Our Creative Corner Challenge

When I discovered the 'Our Creative Corner' challenge (please click on the blue words to find out more) recently I had to smile. A dear old school friend of my mum's had asked me to make an anniversary card for her nephew and his wife. I had some ideas and asked for a nice photo of the happy couple to help my inspiration. I wanted to evoke the memories of a long and happy marriage in my card for them.  By return of post I received a photo of Owen and Pat, an angle-poise lamp growing out of Owen's head so that he looked like a fugitive from an episode of Doctor Who! Furthermore - just the arm was remaining in the foreground of somebody who had been snipped from the photo! I set myself the challenge to create something with this as my starting point! And then I spied Our Creative Corner and that spurred me on further! Here is what I came up with. Please click on the images if you would like to see in more detail.

I started with a piece of A4 card, which I folded in three, using a score board. For the first page of my card I used a vintage photo of a couple I think from around 1920. This is not Owen and Pat obviously, as they would be very elderly indeed if it were! I printed out the image and distressed it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks - mainly Frayed Burlap and Tattered Rose. I then stamped on my card with a Crafty Individuals Script Stamp in Versamark and some Stampington butterflies from the plate Butterfly Girl in Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, which I then embossed with clear embossing powder. I built up layers of Bo Bunny papers painted on the reverse side with Bora Bora Fresco paint and stamped with a Paper Artsy script stamp in Coffee Archival ink, rolling and curling the edges; stamped elements included a little postcard stamp from a Lynne Perrella plate stamped onto Fresco painted card edged with Frayed Burlap. There are also stamped tickets and a coupon. I then edged the reversed side of the paper with White Fire Treasure Gold. I made a paper feather from some Bo Bunny paper with musical notes and this reminded me of how the two lovebirds would be creating a nest and beginning to build memories so I added two lovely speckled eggs from Retro Cafe Art Gallery's paper cuts. So that first page symbolizes the memory making when we take the first step on the journey of marriage...

I used a piece of seam-binding coloured with Distress Inks in Broken China, Tattered Rose and Walnut Stain to convey the idea of captured memories, when this is opened you can see the feather a little more clearly and also the embossed butterfly from a Paper Artsy Ink and the Dog plate called Wings. I dusted the feather with a little Treasure Gold along the edges and added a Prima flower.

If we open the card those captured memories start to flutter out. I tried to evoke the idea of shared interests like a love of poetry with the John Donne extract from 'An Anniversary'; shared holidays captured in the background stamping of the Eiffel tower and what looks like an Italian cupola. Butterflies and roses suggest the romance and joy of a long and happy marriage - forty-five years in this case, so lots of shared memories! I attached a die-cut of a Venetian ticket to the top corner above Owen and Pat, using an eyelet and a piece of narrow ribbon. And there is that photo! No sign of the angle-poise or the cut off arm! I die cut a copy to fit in a BoBunny die cut frame and the alien headgear vanished! I also glazed it with a mix of Satin Glaze and a tiny hint of Mermaid Fresco so that it would tone in with the rest of the card. The frame is edged with roses from a paper napkin attached with a thin layer of Satin Glaze.

My mum's friend particularly asked that the number 45 be displayed prominently so here is the card opened out. And then the last page alone with the important number in its Spellbinders frame. The group photo stamp is from Stampington Butterfly Girl and symbolizes the memory of a child's first school photo, as so many anniversary memories are also reminiscences of growing children! The card is edged with Gold foil Dresden trim.

Here is a close-up of the Crackle Glaze frame and the napkin rose inside it...

I also made a little clock from an old Non Sequiter plate, which I edged with Gold UTEE. The centre is a tiny napkin anemone with a gem. The sun face is from part of a Paper Artsy Lynne Perrella stamp. The striped paper is Graphic 45 - the reverse side of some Japanese lanterns. If you look on the last page again you will see a tiny stamp with one those G45 lanterns on it symbolizing celebration!

 I do hope that Owen and Pat will like their card and that it will stir the happiest of memories.

I should like to enter this card for the Our Creative Corner Captured Memories Challenge.