A Happy Anniversary Card for the Stamping Bella Challenge

Today was the beautiful day that yesterday was supposed to be. So glad we stayed home yesterday and did some last minute errands and visited his sister so we could go for a bike ride today. We did another 30.2km on the bikes today and then stayed at the park for one of their delicious veggie burgers so I wouldn’t have to cook when we got home.

I was asked by a faithful follower about die cutting machines. The only two I have used are the Cuttlebug and the Big Shot (or Big Kick - these are identical with different names) and are made by Sizzix. You can buy these either at the big box stores or from Stampin’ Up dealers. I had the Cuttlebug and loved it but after a few years it split on me (I may have put something too large through it so it may have been my fault, but I’m not sure) so I ended buying the Big Shot from our local scrapbook store (I buy from small dealers instead of big box craft stores if I can). The Big Shot has a longer platform and is sturdier than the Cuttlebug but it depends on personal preference. Almost all dies work in all machines but you have to experiment with the set-up. There are other roller type die cutting machines but I cannot comment on them because I haven’t used them. The dies are a bit pricey. I started out just getting the basic shapes and then added others as they came on sale. I use the dies I have a lot both in card making and scrapbooking so they don’t collect much dust. Just buy what you know you will use. Hope some of that helps.

This week’s challenge over at the Stamping Bella blog was to make a “congratulations on anything we wanted” card. I did an anniversary card. Two couples in our church celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversaries last month and I know at least one of my cards went to one of the couples.

 

When I was at Michaels last week I picked up a package of square cards with envelopes. These cards came with a pre-embossed border on all four sides so I used it. The image was coloured with water coloured pencils and blended with water. The square die is from Spellbinder. The flowers come from various sources. I just dump all my flowers into a tub so I have no idea where they come from. The ferns are a Martha Stewart punch and the large leaves are from a Sizzix die. The little love tag came from a set from the dollar store.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Cheers

Violet