There has been two significant events happen in my life during May - the first was on the 16th when my sister married her long time partner Simon. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend because I came down with a severe tummy bug (which was extra contagious because even though most if not all of his symptoms had vanished a week after he started with them, my husband still manage to infect my mum when they met up!) I was worried about the journey (an hour on a bus with no loos!!!) and about infecting everyone at the wedding so decided it would be best not to go. As much as it may have upset my sister I'm sure it was the best decision because who wants to be ill on their wedding night or for days afterwards?? Partly down to the bug and other reasons beyond my control (i.e. my hubby refused to go into town and the card needed to go large packet) their card didn't actually get send until Saturday, for which I am sorry. I have no idea if my sister has got her card or not as she's not mentioned it but I wanted to share what I made as I'm rather proud of the card I made for the happy couple.
I don't think non-crafters truly appreciate what goes into a handcrafted card, even the most simplest of my creations takes a minimum of 40 minutes to make and as the national living wage is around £7.50 per hour that represents £5.00 of my time - when was the last time you paid £5.00 for a card? That doesn't even take into account the time it takes to come up with the idea or the materials used. The card I'm going to share with you is far from being a 'simple' make and took nearly five hours to make (which in monetary terms is around £37). I think the point I'm trying to make for all you non crafters who might be reading this blog is that a handcrafted card (and I call it handcrafted not homemade for a reason!) isn't just a piece of card, it's a gift of the crafter's time and should be appreciated as such. So if cards aren't to your taste or arrive a bit late or even very late, take into consideration the fact that the sender is human not a card making machine and remember that that human had to design the card, make the card and send the card - and may have personal or health difficulties that you are unaware of. Anyway nuff said lol *dusts off soapbox and puts it away until next time!* here's the card for my sister and her new husband.
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| Bookatrix Easel Card |
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| Tattered Lace Butterfly swirl diecut twice to make layered embellishment |
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| Layered Sentiment with cupped bejewelled purple flowers |
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| Memory Box Heart Stems combined with diecut butterflies |
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| Card opened using the easel with entwined wedding band/engagement ring stopper |
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| Layered stitched oval sentiment with cupped bejewelled flowers |
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| Entwined wedding band/engagement ring diecut 8 times to make it 3D |
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| Stitched Oval sentiment with bejewelled cupped flowers |
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| A closer look at the opened Bookatrix Easel card |
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| The purple heart strips were die cut three times and added to the edge to keep the card shut when not opened |
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| Layered square sentiment panel on back of card decorated with paper dots |
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| Blank layered square panel for personal message |
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| The back of the card |
I'm sorry there are so many photos but when you've spent 5 hours making a card it's important to show all the details that take so much time to make (the diecutting and layering etc). This isn't perfect - but then if you want perfection I suggest you go to a shop and buy a mass produced card - but it is one of the most intricate and beautiful Bookatrix cards I've ever made (I'm never sure how to decorate them once they're made!) I don't have very much lilac card in my stash so compromised by using lilac script paper on the front layer of the book and dark purple Centura Pearl cardstock for all the other purple elements. I'm not going to go into much more detail as this post is so long that I'm going to have to share the second card another time plus I'm seriously considering entering a similar card for one of the cardmaking of the year comps which should should be starting soon and I can give the details on how to make it when I've made and sent them off. I've tried to give details of some of the supplies used in the photo captions if that helps in the meantime.
Part two of this blog post will be added tomorrow - my fingers are getting tired from all the typing lol. As always if you have any questions then please leave them in the usual places and until next time - keep crafting!
Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah xxx
