A Quick Male Card

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog.

Just a quick share with you today of a card I put together for a friend who lives interstate  (Don't tell him but I almost forgot his Birthday).  I needed this in a bit of a hurry but I think it came together fairly well.   

I can't remember which paper I used for the base, ( I should get a little notebook and write these things down as I'm using them)  but the rest of the papers are from Prima's Craftsman Collection ...

 ... distressed all the edges of course and swiped with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I also did a little bit of doodling (although I should have done a bit more I think). 

 The wooden globe is from Kaisercraft.  I basically left it bare except for the same Distress Ink around the edges.

 The clock was a print out on my computer which I fussy cut and stuck onto a chipboard button and the cog was cut out of black cardstock with my Silhouette Portrait and then swiped with a little Bronze and Silver Versa Color.

 I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink here with a mini Basketweave Template from

The Crafter's Workshop just to add a little bit of extra interest.

 

Here is just a close-up of the layered strips.    It wasn't until I was ready to post it off that I realised I hadn't placed a greeting on the front but decide that it really wasn't necessary because it's on the inside anyway.

As I said, just a quick, short post but, hopefully you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for visiting and a Big Thank You to all the lovely people who have left me comments.  I really love to hear from you and I do appreciate you taking the time. 

Take care, enjoy the rest of your day and God Bless.

oxox Marg

My First Mixed Media Collage.

Hello everyone.  Welcome to my blog.

I thought I would share with you my first attempt at a Mixed Media Collage.

 It didn't quite turn out how I envisaged it.  I originally made this for my Grandson's 18th Birthday Card.  His favourite colours are green and black.  I actually wanted the black to start in the lower left hand corner and then to  blend in with the green and gold across the page.  As you can see, that's not how it ended.  You would be amazed, I think, if you knew how many times I gessoed this and then started again.  I think it must have at least 5 or 6 coats of paint on it.  LOL.  I started off with tissue paper and once that was glued down and dried, I added some gauze for extra texture. I then coated it all with gesso for the first time.

I then added some bits of string before attaching the cogs and small screws.

I also glued on some beads and spacers.

Here is a close-up view of the main cluster of cogs.

Again, I added a few beads and spacers and some more screws.

After painting and gessoing and painting and gessoing a few times (I didn't actually count how many) I decided it needed more texture so I hit it randomly with some texture paste.  Gessoed it AGAIN and painted it AGAIN.  (Sigh) ... (Deeper Sigh) LOL

You can see more of the texture in this corner here.

I've allowed some of the metal to show through the paint as well, as you can see above.

The black paint I used is my Acrylic Paint Dabber which I actually brushed on.  The final green coat is Viva Precious Metal in Olive and the Gold is also Viva Precious Metal in Orange Yellow.  I also put a little of the green in a sprayer mixed with a little water and dribbled it onto the page.

In reality, the piece is not quite as dark as it appears in these photos. 

Not sure what I'm going to do with this now as I have actually decided to make a mini album for my Grandson's Birthday so he'll have somewhere to keep all the photos he'll get from his party. 

I have to say though, even if it didn't turn out quite how I wanted it, and even though I've whinged about how often I had to re-do it, I actually had a great deal of fun making this.  I just hope I haven't put anyone else off from giving it a go.  I'll probably hang on to this just as a show and tell piece, and I'm definitely going to try it again, but this time with pretty colours and lots of flowers. YES!!!!

Thank you so much for visiting.  Take care, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

God Bless.

oxox Marg

More Cogs

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I'm back to show another card that I made with inspiration from scrapbooking sites.  This one is a masculine card but, again, I haven't decided on who to give it to, or  even on the greeting I'm going to use.  

The front of the card is a square of black cardstock and  I used my little machine to sew around the edge.  After I finished embellishing it I mounted it on a deep grey card.

The papers are a mix of Prima Craftsman and Kaisercraft Attitude.  I distressed the edges with my Tim Holz distressing tool after I lightly edged them with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I left the edges raw because I liked the 'grungy' look.

Here is a close-up of the Imaginarium cogs in the corner.

 I painted the cogs with a black paint dabber and then went over them with Versa Color Silver and Bronze to give them an aged look.

This chipboard piece is from Twiddlybits and I've painted it the same as the other cogs.

I used a chicken wire Template and dabbed over it with a Paint Dabber in Almond.  

This little patch was actually supposed to be in the opposite corner, but I found that the small cogs didn't stand out very well against the paint colour so I simply turned the card around.

 Here is another close-up of the chipboard piece.

Once I decide who to give this card to I'll sort out what the greeting is going to be.

And another one bites the dust!! LOL

Thank you so much for visiting.

Once I've sorted the photos from my holidays I'll do a post about it.  I have to say, New Zealand is a very, very pretty country, and we are definitely going back again to have another look.

Have a lovely day and please take care.

God Bless.

ox Marg

Card for a 16th Birthday

Hello everyone.

I'm back again to show you the card I made for my grandson's Birthday.  He turned 16 a few days ago.  ( Isn't it scary how quickly they grow up ? )

 The papers I used are from Prima's Craftsman Collection.  The metal embellishment below is actually a button I found at (Surprise! Surprise! ) Big W.  I cut a small circle from cardstock with a plier punch, coloured it with a silver Versa Colour Stamp Pad and then swiped it lightly with Bronze and then glued it to the inside so that I could cover the button holes.

Here is a close-up of the cogs.  This is actually a single piece which I obtained at the Melbourne Paperific last year.  I think it was from Twiddlybits but I'm not sure because, unfortunately, I've thrown out the packaging.  I coloured this with Black Versa Magic and then swiped it with silver and bronze Versa Color to give it that old rusty look.

I've placed a small tag behind the main image for the greeting. 

I covered the tag with paper from the same collection and then stamped it with a flourish stamp from my stash.  For the greeting I simply cut a strip of paper, inked it all over with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, stamped the happy birthday with a Kaisercraft Stamp and then folded it to make the banner. 

The number 16 was cut from black cardstock with my Silhouette Portrait. (Love this little machine.) 

I lightly inked that with the bronze Versa Color, edged it with gold and covered it with Glossy Accents.

I made an envelope from a different set of papers, made another banner for his name and placed a few cogs in the lower left hand corner  which were coloured the same way as the main piece.

He really liked his card and that made my day.

That's all for now.  Thank you so much for taking the time to visit.

Take care and God Bless.

ox Marg