Happy Anniversary (04/30/2012)

What a happy day!  And, ya gotta meet today's card, which makes me happy too!  Here it is:

I made this anniversary card for my wonderful cousin and her amazing husband.  They live on a farm, so I used pigs (cuz they are so dang cute!).  The pig stamps are from Lawn Fawn's great set, Critters on the Farm.  I did my first-ever mirror-image technique, where I stamped the pig on paper normally, and then did a reverse mirror image (more on that in a second) so that the other pig would be the opposite direction (which makes them look like they are looking at each other!).  I stamped the pigs on cute pink polka dot patterend paper, heat embossed in black and fussy cut them out, and adhered them with pop-up dots.

And, one of my favorite things about this card is the love/heart postage stamp in the center.  Both my cousin and her husband work for the USPS. I wanted a heart shape to go between the two little cute pigs, and found this in the crop stash at Stampadoodle. It is a Cuttlebug embossing folder, but I don't know the name of it.  I embossed red paper, then fussy cut out the image out to make it look more stamp-like.

And, of course I used my favorite Lawn Fawn alphabet, Quinns ABCs to spell out the sentiment.  I used black embossing powder, and heat embossed the letters, then fussy cut them out.  I layered them over a strip of adhesive glitter ribbon from my stash.

Mirror Image Technique: This is the first time I have tried it, and I have seen this done in Paper Crafts Magazine. I used Versa Mark embossing ink and a piece of packing tape to do this. Here is how to do it: De-tack the packing tape by sticking it to your pants a few times (you want to get most of the tackiness off, but still retain some). Ink up your stamp with versa mark embossing powder, stamp the image onto the "sticky side" of the packing tape. Immediately use the "tape" as your new stamp and stick the sticky and inked side onto the paper. Rub the tape to transfer all the versa mark ink onto the paper. Pull off the sticky tape, and cover the image with embossing powder. Heat emboss.   I recommend using this technique with embossing powder and not just "ink" for the image. I didn't have great results with the dye ink because the mirror-image is 2nd generation and it is lighter than the original. I didn't have any pigment ink with me, so it might be a little different with that kind of ink.  I had to play with this a few times to get it to work, but it is doable. However, I am open to suggestions on how to do this better next time!

Overall, I hope Cousin Vic likes this.  I had a great time making it, and attempted a new technique.  Happy Anniversary Vicki and Dick!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris