Happy Father's Day!!

Hi Blogland... Well, today's the day we celebrate those great guy's in our lives! Our Dad's... I had several ideas of the kind of card I wanted to make for pop'sand "eventually" settled on this one!
It's grunge(ish), it's vintage, it's distressed, it's Steam Punk.. It's all the things I enjoy playing with.. It's me in a card really!! Can't get much more personal than that can you?..I started off by Brayering a White piece of card stock with some Latte (Beige) Adirondak Ink.And then embossed the piece of card through the Cuttlebug Machine using the Pocket Watch Embossing Folder from the Tim Holtz Textured Fades Embossing Folder Set Pocket Watch & Steampunk.I then brayered over the image using Slate Adirondak Ink to highlight the embossing.Then matted it onto some Slate coloured Mirror card.I got the idea for this card from my last Brayering lesson, a day spent with some great crafter's who were not afraid to get a little bit mucky!! Hands covered in Ink, and in some cases forearms and up to the elbow's too, eh Emma!!For the next part of the project I Brayered another piece of White card stock, again using the Slate coloured Ink. I also stamped my image using the same Ink, tone on tone can look so effective and I think that if I had used a Black Ink it would have been too much of a contrast! This train image is from a stamp set by Sam Poole... A great UK artist with a great style.. Take a look at her Blog for some great inspo...I also matted the Train image with some Slate Mirror card to tie the theme with the Pocket Watch image.On one of Sam's (Sam, get me using her first name! like I know her personally! Don't you just find that you do that with the crafting elite! Sam, Tim, Martha, Dawn.. lol)! Anyway, on one of Sam's other set's of Stamps is this Ironic Sentiment.. Which sums me up to a tee, and many other's no doubt! Again, this was stamped using the Slate Ink onto a piece of card stock which had also been coloured with it.. Then matted onto some more mirror card.
I put these images to one side so that I could get on with making my base card.I had a piece of this Clock backing paper left over from another project. As it is White it would not work with this project,so I coloured it using the Antique Linen Distress Stain, going over the Clock faces a second time to give a contrast to the background. Once the backing paper was dry, (it doesn't take long!)I cut it to size and added it to a prepared Easel card.Adding my embossed and stamped images to the front.
For the stopper of the Easel card I wanted to keep the Steampunk, Vintage theme going..So, I cut out some shapes using the Sprightly Sprockets Die from Spellbinders!These shapes were cut from some new Mirror card we now have in.. Now, you know I use a lot of Mirror card on my projects! I also feel that I waste a lot of Mirror card!! A little while a go I found a whole box of Mirror card off cuts (and shamefully some whole sheets too!!). I totted it up and there was £75 (US$120) worth of Mirror card in the box!! ouch!! I have put it to good use now though!
So I think that this new Quad cut Mirror card is going to help me no end.. Sometimes I either only need a little bit, or certainly don't need a whole sheet.. So I can now be a little bit more economical with it! Why didn't they think of this earlier!! Lesson learnt!Once the shapes were cut out I applied them to the bottom of my Easel card to finish the project off...Ta Da!!! Have a great day all you Dad's out there and thanks for checking us out..
See you soon.
Andy..

Happy Anniversary

Hi Blogland. Yesterday was my Parents 42nd Wedding Anniversary.. And, like most events in the family I know exactly when it is, but do I get the card made in advance and put away for safe keeping? Yeah like that's ganna happen! And even if I did, it would probably be in a very safe place and I would have totally forgotten where I put it! Oh, you've got a place like that too!Anyway, I eventually made it on the day, so at least I could give it to them on the correct date.. Phew!!I started off by selecting my goodies which I was going to use for this project.. It's always a good idea having everything you need at hand so you don't have to go hunting for things..I punched a circle from a post it note.. Make sure you punch including some of the sticky on the back so that it adherer's to your card stock..I then turned my card stock the way that I was going to apply my Brayer and Ink.
Now, applying the Ink with the Brayer is a technique that has to be learnt, see Reene, this time I didn't say learned or learndid! My English is very bad some times!! So it is impossible to show you the application of the Ink in photo form! Perhaps I should start doing Video tutorials...!Anyway, once you have applied your Ink, this is what the card stock looks like,and by removing the Post It Note circle, you now have a Moon!!I then stamped my image using Stazon Black. The Stamp is a Clarity Stamp LOFRAME-GG (Love Frame).I then positioned the second image inside the "O", this was also a Clarity Stamp.. Sorry, not sure which set this came from as there was no reference code on the packaging!!I then added my Peel Off sentimentbefore matting the card onto some Light Blue Mirror card...For my base card I took some Kanban printed Acetateand applied it to a White A5 card,adding a complimentary piece of Ribbonbefore finishing the project off by adding the stamped topper...Phew! done.. And on the right day too... Right! let's see if I can get ahead of myself for once... What's next on the list!! Father's day and Christmas.. Yikes...
Thanks for checking us out and see you soon..
Andy..

With Sympathy...

Hi Blogland... There comes a time in every crafters life when you need to do the dreaded Sympathy card! Unfortunately on Christmas Day we lost my Uncle. He had been ill for sometime but it really couldn't have come on the worst day.... Whilst we tried to enjoy the day my Dad had to go to the hospital to say his last goodbye's to someone he had grown up with and known for over 70 years... What with the Christmas, the New Years and Bank Holiday's the Funeral has taken some time to arrange but will eventually take place on Monday.It has, and will be a difficult time, but I wanted to share the card I have made.. Initially not for this purpose, but I adapted it to fit the occasion.I started off by taking a piece of Glossy card stock and going over it with an Anti Static Bag to remove any excess moisture and finger prints.I then took a selection of Inks and my Brayerand applied them to the card stock.I then embossed the card with the Sycamore Tree Embossing Folder.Next, I took a 2 way glue pen and some Gilding Flakes.And started adding the glue to the Tree. I prefer to do this in sections as opposed to covering the whole image with glue. The 2 way refers to the fact that the glue comes out Blue (very Wet) and dries Clear (tacky),once the glue has gone tacky, this is the best time to add your Gilding Flakes. I use a soft paint brush to apply the flakes and burnish them to the glue.Repeat this process until the image is covered.I then matted with Gold & Copper Mirror card.Now for the base card. I made a small Easel card for the image to sit on,added a poem I found on the Internet. This tied in very well with the image as the first couple of lines read " Do not weep for I have not gone, I am the wind that shakes the mighty Oak. Ok, the Tree is a Sycamore, but I doubt anyone will notice...Normally I would have mounted the card like this,in fact I had already applied my double sided tape to the back ready to do this. But I thought I would ring the changes a bit..I removed the bottom part of the double sided tapeand de tacked the tape using the Anti Static bag.Hopefully you should be able to make out the difference between the sticky tape at the top and the now un sticky tape at the bottom.So now I could stick the top part of the card to the base as opposed to the bottom part as I normally would. Just to give a different look for a change...And there you go...
Will be back soon with a more cheerful project, thanks for checking us out and see you soon.
Andy..