so well. I finished the design with two little heart embellishments carefully glued to the bow and four little iridescent finish pearls in each corner of the card. This was Zac's contribution, I showed him the card with and without the pearls and he very emphatically said "with, they make it so special". Which I thought was rather lovely that he felt that, so with pearls it was! He was very excited to take this card on his last day of school this year for his special teacher. He has had three very special teachers these past two years and we did lovely end of year - thank you gifts for each of them, but this teacher Zac really 'resonated' with and had a great connection with, so he really wanted to have a 'special' card to celebrate his teacher's joy. I love my boy's beautiful heart! It's Diecember over at Simon Says Stamp and because I've used so many of their products on this make, I thought I'd join their current challenge too. I'll be back soon with another crafty adventure, until then, I hope you're enjoying some happy crafty days and not too caught up in the busy-ness of Christmas prep! Hugs, Wends xoxo

(I use affiliate links where possible, which helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice. I receive a small commission, which costs you no extra whatsoever, but helps these companies see where their marketing efforts are most effective. I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

Challenge Entries:

Simon Says Stamp ~ Use Dies in Diecember