Sara Jane's Studio

First Communion Invitations

A friend of mine asked me to do a workshop to prepare invitations and matching "Thank You" cards for her daughters' First Communion.  She invited her friends who were in the same place in their families' lives, and we had a workshop.  I provided a choice of design, and then everyone told me the wording for the inside of the invitation so I could print it out for them in advance.

Here is one design based on an example from the Stampin UP! catalog.

The card base is Regal Rose, cut to 4-1/4" X 11", folded in half, with 1-3/4 inches trimmed from the top front.  The front is embossed with the Elegant Bouquet  Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  The stamp set Sincere Salutations is used for "You're Invited", and the nice thing is, you can use exactly the same card design and the same stamp set for the "Thank You" cards.  Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon is tied around the top.

Here is the card open.

The edges of the white inserts were punched with the Eyelet Border punch.  The cross is stamped using Regal Rose.  This cross is a non-SU image, but you could easily substitute the cross from either Refuge and Strength or from Special Blessings.

Of course this is easily modified for a boy's invitation, and an example is below which also shows the cross image on the outside.

This card is made from Brocade Blue, with blue grosgrain ribbon tied in a single knot.  "You're Invited!" is from the Please Come stamp set.  The cross if from Refuge and Strength, and the front was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder.  To make the complementary "Thank You" card, you can use a "Thank You" stamp from Thank You Kindly.

And of course these can be turned into an invitation for almost any event by simply changing the stamped image inside.  My printer takes Whisper White cardstock quite easily, so I can print everything out at home.  If yours doesn't, you can create an electronic file and take it to Kinko's to use their high speed photocopiers, which readily will take cardstock, and yield a very clean result.

 
 

Celebrate 40

Here is another use of Celebrate Everything to commemorate a milestone birthday.  Previously, I showed examples for an 80th birthday card (for my father) and two brithday cards for friends who reached 16- one for a girl and one for a boy.  You can see those all here.

This card was for a friend at work who just celebrated her 40th birthday.

The card base is Tempting Turquoise, with Summer Sun accents.  The Designer Paper is Pink Flamingo.  And the numbers are from On Board Timeless Type.  The golden yellow rhinestones were from my stash. 

Don't you love the impact that a simple design can have?!? 

 

Celebrate

The "Celebrate Everything" stamp set has become one of my go-to sets for special birthdays.  It started innocently enough when I used it to mark my father's 80 birthday.  The card is below- you can read the details in the original post, here.

Recently, I've used it three more times.  Twice was for my favorite twins who turned 16 - I used the stamp for both a boy's birthday card and a girl's birthday card.  And then again, a friend at work celebrated her 40th birthday.  So it really has become my go-to set for these milestone birthdays.

Here is the sweet 16 card I made for my young girl friend, whose favorite color is Almost Amethyst.  It is based on the same design as teh 80th birthday, but replaces "Celebrate" with "Sweet".

 
I die cut "Sweet" using the Opposites Attract Cricut cartridge.  The numbers are from On Board Lots of Letters, covered with Designer Paper (Tea Party).  And the little flower rhinestones are from my stash, as was the 1/4" lavendar organdy ribbon.  She loved this card!!

For her brother, I went to stronger colors on Not Quite Navy cardstock.

Here, the chipboard letters are from On Board Timeless Type.  This particular designer paper I used is retired - but you can achieve the same look with paper from "Cool Kids" or "Happy B-Day" scrapping kits.

The design really makes for a great commemoration, doesn't it?  Come back again to see the 40th birthday card using the same layout.

Keep creating!

Card Swap Results

This spring, Sara Jane's Studio hosted a card swap with the theme "Special Men and Women."  The cards could be masculine or feminine, and for any occasion, not just Mother's or Father's Day.

While I've done card swaps before, this one is the first time I've offered prizes!  The winners will be determined by popular vote, not just from the participants, but also from you, my blog readers.

The prizes are:

Best in Show: a retired stamp set valued up to $29.95

First Runner Up: a retired stamp set valued up to $15.95

Honorable Mention:  A SNAIL adhesive dispenser (valued at $6.95)

The cards are all below.  Please vote for three, by name, in order of first, second and third, by commenting on this post (below).

AND I've got one more prize for you readers: 

Whoever sends the most friends to post a vote will also win their choice of a retired stamp set, valued at up to $15.95.  Just have your friends mention your name in addition to their vote, when they post their comment.

You have until Midnight, Sunday, May 16.  I'll post all of the winners on May 17.

Click on any image to enlarge.

  Donna       Gina

 

  Jayne 

   Joyce

 

   Kim       Lucia

 

 Mary B      Mary C

 

 Tammy      Wanda

 

    Yvette

 Click on any image to enlarge.

 

May 17:  And the winners are:

Best in Show:  Wanda - her "dress" card won the day!

First Runner Up: Yvette, with "Voila"

Honorable Mention:  Lucia AND Gina

And since everyone received votes, I decided to make everyone winners.  So they will all be receiving a retired stamp set from Sara Jane's Studio.

Wonderful Mother

Happy Mother's Day to all of you blessed with children!

Below is the card that I sent to my mom this year. It was inspired by one of my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators, Shanna Jensen.

The card is 5-1/4" square, made of Chocolate Chip cardstock.  It also uses Very Vanilla, Pacific Point, Bashful Blue and Marina Mist cardstock (the last being one of the brand new core colors coming out July 1).  The decorative paper is from the Bella Bleu Designer Series paper.  The designer paper is 2 X 5-1/4", attached directly to the card base.  A piece of Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon was attached with Mini Glue Dots at the top edge of the designer paper.

The "Wonderful Mother" sentiment is from the Well Scripted stamp set (from the Occasions Mini, now retired).  I stamped it in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla on a rectangle that was die cut from the scalloped long, rectangle Nestabilities set.  This was matted on Whisper White (1-5/8 X 3") and then again on Chocolate Chip (1-7/8 X 3-1/4").

The Full Heart punch was used on the same Bella Bleu print for one heart.  Small hearts were punched using the Heart to Heart punch, one each from Very Vanilla, Pacific Point and Bashful Blue cardstock.  The two largest hearts were stamped using the Sweetheart outline stamp (wood mount, or clear mount), and then hand cut around the image.  One is Pacific Point (stamped with Pacific Point ink) and the second is Marina Mist (stamped with Bordering Blue ink).  A short piece of Choco Chip taffeta ribbon was tied in a single knot and attached to the Marina Mist heart with a Mini Glue Dot.

The hearts were adhered to the central panel, and then the whole piece was attached to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

And the card was sent to a Wonderful Mother!

A Year of Collage - May 2010

Happy May Day! 

This month's calendar is based on a tried-and-true layout:  the Grid.  If ever in doubt, you can base a design on a grid pattern, and you can almost never go wrong. 

 My inspiration was the design in the upper left corner- it's a transparency with a printed brocade image that I adhered to white cardstock with Crystal Effects.  To that, I decided to add brown and green, and a variety of patterns and textures of paper.  Each square is 1-1/8" on a side, with a scant 1/4 inch in-between each one.  The lower six squares are adhered directly to the Chocolate Chip cardstock base, and the top six squares are adhered with Stampin' Dimensonals.  I used a variety of embellishments: a brass charm, ribbons, a small Prima flower, and beads in coordinating colors.

The dates of the month were printed on Whisper White carstock on my computer, and I highlighted the edges with one of my favorites:  a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen.  It was then adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

And there we have the lovely month of May!  Click on the Year of Collage link to see the other months I've created.