A Good Vintage!

Just to clear up one thing before we start.....I'm not referring to my Mum in the title of this blog, but to the style of card so if you are reading this Mum I'm sorry for any confusion!

Last week I had the absolute pleasure to be invited to a wonderful event in the beautiful city of Maribor in Slovenia. I was one of several workshop instructors from around Europe and the US teaching a wide range of skills including card making, jewellery, Painting, felt work and much more. It was so well run and attended, the customers and staff were so friendly and helpful and the organisers Primoz and Mihaela were such gracious and attentive hosts.

If you ever find yourself in that (very beautiful) part of the world drop in and see what they are all about, you won't be disappointed. To find out more, follow this link.https://www.facebook.com/art.trade

This week I am featuring a card which was very similar to one of the workshops I did in Maribor with a few minor tweaks.

I used My Mind's Eye paper from the Lost & Found 2 collection, an assortment of Distress Inks and thats pretty much it with the exception of my dies and folders.

I used the butterfly Sizzlit and Tab Framelits die from the Big Shot starter Kit I'm sorry if you don't have these dies but there a dozens of similar dies which you could substitute achieving equally stunning results. The Embossing folder I used is the Circle Frame & Rosemary Set which is currently on sale so click on the link and grab yourselves a real bargain. I also used some tiny flowers from the Susan's Garden Yarrow, you could also use the Black-eyed Susan, the Sunflower or the Forsythia to create a similar effect.

I started by debossing a 13 x 13cm piece of the spotty card and I then used my craft knife to trim around the pattern in the centre to create an aperture. I then used an Old Paper Distress Ink pad to enhance the debossed motif by gently rubbing over the pattern in a circular motion with my foam applicator.I also took special care to ink around the outer part of the square.

Old Paper is quite a light shade and I always work gradually starting with the lightest colour and working through. The other colours I used were Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Vintage Photo the last of which I use very sparingly and with great care. As I add the colours I do so in a random fashion working heavier in some areas than others, I concentrate mainly on the pattern and edges.

Once the inks are dry I scrunched the corners and sanded lightly over the creases before distressing the edges for which there is a fabulous little tool designed to do the job, failing that you can use the blade of your scissors.

The photograph I found on the Internet and printed it out onto matt white photo paper before trimming to size and adding a little colour with my inks to age it further and help it to blend with the rest of the card.

I die cut two butterflies from the spotty card and trimmed away the right hand wing from both before inking. I then attached them together at the body and curled the edges of the top wing to add dimension prior to attaching them to the rear of my photo.

I die cut several tiny flowers and inked the edges prior to shaping them using a stylus and foam mat from the Susan's Garden Tool Kit . Next, I attached a row of flowers to the fairies head forming a garland and added a tiny pearl gem to the centre of each, I used the rest to decorate the aperture card.

Finally, I used my PC to create the Mother's Day phrase (Muffaroo for all you font fans)  and printed it onto the spotty paper before die cutting with my Framelits die and attaching to the card after inking of course!

And here is the finished card, I attached the assembled aperture and fairy to a 15 x 15cm base card at a slight angle using 3D foam pads and added a vintage looking bow to give a softening effect.

I do hope you like it (I hope my mum does too!)