Fan(tashe)tic!

Terrible pun I know, but for once I'm not responsible. It is a word that I would use if I were trying to teach someone how to do a bad Sean Connery impersonation!

Moustaches will appear at some point in this blog even though we don't have any moustache dies.... you know what that means, it's Framelits time again!

Father's Day is just around the corner here in the UK so I thought I would create a nice vintage style card, in the sense that it has an abstracted art deco vibe.

I started by making a tri-fold base card from heavy weight cream card. Below is a template with a rough guide on how it was made including the all important measurements.

After folding the card I sketched the face/nose profile onto the front (if you have any french curves they are a great help!). Next, I cut around the lines with my craft knife before Inking around the edges using Antique Linen Distress Ink and a foam applicator. This should be done with care as the effect needs to be quite subtle. Antique Linen imparts a lovely warmth when used with cream card.

To hold our card flat we are going to create a wrap with a difference and there is a diagram below with all the measurements etc.

The Wrap will not only hold the card flat, it will form a retro style wing collar.... very Downton! After cutting the shape from white card I creased and folded back the collar before wrapping around the bottom of the base card. We don't want it to stick to the base card so I removed it before securing at the back with a glue gun where it overlaps.

To create a bow tie, I folded a rectangle of black card in half and cut the shape with my scissors to create the perfect mirrored image. I gently curled the bow tie before attaching to the collar using adhesive foam pads.

In case you have forgotten, this is a Sizzix blog and you have probably noticed that we haven't been doing much die-cutting yet. I always save the best till last!

I am using two of my favourite Framelits die sets namely Labels, Fancy and Hearts. I die-cut a medium sized fancy label from black card before placing my large heart Framelits die over the die-cut as shown. One swift pass through my Big Shot later and we have a perfect moustache, Lord Kitchener would have been proud of that one! you can also use the Scalloped Hearts Framelits as we will see a little later

Next, I used my beloved circle Framelits (remember, I have combined two sets)  and I used two to create the silver ring before die-cutting a cream circle using the largest of the two. I inked around the cream circle using the Antique Linen pad before attaching the silver ring over the top to create a monocle. I curled the ends of the moustache before slipping it under the nose and attached the monocle using adhesive foam pads.

Now all I need to do is slip on the collar and there you have it, a card fit for a......Dad!

I didn't forget the centre, I stamped and inked a rectangle of cream card which was then matted onto a brown plaid background before mounting onto the centre panel all ready to write on.

Here are a few more styles of moustache that we could have chosen. The top one using two Framelits hearts, the centre using the Fancy labels and hearts and the bottom using hearts and scalloped hearts. I'm sure there is a lot more mileage in this idea. If you have any ideas why not pop them along?

Lastly but by no means least! Our friend and colleague Hannah gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter named Alyssa Ivy last week, she was a little early but Mum and baby are doing fine as is Dad Aaron, who will be receiving his first Father's day card in the not so distant future. 

But for now here's a little card I made. Hannah loves Tim Holtz dies and any excuse for me to revisit some old favourites!