A Black & White Threefer...

This week is going to be a little nutty.  It is the last full week of classes and as such I have a TON of marking to do, not to mention being out two nights this week for my senior recitals.  I likely won't have much time to stamp between now and Friday, never mind getting a photo taken and posting it for you.  I will do my best, but no promises.  The good news is that after this week my life becomes much simpler as I head into exams and the end of the school year...yippee!!
I did get a chance to whip up a quickie for you tonight.  It is a threefer for the Stamping 411 sketch challenge, the Handstamped Sentiments wedding challenge, as well as the Just Add Ink Black and White challenge.  First of all here is the 411 sketch:

 I like that this sketch is so simple...it made this card easy to pull together quickly...

Card for JAI71, HSSWD & SSC207...sorry about the blurry image...not sure what's up with my camera!

Sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes, frame from Four Frames sets...and then of course there's the Medallion!

Inside of card

This was super fast and easy to put together...good thing because I had literally 15 minutes of stamping time before my husband left for the evening and I was on full-time Mommy-duty!  Here is what I did:

Starting with a piece of textured basic black cardstock I stamped the medallion image using frost white shimmer paint.  After it dried, I ran it through my Big Shot with my Finial Press embossing folder.  I tried sponging the edge using shimmer paint...don't try it...it doesn't work!  I just ended up with a gloopy mess, so I tore the edge of the cardstock to get rid of it.  I then layered it on a slightly larger piece of whisper white cardstock, which I also tore to match.  I wrapped a piece of white satin ribbon around and added a clear rhinestone brad.  I then stamped the frame and sentiment in basic black ink on a scrap of whisper white cardstock and then punched it out with my decorative label punch.  I added a row of rhinestones and adhered it to my card using dimensionals.  For this inside I stamped the medallion again in basic black on whisper white cardstock and adhered it.  See...told you this was a fast and easy one!

A Winter Wedding...

One of my colleagues at school is getting married tomorrow evening.  She is a wonderful teaching partner and friend and I am so excited and honoured to be attending her wedding.  I was also very honoured when she asked me to help her design her wedding invitations last spring.  She came over one afternoon and we played with some ideas until we came up with something she liked.  She then went off and made ALL of her invitations herself.  At the time she was a novice stamper but has certainly earned her stripes with this undertaking!  Check out this gorgeous invitation:

Winter wedding invitation using the Medallion background stamp.

Reverse side with reply cards and event information tucked neatly in.

Embossed snowflake from the retired Patterned Pines hostess set.

Didn't she do a terrific job on these?!?  I was so proud of her!  Her wedding colours are Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla, so, knowing this, here is the card I made for her big day:

Wedding card using the Style Beautiful set

Close up of sentiment from Occasional Quotes Hostess set.

Close up of focal image and background.

Close up of vanilla rosettes and crumb cake seam binding ribbon (available Jan. 4th in the Occasions Mini!)

Inside of card

Close up of sentiment from a retired set I can't remember the name of right now!

So, I wanted this card to be as special as the recipients.  I started by creating the background for the focal image.  I basically followed the same technique as for the faux-mother-of-pearl technique in my previous post, but used champagne shimmer paint instead of white.  I sponged crumb cake and soft suede ink over the dry shimmer paint.  The result almost looks like marble, though the photo doesn't quite capture that!  I then stamped two of the images from the Style Beautiful set using timber brown Staz-On ink and layered it on a piece of brushed gold cardstock.  I added some pearls to give it that wedding-y elegance. I adhered that to a piece of very vanilla that I had embossed using my Big Shot and a texture plate from the Backgrounds #1 set and then lightly sponged with crumb cake ink.  Before adhering the whole thing to a textured soft suede card base, I wrapped some crumb cake seambinding ribbon and Chantilly Lace trim around opposite corners.  The sentiment is stamped in soft suede ink on very vanilla cardstock, punched out with the wide oval punch and then layered on a decorative label punch in brushed gold.  It is adhered using dimensionals and embellished with more pearls.  The final touch on the front of the card is the cluster of vanilla rosettes I embellished with still more pearls.  They are adhered using Tombow.
For the inside of the card, I used a piece of Elegant Soiree DSP and sponged the edges.  I then stamped one of the flourishes I used on the front of the card in soft suede.  The sentiment is stamped in soft suede on very vanilla cardstock and then punched out using the decorative label punch (can ya tell I REALLY like that punch?!?) and matted with two more decorative labels in brushed gold and soft suede.  Because I am addicted to embellishments, I had to add a few more pearls inside the card too.
I hope she likes this card and understands how much care went into it.  She will be a beautiful bride and I know it is going to be a great evening.  What a way to say good-bye to 2010!