JAMSquared

Six years ago today, James and I exchanged our wedding vows. He is the world’s best husband. He makes me smile when I am sad. He makes me laugh pretty much everyday. He holds me close and I feel loved.

It may only be six years of marriage, but we’ve been together for a lot longer. We started dating in June 1997, the summer before his senior year of high school and my junior year of high school. My friend Jillan was hosting an end-of-school pool party and she invited some of her boyfriend-at-the-time’s friends, James being one of them. We started talking and really hit if off.

Robert E. Lee HS Homecoming, Fall 1997

Except for about 9 months starting the second semester of my senior year of high school, we dated from the time we first met until James proposed September 26, 2003. I would have liked a fall wedding (my favorite season), but I didn’t want to wait a whole year to get married, so we were married February 28, 2004.

Cutting the Cake at our Wedding Reception

On Our Honeymoon

We have tried to take a trip every year since we were married. Typically, a picture from that year’s trip accompanied our Christmas card. We splurged in 2008 and went to the French Polynesian islands of Moorea and Bora Bora. It is my favorite trip so far.

Moorea Lagoon, Nov. 2008

I’m really pleased with how the card I made for James turned out. He got a big smile on his face when I gave it to him. It uses the Memories of Time sketch challenge. I printed the sentiment out with my computer. I’ve been doing a lot of coloring lately on my cards and I want to get some high-quality colored pencils.

We Make a DINO-MITE Pair!

Stamps: C.C. Designs Eric and Chrissy Go Prehistoric
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Stampin’ Up Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, Basic Brown; Stazon Jet Black
Markers: Stampin’ Up Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, Blush Blossom, Barely Banana, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Stampin’ Up twill ribbon; dimensionals
Tools/Techniques: cotton ball sponged background

We received a beautiful tri-shutter card from Diane when Jessica was born. I thought it was a really neat card and I wanted to make one sometime. I thought a Valentine’s Day card for James would be a good opportunity. I search Split Coast Stampers and found this tutorial for a tri-shutter card. I decided to watercolor the bear, which caused the cardstock to curl up, so to get it to lay flat, I ran it through my 5″ Xyron machine, cut it out and stuck to another piece of cardstock and cut it out again. I had a hard time deciding on the embellishments since this is a card for a guy, but I think even with the flowers and bow, it is still okay for a guy. I hope *fingers crossed*.

This card was initially made for the ATS Weekly Wednesday Challenge 16, but I misread the challenge and it didn’t meet the requirements. I’m not sure how I missed the part that it needed to be a Valentine package, not a card. However, Challenge 17 was to make a tri-fold card. Since I finished my card a day before the challenge came out, I’m not sure I technically qualify, but the card was made with an ATS challenge in mind, so I’m going to submit anyway.

Front of Tri-Fold Card

Stamps: Chubby Pencil Valentino; Stampin’ Up Wonderful Favorites, Tags So Much; Stamp Affair I Love You
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Pretty in Pink; DCWV textured brown scrapbook paper
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Loves MeInk: Stampin’ Up Basic Brown, Taken with Teal, Close to Cocoa
Ink Used to Watercolor: Stampin’ Up Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Inkssentials Glossy Accents (bear nose and eyes and heart bubble); Hobby Lobby pink Valentine’s ribbon; Stampin’ Up Pretty in Pink brad; Maya Road velvet blossoms; glittered teal brad; Stampin’ Up Pretty in Pink 3/8″ Tafetta ribbon
Tools: aquabrush; Xyron 5″
Punches: Stampin’ Up Tag, Small Tag, Ticket Corner; Marvy Uchida Mega Heart, Giga Scallop Heart

Side View

Whole View

Sarah, stop reading. Unless you want a sneak peak of the birthday card that will hopefully arrive on your birthday or the day after.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

I almost didn’t finish this card before the next All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge comes out. I didn’t have acetate, which makes it very difficult to make a snowglobe card. I finally got a transparency sheet yesterday and I finished it up today. I like how the paper pieced Annabelle turned out. I had originally planned to do just the dress, but I decided cutting out the purse would look weird, so I paper pieced the purse and then I decided if I was doing the purse, the collar and shoes would need to be paper pieced as well. When finished, I decided the card needed something else and so I daubed ink around Annabelle and I’m afraid I was a little heavy handed in places. Oh well. I hope my sister likes it.

Annabelle Snowglobe Birthday Card

Stamps: Cookie Crumbs Annabelle
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Petals & Paisleys, Afternoon Tea (paper-pieced dress)
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Stampin’ Up Bashful Blue
Accessories: Stickles Baby Blue and Gold; Maya Road Velvet Blossom; glittered brad of unknown origin
Tools: colored pencils; Standard Circles Large Nestabilities; Stampin’ Up Eyelet Border Punch

Inside of Card

I love to read blogs and have way too many that I follow in my Goggle Reader. When it comes to crafty blogs I browse, they provide inspiration for my own creations. But is it okay to be inspired by yourself? I was checking through my blog to insure my tag changes were appropriate and I came across this card. It is still one my favorites. When last week’s All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge was a color challenge to use brown, pink and red, I decided to CASE my own card to make a Valentine’s Card. It will have to be sent to someone who doesn’t read my blog, probably one of James’ grandmothers.

Heart to Heart

Stamps: C.C. Designs Kiki La Rue; Stampin’ Up Sweet Little Sentiments
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Real Red
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Loves Me
Ink: Stampin’ Up Basic Brown
Markers: Stampin’ Up Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, So Saffron; atyou Spica Red
Accessories: Stampin’ Up Chocolate Chip 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon; Creatology foam glitter hearts
Tools: Cuttlebug D’vine Swirl embossing folder

One of my goals for 2010 is to do something crafty at least once a week. Last Friday, I made two of the following cards for a sketch challenge on the All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge blog. I have some male birthdays coming up and these cards will be perfect for that. My next project will be thank you cards for the Christmas gifts we received.

Sketch

It's All About the Presents

Stamps: C.C. Designs It’s My Birthday
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Ballet Blue
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Uptown
Ink:  Stazon Jet Black
Markers: Stampin’ Up Ballet Blue, Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circles Large, Standard Circles Large