Calling Card..

Hi Blogland. I hope you all had a good weekend?
Today I wanted to share with you a project I have made and have decided to enter it into a Design Team Call with Creative Expressions!
Part of the requirements for the call is to use stamping and an ATC (Artist Trading Card) on the project..
So, this is what I came up with...You may be surprised to learn that the box actually started off life like this?! A plain White pre-made cardboard box...I coloured the box using Vintage Photo Distress Stain.What a complete contrast from the original box!!I then added some "Tim Holtz" corners to each corner of the lid of the box, to give it a more of a robust, vintage look.Next, I took a piece of Grey Board and White card stockand coloured them, again using the Vintage Photo Distress Stain.Notice the colour contrast on each piece of card stock, I guess the Grey Board just soaks up more of the Ink, but actually dries lighter than the White card stock..
For those who came to our Tim Holtz Day a few weeks ago, you will have had a go at this little ATC... But for everyone else, here's a step by step.
I de-bossed the Rain Man image from the Tim Holtz Textured Trades Folder Set Artful Muse,filling the image in with some Glosssy Accents.Once it was dry it adds a great effect to the ATC...I then cropped the edges of the ATC to add a little bit of interest,and also, hand on heart, to make it fit onto the top of the box!!
I then stamped my image which was from the Vintage Treasures Stamp set by Sam Poole..And then applied it to the top of the box...The sides of the box were looking a little bit bare in contrast to the top so I stamped some "creative" text using the Art Collage stamp set..The Black on Brown is making me feel that this box is looking just like an old tea chest!For the card which was to go inside the box, I stamped my image onto another piece of card stock which had been coloured with the Vintage Photo Distress Stain. The stamped image I used was from the Vintage Inventor Stamp Set.I then attached some Faux Screw Brads to make it look as though the image was screwed to the eventual card it was going on to.This has got to be one of my favourite sentiments! It sums a lot of us crafters up I think!!This, and the Inventor image were applied to a small card which had been distressed using Brushed Corduroy Distressing Inkand then popped into the box I made earlier!!.And there we go... Something a little bit different!! And you end up with a little box to keep all of your ATC's in too..Thanks for checking us out.. See you soon.
Andy.

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..

Making use of my scraps....

Hi Blogland.... Eeek!! It's raining this morning! Something I haven't seen in ages, rain that is not the Morning!! But it is much needed here in the South East, so let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!!Today, I'd like to share with you a project I made using a couple of left over pieces of stash from previous projects.. It really does make sense using them up, leaving them in a box is just a waste!!So, here we go... The first scraps I used was some waste White card stock. I cut out 4 images using the Marianne Creatables Die Doily Round (LR0168).Then stuck each of the layers together.I then laid them directly on to My Cuttlebug A Plate,adding a left over piece of Blue card stock,a Tan Mat,another piece of waste card stock to really bulk out the "sandwich"and finally my C plate before passing it through the Cuttlebug..To make my own embossing!I decided to make a frame in the middle, so I took a Circle Nestabilitie and cut it out,matting the frame onto some White card stockand then onto my base card.Adding a Ribbon, a Flower and some Distress Stained leaves left over from a previous project.Before finishing off with a Peel Off sentiment..Amazing what you can achieve with a few left over bit's an pieces eh!!
Have a great day and thanks for checking us out..
See you soon.
Andy.