because this stamp was involved in the creation of practically everything to do with the wedding. But I'm not all that imaginative, and that probably would get annoying after about 2 sentences.
The stamp is from the "Together Forever" set from Stampin' Up! which I purchased because of other stamps in the set: "We're engaged!", "Together Forever", and "Mr. & Mrs.". The "&" is large, so it can be used for all sorts of projects. I liked the flowers but didn't look at them too closely until I got started with wedding preparations.
The main thing I grew to love about this stamp was that, although there are flowers, they are not overly feminine. There's kind of a woodcut feel about it. I ran it by Steve, and he agreed it would work fine for our invitations.
Here's where legend takes over.... On one long drive from Waukegan, Illinois to Waukesha, Wisconsin, the bride used her back-burner thinking to try to come up with invitation ideas. She thought it would be cute to have silver hearts hanging off of a ribbon, but where would she find hearts she'd like at a reasonable price? Her back-burner thinking has an evil sense of humor and implanted the idea that she could make them herself using silver clay. She was going to make her own jewelry anyway, so what was 40 more little pieces? The groom tried to talk his bride out of it - it would be way too much work... But, no, she insisted, and the following became the focal piece of the invitations:
The stamp was used on the clay before cutting the hearts out, and I used wire to twist them on the ribbon. That hurt, let me tell you. My forefingers are twinging at the memory. The rest of the invitation used the same stamp behind vellum for a softer look, and on the inside of the invitation I embossed a single impression. Very sharp invitations, if I do say so myself. Well, I don't have to say so myself - I got a lot of compliments, and my mother and Steve's mother couldn't stop gushing about them.
While I made the hearts for the invitations, I also worked on my jewelry. I used the same stamp as a background for the pendant and for a few more hearts for the bracelet, and I cut out the flowers of the stamp (very carefully!) for accents on the pendant and as dangles for the bracelet and the earrings. I used syringe type clay to affix cubic zirconias and a tanzanite gem.
Here's what I ended up with:
The bracelet:
And the earrings:
(The hooks have been moved to the earrings I showed you yesterday)
Steve was so proud of his besilvered wife that he told many people at the wedding that I made my own jewelry. He's so sweet and makes me blush!
Excuse me, but I feel the need to take over... This post would turn mushy otherwise. After she made the invitations and the jewelry, did she let me rest? No, of course not! There were Thank You notes to stamp, too! I was able to rest for a few months after that, but then she brought me out again for the scrapbook! Oh, no! She used me over and over and over again for page after page... using black ink and white ink! I thought she would never finish, but she finally did, and fortunately she has let me retire. Oh, I might come out for an anniversary card or something like that, but I can't imagine that would be as exhausting as the wedding preparations and scrapbook were! I am quite proud that I have kept my sharpness throughout this process and that I haven't fallen apart. Okay - back to sleep for me. I need it!
*facepalms*
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