A GrIndian Save The Date!

What better way to blend cultures and cultural imagery than on a card...especially for an upcoming wedding!  These happen to be very special to me because they are my own wedding save the dates.  Yup, that's partially the reason for my sporadic blog posts (I promise to be much better after July).

These stamps are not from SU but I wanted to share some of the great things about this card anyway.  The paper and embossing powder are SU (though retired) but the look is fantastic (I think, but I am a bit biased, haha).  I've gotten so many compliments on this card and though there were a few steps that made it tedious, it was pretty easy overall.

I knew I wanted a different shape and size so I planned that out first, checking out the various sizes of envelopes to make sure I had something to mail them out in.  =)  Then, I planned out the size of the text box and worked some MDS magic downloading both Indian + Greek-inspired fonts.  After cutting these out and mounting them on Razzleberry paper, I worked on the teal card backs.  As always I do everything as an assembly line: working on each element at a time and doing all 100 of them before moving on to another element.  The embossing was the time-consuming part.  The 'embossing buddy' is your best friend when emobssing...DO NOT skip this step...it will definitely make the difference between an "amateur" job and a "professional" looking job.  I stamped sets of 10 cards at a time with Versa and then would cover with the embossing powder & heat before moving on to the next set of 10.  Doing things in steps like this made the work easier and manageable.  I stamped all the envelopes with half the elephant as well in matching Taken with Teal ink.

The last step was of course my "hand stamped by Kiran" stamp on the back and a magnet so these beauties could be enjoyed by all!

Happy Stamping!
~Kiran

Stamps: non-SU Indian elephant, non-SU Greek Key Border
Ink: Taken with Teal (retired), Versamark
Paper: Taken with Teal (retired), Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant
Extras: bronze embossing powder (retired)

Being a Square is a Good Thing!

Oh, the wonders of MDS!  Just look at this fantastic 100% digital project!  Though these turned out beautifully, I have to admit, these were a doozy to make.  Mel & I worked with the bride-to-be (also our good friend) on these for some time.  After selecting photos from her engagement photo shoot, (Sarah Postma Photography), she showed us samples of photo Save-the-Dates she liked and we went to work.  

This was also an experiment in Stampin' Up's printing services as Mel & I had never printed from them before.  But, as you can see, they do some quality work!  The photos printed very sharp and are on paper, not card stock, making them easier to cut & work with.  And, the printed colors are true to SU's card stock/ink palate.  I'm proud to report that after fumbling with the MDS measurements (we've since made a template) and a whirl-wind night of cutting and taping (with the bride-to-be even helping out), these are the show-stopper of my refrigerator!   

These get noticed not only for the great photos but also for their unique 5x5" square shape & magnetic backing!

Happy Stamping!
~Kiran

Paper: Old Olive, printed Very Vanilla sheet from SU
Extras: MDS

Mark Your Calendar for a Fall Fleur Wedding

On to the next wedding--Joanna and Josh are getting married in the fall, and Joanna loves Loves LOVES the fleur-de-lis.  She chose Night of Navy and So Saffron for two of her fall wedding colors, and then we went to work to design a save-the-date that would incorporate her favorite symbol.

What do you think?  These are sweet and simple at 4.25x5.5, and have magnets on the back so that the recipients can keep the date in mind.  Once again, My Digital Studio made it easy to combine the text and images, and we love that we can print directly to card stock.  Our favorite touch (in case you haven't already noticed this theme) is matching envelopes, and the fleur-de-lis from Extreme Elements fits perfectly in the corner.

Invitations to follow later this summer.

Cheers!
~Melanie

Stamps: Extreme Elements
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: So Saffron, Night of Navy
Extras: My Digital Studio

Save That Date

Ok, so on to the big ticket item for invitations--weddings.  I sometimes think that weddings are single-handedly keeping the stationery business afloat, with all their little touches from the first announcement to the table favors to the thank you after the fact.  Almost without exception, when people asked, "do you do invitations?" what they really meant was, "Do you do wedding invitations?"

Well, yes we do.  But wedding invitations are more than just the invitation, so we have to start at the beginning.  Here is a simple save the date for some good friends who have a brilliant color combination for their celebration.  We did a number of sample layouts for this, to try out different colors and fonts and stamps, but this was the winning number.

On the Tempting Turquoise base, we stamped the bride and groom's initials in Basic Black using Lovely Letters, and united the two with our favorite ampersand from Together Forever (a lovely set for your own wedding invitations, in case you're wondering).

For Green Galore, the fonts and printing were again done on a computer and then printed directly onto cardstock.  The watermark you see is done in Versamark with the large flourish from Brocade Basics (now retired).  The great thing about this is that you can stamp it AFTER printing, to make sure that the watermark is centered under the text.  It doesn't show up over the printing, so the effect is perfect.  Everyone should have some Versamark ink--it's so versatile!

The final touch was punching each corner with the ticket corner punch, just to give the text a little more pop.  And the final touch you can't see is pretty important--a magnet on the back so that this save the date can draw attention for a few months on refrigerators across the land.  Nothing like building the excitement for Hitaishi and Stephen's big day!

Cheers!

~Melanie

Stamps: Lovely Letters, Together Forever, Brocade Basics (retired)

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore

Ink: Basic Black, Versamark

Extras: Ticket Corner Punch