Blue Willow Anniversary Challenge

Hello Friends! I've been working on a unique challenge the past few days and I'm finally ready to share it with you.

One of my dearest friends is celebrating her ninth anniversary soon. She and her husband always try to incorporate the traditional anniversary gifts into their anniversary somehow and she asked me to do that in an anniversary card for her. The traditional gifts for the 9th year are willow and pottery, with leather as the modern gift. I also discovered that Lapis Lazuli is also a modern jewel for this anniversary. So, I took this as my personal challenge. Honestly, I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I'm pleased with the finished card.

I tried several different sketches, and settled on the Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 1 sketch for this card. The Blue Willow Inn Restaurant is near here, and I think they are going to go there for an anniversary dinner, and the Blue Willow china pattern is usually blue and white, so blue was a natural color. As it's for a man, I used browns, too. I found the Blue Willow plate stamp at Hanko Designs. I stamped the plate, cut it out, then covered it in Glossy Accents to give it a ceramic look. It is mounted to a Parisian Accent medallion that I sprayed with a Perfect Pearls mist to give it a metallic look. That covered the willow and pottery elements of the challenge. For leather, I used suede cording behind the plate and a leather button on each of the sentiment panels. The buttons were originally very shiny and dark, so I just sanded them until most of that was gone and they were good to go. These were the smallest leather buttons I could find, so I added the bit of twine to them so they wouldn't look like giant blobs just stuck on the card. I used a gold opaque calligraphy pen to edge the white accent panels behind the sentiments. For the Lapis Lazuli I colored two light blue rhinestones with a dark blue Copic and adhered them to the center panel.

I love the bg paper I used on this card. It's a digital image from www.lostandtaken.com, the Vandelay Premier set. I think it's a photo of a cracked and stained road. Nice "man" paper, I think. ;) 

Did you know there is a legend behind the Blue Willow pattern? I didn't. But, it's very romantic, so I typed a shortened version and printed it in blue on white paper and inked the edges, then adhered it to more of that man-paper. When you open the card, it's on the top half.

The bottom half of the inside is a simple sentiment that I created in Word and printed on white paper. The stamp, which came with the plate stamp, is of the doves in the Blue Willow pattern. I inked the edges of this panel heavily, adhered it to another Lost and Taken image from the New Grunge set, then adhered those to navy cardstock. I'm glad she's not going to be mailing this card--all that cardstock made for a heavy card!

This was one of the toughest challenges I've ever worked on, and it really stretched my imagination, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Jessica and Mike, I'd say something like, "You're the most perfect couple I've ever known," but I wouldn't want to jinx you, or anything *~D , so I'll just say "Happy Anniversary!" You are a fabulous couple!!!

Before you go, check out my new blog badge over in my side bar. Doesn't it look nice sitting over there? I was in the top four for The Beauty of CAS Bring Back Beautiful challenge with my Peas to Meet You card. 

Also, Linda, over at Paper Boutique gave me another shout out in her Fab Five Friday for my Tomato Soup card! Thanks, again, Linda!

And, thank YOU for stopping by today. Have a fantastic week!

 

Stamps: Blue Willow Plate & Doves (Kodomo Inc); Quietfire
Paper: Bazzill Basics; Vandelay Premier & New Grunge (Lost and Taken)

Ink: Colorbox; Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Calligraphy Pen (Marvy); Copic marker

Dies: Parisian Accents, Classic Ovals Lg, Labels Thirteen (Spellbinders); Curvy Bookplate Die (Verve)

Accessories: 1-3/4" circle punch (EK Success); ribbon (Offray); rhinestones; household twine; Glossy Accents; Perfect Pearls; leather buttons (LaMode); suede cording (Darice); foam dots

Size: 3.5" x 6.5"

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