Time will tell....

I had a dream... Ok, somewhat of a plan to turn Henry Ford into a pocket watch....

Did you know, Ford's father gifted him a pocket watch, which he took apart. This inspired his tinkering and a desire to build. Did you know Ford made an ELECTRIC CAR along with Edison way back in the late 1800's/early 1900's? Do you care why I know this? Our son, along with his partner, did their National History Day project on Henry Ford, and how his manufacturing strategy helped grow the middle class. They did REALLY REALLY well, and made it to the State competition. Not bad for a couple 6th graders.


ANYWAY, about my tag..... I used Tim Holtz' Pocket Watch and the Circles Dies to cut several layers of black cardstock, the image of Ford, and acetate. I used 4 layers of the die cut pieces between Henry and the acetate layer so that I could put the game spinners inside.



The finished tag is done



The base layer of the tag was embossed with the Diamond Plate & Riveted metal texture fade. It has layers of Distress Ink, Stain, and is spritzed with Perfect Mist to give it a shimmer. I hand cut the banners at the top from scraps made on canvas paper with my Gelli Printing Plate.

I added a Hitch Fastener to the tag hole, gears and a clock key as accents.



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Card: stamps, dies, embossing

I need to make some birthday cards. I had colored & cut out some stamped images from the Pondering Petunia set by Dylusions a while ago and wanted to use them. They are bright and colorful, fun and sometimes for me, it's nice to go bright.



Then banners are also by Dylusions from the Bags of Buntings set. The HB sentiment is from Hero Arts and stamped on canvas paper. I cut it into a banner. The yellow layer is cut from the Labels One set by Spellbinders and embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The layer behind that is a print I pulled from my Gelli Printing Plate as well as the scrap which I fashioned into a party hat. There's some leftover embossed Ranger Foil tape added to the hat as well.


The base card is made using a Card, Ornate#3 die by Sizzix. I then used the 3D Pop-up card die using LABEL Pop 'n Cuts insert.

(yes, I know it's difficult to tell as I photographed this black card against black cardstock, duh... me) You'll have to use your imagination until I make another card.... sorry.....

 

This is another one of those dies that I LOVE the idea, LOVE the samples I see, but need to work with because they are so different from my style. When I become more in tune with these dies, I will be able to do 'my thing' more comfortably with them. It's just how I role!

 

 

 

 

 Card Ornate #3

 

 

 

 Pop 'n Cuts Insert, Label
       Flip-it's square



  

 
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Card: Flip it's

 



One thing I find, being a lover of collage, is that it is VERY difficult for me to 'keep it simple'!

I love the idea of some of the new card design dies from Sizzix. The FLIP-IT's are just fabulous! I got the Square Flip-its as soon as it came out.

I have cut this die I don't know HOW many times, and seem to have some 'issues' finishing a card.


I just want to keep adding to it. SO, my challenge was to show some restraint.....

I cut the card from black cardstock.








I used the
Label One Nestabilities dies by  Spellbinder to cut the inside framing, and inked it with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.
 These dies also work great with the 3D Accordion Die by the way.

I printed a quote from Picasso, and put the beginning behind a bookplate cut from the Bookplate & Tag die by Sizzix.
(if you are keeping count, that's 3 dies I've used on this 'simple' card). The 2 pieces on the last panel are cut & layered to added a handwritten message.

The printed paper I used are from a 7Gypsies paper stack.


 
So this is about as 'simple' as I can get......











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Blueprint center panel step card

I saw this design for a Center Panel Step Card posted via the Splitcoast Stampers site. It was done as a 5x7, so the center panel was quite large, This is done as an A2 size, but still offers a lot of room for embellishing!


I used watercolors & perfect pearls on watercolor paper to work with the oak leaf blueprint stamp by Tim Holtz.



I made this layering piece from Glassine paper. I used Distress Paint in Antique Linen for the base, misted it with water and dryed it. Then I placed a stencil on top, spritz with Terra Cotta ink from Tsukineko and Funky Fushia Dylusions sprays. I also went over it with Teal Tattered Angels.
I crumpled up the paper after I had dried it, hit it with a little water, recrumpled & dried it. It looks so cool in real life and has a different feel to it!


  I used various Washi Tapes, a library card cut up and made a metal specimen tag to add to it. The card offers quite a bit of space to embellish and folds flat for mailing.  

 

This card is also known as a Front panel step card.

Here are the dimensions so you can give this a try!

 

Start with a piece of cardstock 8.5 x 5.5"

 

Cut 2 slits parallel to the long side of the card stock :

Mark your paper 1" in from the right edge, 1" in from the left edge,
Begin the cuts 1" from the bottom/short edge cutting to the 5.25" mark.

SCORE:
on the OUTSIDE PANEL (1" wide panel) at:
1" (mountain fold)
2" (valley fold)
5.25" (valley fold)

on the INSIDE/CENTER PANEL (3.5" wide panel):
score at 4.25" (mountain fold) (score ONLY the center panel, NOT onto the 1" side panels)

The CENTER PANEL is 3.5" wide x 4.25" long
Each SIDE PANEL is 1" wide x 3.25" long

MAKE a prototype with copy paper first. Do this once, and it will all make sense!

To see other ways of creating this card to include a greeting, go to www.papercookies.blog.splitcoaststampers.com

Tag: Despite my efforts....

The other day I was playing with some Glassine paper. Distress Paint, Tattered Angels Mists, some Distress Ink... Add a little water & a heat gun and the paper curls! I used my Fringe scissors to cut into it to make 'hair'.

  The stamped and colored (pencils) image is from Dylusions. I wrote the sentiment out with a Sharpie Poster Paint pen to go along with the 'I have become my mother' quote from Lisa's Altered Art.



I added some doodling with Gel pens to the background.
Simple, yet a fun tag!


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Tag! fairy jar!

Oh I had such a cool idea!!!! I had to make a tag with the theme On the Wing.... I have this really cool mason jar Sizzix die that has matching embossing folder. I had previously cut & embossed several in clear packaging.

And I had this fabulous dragonfly woman that fits perfectly inside.

I had the cool tag from the other day done in similar colors. Best yet , a recipe for fairies in a jar!



Gosh I had hopes this was going to work, but the glow ran out of juice! Cheap stinking dollar store glow sticks .....









The mason jar was suppose to glow like this:



Pretty sweet hey??? You cut up glow sticks in a jar with Diamond Dust glitter & shake!

Sigh.. It would have been so cool if it would have held its glow long enough to get to Minnesota ....


Items used in this Tag:
Dylusions Sprays, Acrylic Paints, The Crafters Workshop Stencil, Rubber Stamps, Sticky Back Canvas by Ranger, Gelli Arts Printing Plate, Glitter, plastic packaging, Sizzix Bigs Die & Embossing Folder, Twine.

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Tag time!

Today I spent part of the day trying to get back in the creative groove, and finish up some swaps.

I tried REALLY HARD to focus on ONE thing! So it was TAGS and the theme was a favorite quote. The plan was to use Einstein's "Imagination is more important than knowledge" quote, but the inspiration that came was actually from this one by Stella Adler.

"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one."





What's funny is how this tag came about. I began with the first tag on the left (shown below). I did the tag on the right, and then worked on the middle tag. I typically will work several backgrounds at once. As long as I'm 'making a mess...."

Well Tag in the middle was becoming it's own disaster. By the time I got to that tag, the stencil was wet, the acrylic black was bleeding ( watered down by cleaning off the stencil, the green/teal circles were a nightmare.... THEN I used the DOTS stencil from Dylusions... Oh that did not make it all better I guarantee you..... I just KNEW at the time I should have taken a picture! I always tell people the beauty of collage is that you can usually cover or hide your mistakes. This one is proof. The background is very similar to the tag on the right, but think MORE train wreck....












As I worked layers of teal acrylic, and rehydrated the Dylusions spays it really came to life. The woman stencil is from The Crafters Workshop, and I used it to preserve some of the 'good' part of the train wreck by masking it off & going around it with acrylic black. When I removed it, I used a white Sharpie Poster Paint pen to highlight inside the black line.



I made a necklace from yellow brads to add a pop of another color. The hand is a masonite cut out from Michaels. The flower is a paper type, sprayed with Dylusions. in sunshine yellow and the new pink.


There's some washi tape that adds to the yellow accents as well. On the hand, I used the small flower boarder from the Dylusions DOTS stencil with my white Sharpie. I had painted the hand with Snow cap white Dabber, then let the pink spray run down it spritz with water to lighten.  I dapped it in the end in extra puddles on the craft sheet.


I have to admit, I LOVE how the tag turned out. But I am still going to send it out. I'll know it's journey, and hope it's new home will appreciate it's transformation into art.

So my lesson to remember today, is things aren't always as they appear.

With art as with life, you need to push past the bad and keep at it. Sometimes a train wreck isn't a train wreck after all...
(yes I made that up. I better not see that wise-ness show up on a stamp... LOL!)


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