Aloha, all!
Aloha means many things here in Hawai'i. When I use it to greet you each time I write a blog post here, I mean it as a sense of wishing you an affectionate, "Hello." When people speak of "living the aloha spirit," they are talking about the sense that we should live in peace and with love and compassion.
But today, I'm using it in another way, as I'm saying goodbye to you – but just for a very short time! My husband and I are taking an extended vacation during the month of April to visit family all over the United States mainland, including attending the wedding of one of our nephews in the Washington, D. C., area. Of course I've made a personal card for the bride and groom, and my last post until I return is featuring that card.
When I first saw the Lucky Elephant Stamp Set in the Stampin' Up! 2017 Occasions Catalog, I wondered if it would be appropriate as a card for this wedding, especially as our nephew is marrying a woman of Indian heritage. Surely I'd be able to use it! Then, when my sister-in-law said that the bride was going to be wearing a "stunning gold tunic with a red gown" for the wedding reception, I knew JUST what I was going to do with this elephant – Emboss it in Gold on Real Red Cardstock.
After that, I tried to use all kinds of other gold products in the Stampin' Up! catalogs. But every time I tried to add something such as the Gold Foil Doilies or the Gold Ribbon or Gold Twine, the card just started to look too gaudy. And gaudy wasn't what I wanted. I wanted something simple and, hopefully, elegant. I do think that the final card has that feeling.
The gold embellishments, both the circles on the rug on the back of the elephant and the hearts in the background are from the Metallic Enamel Shapes assortment. After I matted the main stamped layer using Gold Glimmer Paper, I felt that was all I needed.
The sentiment is from another stamp set in the 2017 Occasions Catalog, Beautiful You. I seems to fit right in. There is a bit of fussy cutting work with the rug on the elephant's back. For that, I stamped and embossed just that part of the Elephant stamp on Pacific Point Cardstock. I then cut it out along the outside edge of the elephant stamp and just above the bottom part of the rug. (My first try was to stamp/emboss on Whisper White and then on Very Vanilla Cardstock, and color in the empty spaces with the Pacific Point. After not liking what I ended up with, I had the "duh" moment that led me to stamp/emboss on Pacific Point cardstock itself. Well, duh!
Here are the products I feature in this card. Even though Robin's Craft Room will be on vacation, don't forget that my Stampin' Up! store is open all year, regardless of my personal plans. Just click on any of the pictures below to go to that store, learn more about any of the products, and then buy them if you'd like!
Aloha for a month!
