Affordable Ideas on how to celebrate your 20th Wedding Anniversary

Today, we are celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary.  They have been the most amazing years of my life - filled with tremendous joy.  Each new day I realize how blessed I am.

Last year, as I searched for ideas for anniversary celebrations, I was disappointed by the lack of affordable ideas that I could find.  So that brings us to this post today - how we celebrated our 20th anniversary.

1.  We were married in my hometown (Racine, Wisconsin).  Racine has lots of delicious places to eat and our wedding cake came from the best bakery that we have ever been to.  If you have ever been to Racine or know anyone from Racine, then you probably know about kringle and O&H Danish Bakery.  Since we no longer live in Racine, I enlisted the help of my father and my cousin to bring us a heart shaped cake decorated like our wedding cake.  My husband is not normally a sweet eater but the night of our wedding he had three pieces of cake (he said that was because we missed the appetizers due to photos and then was talking too much to eat during supper - I think he just really liked the cake).  He was really surprised when the cake arrived.  Perhaps the best part was sharing the cake with our kids.  They love O&H because we go there for doughnuts when we are in town but they rarely have store bought cake (I love baking - but that is a post for a different day).

2.  If you are one of the two regular readers of my blog - you know that I am Stampin' Up demonstrator and one of the things I love to do is make cards.  Over this last year, I made 20 - 3"x3" cards for my husband.  I left these little love notes in his sock drawer, suitcase or computer - any place that I could leave them as a surprise for him.  These were a great way for me to remind him (and myself) about all the ways that he is special to me.

3.  The traditional gift for the 20th anniversary is china.  I ordered all of our favorite Chinese food and served it on our wedding china.  On another note, we started eating all of our meals on our wedding china about two years ago.  We registered for "everyday" china when we were getting married and one day I decided we should use it everyday.  When we want to feel special, we use my mother's desert rose china. 

4.  The modern gift for the 20th is platinum.  I researched a list of platinum albums and then checked our music collection for what we had.  We played this music while eating our anniversary supper.  I do not really enjoy music during supper but my husband does.  It took him a few songs to realize why the music was playing.

I hope these ideas help you to plan your anniversary celebration.

Technique of the Week: Cut back card front

This card brings a smile to my face - I love the colors together and the watercolor wonder paper.  To make this card cut one piece of card stock to 4 1/4" x 11.  Fold in half to make your card body.  Trim the desired width from the top of the card body.  It is hard to tell in this photo but the smile is actually stamped on the inside of the card.

Technique of the week: Graduation Bling!

This graduation card was designed to be given to any grad from any school.  The background color can easily be modified for any school's color.  The letters were cut on the big shot using the silver glimmer paper (currently out of stock) but could also be cut out of the silver foil paper.

Technique of the Week: Pennants and Banners

The Perfect Pennants stamp set and the Banners Framelits Dies make the perfect bundle.  This card came together very quickly.  I love stamps and coordinating framelits or punches. 

Technique of the Week: Layering

First of all, I would like to thank the 3 people that read my blog every week.  There is so much to learn about blogging - how to do it, when to do it - the list is endless.  Even though the amount of things to learn is overwhelming, I grow more confidant with every post.  Until of course I can not figure something out and then I have to call my friend that writes a great blog that you can find here.

This week's technique is about layering.  The focal image was stamped twice once with Basic Gray and once with Bermuda Bay.  The friendship banner was cut out of the Bermuda Bay image and placed over the Basic Gray image using Stampin' Dimensionals.

If you are still reading - I would love it if you left a comment!  Have a great day.

Technique of the Week: Adding depth

I am not sure what the actual name for this card is but I call it the cut back card.  The base is cut for a 4.25" x 5.5" card.  From the front of the card at 1" strip is cut off.  The patterned paper was applied to the inside of the card.  The sentiment is placed on the front but hangs off of the edge. 

Technique of the Week: Background paper

I love this Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper!  (The truth of the matter is a have what some people might call a slight paper problem.......I have loved paper since I was a little girl and I have way too much of it but that does not stop me from collecting more.)

The background on this card is made from one piece of two sided paper.  The paper was cut to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" to fit the card.  I then trimmed off two pieces 3/4" wide and flipped them over.  I then faux stitched them.