Monday, April 18, 2011

An old-fashioned Family affair

So the other day I was yapping at my doctor and I mentioned the craftosphere and how I follow & am followed by like-minded crafters around the world. He looked at me, like he so often does, like I was some kind of wild hippie with a glue gun & a dream. I do respect him greatly, but it struck me how small we tend to make our personal world, for better or worse; Granted he has a good 40 years on me, but you'd think he'd be a little less surprised that technology has led to the simplest of conclusions: we're all pretty much the same. Culture and location have never really limited those of us who love to decorate our world.

That unnecessarily long introduction is just to say that I had tons of fun with the Technology Sucks challenge at Drunken Stampers. I'm also really loving seeing others' takes on the challenge. Normally, I would have used my Cricut to at least cut templates, but it was really fun to do it the old fashioned way: with my many, many tools.

After choosing the lovely combo of Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango + White from colourQ, I started by stamping and coloring the daffodil-and-tulip stamp for the inside; I still can't believe I paper pieced those little pieces! But I really like the resulting subtle texture.

For the flower border on the front, I stamped it three times: in cherry, orange & green. I made one-inch templates for the square and circle and did my best to line them to match the lovely CPS sketch. Then I made bottom layers, using the same inks.

When I had completed the border element, I showed it to my husband, who really loved it but wondered it we could add some color with fun flock (or embossing, but I didn't want to use my electric heat tool for this project). I've had great luck using ZIG 2-way glue to adhere flocking, so I was all over that suggestion. They come in different sizes, so I used the medium chisel for the flowers, and the fine point to trace the stamped sentiment.

Oh, and I decided to use watermark ink to create a shadow for the sentiment, because why not add one more thing?!

Speaking of "one more thing", I didn't want to edge the pieces (it just wasn't the look I wanted), so I used my ball-point embossing tool to create a raised border on the front and inside Kraft pieces. It's a bit difficult to see in the photos, but it adds more subtle texture.

So this is how we spent this Springy Sunday morning, crafting as a family!
Inspiration:
Card Positioning Systems #214: Sketch
Drunken Stampers challenge #63: Technology Sucks / no electric tools
colourQ #80: Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango + White

Supplies: Memento, ColorBox and CraftSmart inks, Versamark watermark ink, Copic markers, MS detailing scissors, Fiskars papercutter and finger knife, ruler, Offray ribbon, ZipDry, ZIG and Tacky glues, embossing tool, Hammermill and Recollections cardstocks, pop-dots

3 comments:

  1. Brilliant, simply brilliant. Looks great! See, hubby is impressed as well, what else could one want? Lol!

    xxx Monica

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  2. Lovely colorful creations dear.

    Sudha
    sudha-kalra.blogspot.com

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  3. Your card is beautiful, and definitely hasn't suffered from going without modern crafty tools!

    You're also correct: It's a small, familiar world for those of us connected through art!

    Thanks for joining us at Drunken Stampers!

    ReplyDelete

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