The best laid plans

Hi Blogland, and how is 2012 treating you so far. I guess for many it is/was a return to work today after the New Year Holidays. What a day to go back! It was rather windy out there today don't you think?! It was fun taking Holly for her morning stroll this morning! Those of you who visit us here at Barleylands will know that the car park, albeit FREE really could do with a wind break at the best of times, but when it is blowing 50 - 60mph you don't really stand a chance.. Still, Holly had fun chasing any leaf or bit of paper that got whipped up in the wind!!
Now, with every good intention and the best laid plans to get a friends card made yesterday for their Birthday and then posted in Blogland Today somehow, a rather busy first day of our sale put paid to that plan! And I had to do the ultimate crafting No No and go out and buy one!! So, as I still haven't had a chance to get one made, Today I'm going to offer you another Christmas card.. This will make 11 so far this year and it's only January 03rd.. Get in!!This is a card I made for a very special Pinnacles Friend.. She said that her Grandson said that she received it because it was old looking.. I know she corrected him saying that it was Classic and Vintage, just like her!! Touché.....
Late last year I had a week’s worth of lessons where we used Alcohol Inks.This was one of the samples I produced and kept, as, although I had no plans to make a card with it at the time; I knew it would come in handy in the future!
It initially started off as a piece of White Glossy card stock (sorry, I don't have step by step photos of this stage). I added a couple of Alcohol Ink colours to it and then Embossed it using the Christmas Vine Embossing Folder and then went over the embossed image with the Alcohol Ink Gold Mixative..I then cut the largest die from the Fleur De Lis Rectanglesand then matched it up with its counterpart Chipboard shapeso as to make a much thicker and sturdier image.I prepared my base Easel card using a 12" x 12" piece of backing paper which was a Christmas Wreath image and cut it so that it roughly resembled its original shape..Adding my Embossed image and a vintage die cut topper to the back of the card.This particular piece of card stock has served me well over the past few Months and the particular Carol on this piece is very apt! After all, my dog is called Holly!!This was also added to the back of the card.
For the stopper for the Easel card I decided to make Poinsettia's.I cut out my images using the Spellbinders Poinsettia Creations Die (S5-055) using Red card stock.To make them slightly more aged and vintageI applied some Gold Ink to them using a Stippling Brush.And then layering the pieces together to form my Poinsettia.I then took some pre made leavesand added some of the Gold Ink to them to tone them down to fit in with the project.Finally adding the Leaves and the Poinsettia Images to my card to finish it off..Another one for your Christmas 2012 pile.
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon..
Andy.