A Life Without Love

(If you are looking for my TMS post, click here.)

(Spouse Spoiler Alert: Hi Hubby...don't open this post until after Sept. 3!)

Hi Friends! How's the week treating you, so far? I think our 3rd grader may be on the road to recovery from her little crisis last week! Yaaayyy! Check that off my list of things to worry about. ;)

The card I have to share with you today is an anniversary card for my DH. We'll be celebrating our 13th anniversary next Monday! :) The card is a bit deceptive. It looks very simple, and I suppose it really is, but did it ever take a long time to figure out how I could make it come together!

I did some stitching, made a couple of flowers with my new MFT Die-namics, which I LOVE!, did some heat embossing and paper piercing, added a few die cuts, and wa-la, there you have it, right? Nope, not this time! First of all, I'm sure you can tell that the patterned vertical strip is a bookmark. The eyelet and twine at the top kind of give it away. Well, getting that sucker to stay put was a challenge, to say the least!

I started with the Week 4 Viva la Verve sketch. Quite simple, but unfortunately, for me, it has a lot of room to get crazy, which I tend to do when there are large spaces in a sketch. Amazingly, however, I didn't flip or turn the sketch--just left it as is. :D

Here's the same card with the bookmark removed. I wanted the card to look complete, even without the bookmark, so I cut a kraft strip, put a different sentiment on it, and did a little stamping and heat embossing to liven it up. The red leaves die cuts are actually much darker than in the photo, more of a deep cranberry color. I think I should have stamped the leaves in a darker color so they would stand out more. To assemble this, I had to first glue the small leaf die cut, then partially glue the largest leaf die cut. Only then could I glue the vertical strip, pulling the leaf over the edge of the strip and adhering it at the same time.  All the while, I had to make sure that the strip was going to be centered under the curved diecut at the bottom. (The Tennyson quote was created in Word, printed onto a transparency, and rubbed on).

I used the Parisian Edge punch to make the narrow scalloped strip behind the twill, and glued it onto a strip of kraft for stability, then adhered the twill over that. The curved die cut has a design heat embossed on it, and I glued it to the back of the twill strip before gluing the strip to the card. The strip is only glued to the card at the right edge and about 1-1/2" along the left edge, to leave room to slip the bookmark in later. I thought that would be sufficient to hold the bookmark in place. Hehehe.

For the bookmark, I cut one from patterned paper and another from kraft and glued them together to give it more structure. After stamping the sentiment and decorative stamps onto a kraft die cut, I paper pierced the edges and glued it to the front of the bookmark. I held the bookmark against the front of the card to position the "Love You" sentiment so that it doesn't show until it is removed from the card. I wanted something where the button is, because when the bookmark was inserted, that spot seemed kind of naked, but I was concerned about the thickness of a button on a bookmark (I'm a stickler for taking care of books, especially protecting the spines), but I tested it, and the button didn't seem to hurt the book at all, so I went with it. Then, I realized I had a problem I couldn't seem to solve.

No matter what I did, the bookmark wouldn't stay in place on the card. All the twill strip did was give the bookmark a place to pivot from. It kept falling to one side or the other and slipping down further than it was supposed to. Because I really wanted this card to be complete, with or without the bookmark, I needed a solution that was secure, but at the same time didn't alter the aesthetics of the card or the bookmark. 

So, here's what I came up with, and it works great! I used a Creative Page Tab die to cut a piece of plastic (the packaging the dies came in) to make a tab, folded it in half, and hot glued it to the back of the bookmark. The most difficult part was figuring out exactly where to put it, so that it held the bookmark at the correct height. Thank goodness the last thing I always do when making a card is to adhere everything as a whole to the card base, because when I glued the cs to the card base, I just made sure to leave an area unglued that was large enough for the tab to be able to slip in. So, now, the bookmark stays put, but can be removed, and even be put back with ease, and the tab is completely out of sight--even from the back of the card. As for using it as a bookmark, the tab could be left on and hooked over the top of the page, or it can be removed with a craft knife.

So, here's a photo of the entire card, together, but separate.

And, except for heat embossing the Happy Anniversary sentiment, I left the inside blank, so I can add my own personal message. I figured the front of this card was so sufficiently decorated, it didn't need much on the inside, anyway. ;)

So, that's it for me today! Thanks for stopping by today, and if you're in the path of Hurricane Issac, be safe. My prayers are with you!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve Sketch Challenge: VLVAug2012 Week 4
ABC Challenge: V for Vanish (something hidden)
Basic Grey Challenge #75: Anything Goes (use something Basic Grey)
Cute Card Thursday #231: Bling It Up
Digi Doodle Challenge #122: Use Pearls (there's a pearl in one of my roses)
Moving Along With the Times: Shape Up-Anything but Square
Paper Play Challenge: Week 34--Sentiment as the main focus
The Poodles Parlour: Winged Things
Sentimental Sunday Challenge #117: Sewing or faux stitching
Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #154: Use punches, dies, or shapes
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #178: Roses & Ribbons

~Hugs,


Stamps: Summer Afternoon (Taylored Expressions); Bloom & Grow (Verve); Avignon, Venice (7 Gypsies); Tag Lines, Wedded Bliss (Flourishes); Treasures (Shabby Chic)
Paper: Clippings, Little Black Dress (Basic Grey)
Ink: Distress Ink; Memento; clear embossing ink
Dies: Classy Label Die, Elegant Leaves Die (Verve); Mark Your Spot Bookmark Die (Taylored Expressions); Die-namics Royal Rose, Die-namics Mini Royal Roses (MFT Stamps); Labels Three, Creative Page Tabs (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Parisian Edge Punch (EK Success); glitter embossing powder (Zing); twill ribbon (Taylored Expressions); felt; pearl; eyelet; button; flower; twine; sewing thread; plastic scrap
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

Thanks for visiting my blog!

To have Ink Up delivered to your inbox,

subscribe in the box at the top right of the page.