H2H Challenge - Invitation Only

Welcome to my blog, Paper Crafting With Rebecca!

There is something about receiving a handmade invitation to an event that causes me to feel so warm and welcomed. For someone to take the time and effort to not only host/hostess an event, but to also make the invitations by hand... well, it simply warms my heart and causes me to want to attend whatever it is I am being invited to!

This H2H challenge theme is all about invitations... creating an invitation to an event or creating a card or item to take to something you have been invited to. If you would like to see the rules or join in on the challenge, click the link below.

H2H Invitation Only Challenge

Generally, when I send out invitations it is to more than one person/couple so I decided to create a set of invitations for this challenge. Even when making sets, however, I want each one to be slightly different so that the recipient receives a piece of paper art that is unlike any other. Sometimes that can be as simple as changing up the color of the piece.

With that in mind, I chose four solid colors of cardstock, a sheet of dotted paper from the Close To My Heart (CTMH) I Heart Us Paper Packet, and a sheet of White Daisy Cardstock. Each solid color cardstock is turned into an A2 card base (4.25" x 11" folded in half). The dotted paper is cut into four pieces each being 4" x 5.25". The white paper is cut into four pieces, each being 3.5" x 4.75".

Next I stamped the flowers from the Let's Celebrate stamp set in black. I don't worry if it is darkly stamped as this layer is simply to be able to place the flower color over. I will be stamping and black heat embossing this same stamp over the top later on...

Now it's time to add some color inks that match the cardstock base. I chose not to color in all the flowers because I want the focus to be on the words (which I will get to in a moment).

At this point it is very important that the inks all be completely dry before continuing. If the ink is damp the black embossing powder will stick to the color and "muddy" the flowers. So, while those dry, I worked on the back of the card bases. I "sign" all my handmade cards with my initials and for this set I also added a little "happy mail" stamp using VersaMark and black embossing powder. The "happy mail" stamp is from CTMH This Is Not A Bill stamp set.

I stamped the inside of the invitations with the stamps "Date", "Time", "Location" and "RSVP" from the same Let's Celebrate hostess stamp set as the flowers. (Ooops, I forgot to take a picture of that step in the process.) I made sure to leave room inside the card for the party host/hostess to add a personal message as well.

Now, back to the front of the invitations. I restamped all the flowers, but this time I used VersaMark and black heat embossing powder. I also added the invitation sentiment using VersaMark and the same black heat embossing powder.

Next I hand colored all the six-pointed flowers with a Clear Shimmer Brush. This adds some lovely subtle variation to the flowers. (Sadly, it doesn't photograph very well.)

At this point, is simply a matter of adhering all the layers together. I used a flat adhesive to attach the dotted paper to the card base and then I used 3-D Foam Tape to adhere the top sentiment piece to the dotted paper. Lastly, I added some color coordinating sequins from my stash to give the invites a bit more sparkle.

I hope you enjoyed this blog entry and how I made these four invitations. If you have any questions or comments then please do leave them in the comment section below.

As a side note: I received a message on my blog asking how my granddaughter is doing... thank you for asking. She is doing great! Here is a picture I took of her this last Saturday...

Happy Paper Crafting,

Rebecca

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