Gold leaf

Hi Everyone!
I hope everyone is keeping well. As promised, here is the 'Vintage card, yet elegant'(in my opinion).I had to upload them, add the watermark and you know the story.And also, I am sorry that I have been quiet...I know that my subscribers and regular visitors would like to see some projects.Believe me when I say that, making cards and painting are things I am passionate about.But it is just that I am not feeling too good at the moment.I am hoping to do some painting this week end and will try to post them.They are part of my portfolio and also, there will be stuffs I need to do for my after school club at work.
Anyway , here we go.
These are the materials I have used and you will notice the Gold leaf on the right. I bought them a year ago and haven't used them much...I have used distress ink, glue pad, cutter kit by Stampin Up which includes the distress tool, flourish background stamp which is the 'Damask' clear stamp by Flourishes.
And also a vintage dress stamp...I cannot remember which company is this from...Right now, I really do not have the energy to find the stamp.If you would like to know drop me a comment, I will get back to you.

Okay , as far as I can remember I did take pictures of the steps when I was using the glue pad and gold leaf but for some reasons I cannot find them.Because this was back in December, I can't even remember if I saved them somewhere and what not.But I can tell you how I achieved this.It is pretty easy. I have stamped the Damask stamp with the glue pad. The glue pad comes with a spongy pad, which is new and dry.It comes with a bottle of special glue.You then need to apply the glue to the spongy pad and it is then ready to be used. So, then, I have stamped the image onto a white card which I have previously inked lightly with the distress ink.I then pick up a gold leaf(this is very flimsy, you got to be careful with it, give it much love and tenderness:)

Then apply the gold leaf onto your stamped image.Try to smooth the leaf down as much as you can, but as gently as you can otherwise you can tear it.Even though if this does happen, it is not the end of the world as you can add a piece of leaf on top of the exposed area and continue the same process.When you are happy that the leaf has been stuck down properly, take a sponge and buff over the leaf , again very gently. What will happen now is, the glued area will remain in place revealing your the design of your image.I love, love , love this.Mind you, there will pieces of gold leaf everywhere...on your fingers, your desk, your face, your hair...but they will go when you wash them.

Love it!

This is a patterned paper from.....ooops,I don't know!Can't remember!I haven't been very good this time with my tutorial, have I!So sorry...I think it is papermania...I will try and put more info in my comment section by this week end!I trimmed around the edge and this is my favourite pair of scissors by Fiskars.No one is allowed to touch this or......I can get very upset.......

This image has been stamped on acetate with staz on black ink and then on the reverse of the inked image, I have applied glue to the dress and I have used a dry brush to pick up some perfect pearl powder in Silver and Gold to apply to the dress.

I have used a gold organza ribbon to attach the acetate and the gold leaf stamped piece of card together.I used a craft knife to make two small incisions on the waistline and threaded the ribbon through.Then I have attached this to the patterned paper(inked the edge as well).

Forgot to mention that the gold leaf card has a torn edge...I have used my distress tool to distress the edge but I felt I had to add more interest to it , so I tore them and curled and turned them over .Since it has been distressed, it was easy to be rolled over.

I have finished off with some flat back sticky pearls from papermania and heat embossed (gold)the word adorable(Hero Arts)

That's all from me for now...I do hope you like this project and also, I wanted to share this with you. I have a calendar (saju gave me)with the following saying: When we find beauty in the smallest of things, it makes our sould grow-Adele Basheer.

I have always believed that , it is not the quantity but the quality that matters.I sometimes stop, and watch in wonder the beauty of the sky at sunset time....I used to find an immense pleasure, I was actually in awe, in front of the blue and turquoise lagoon and white beach back home....I sometimes can sit down quietly and watch a bird , I find this amazing.

When it rains, I find beauty in it, where are they coming from , how long have they travelled....weird , maybe, but this is something I still think about and I still like to put my hands out of my window and feel the rain..sometimes, it is a good feeling to feel the rain, rather than feeling you are getting wet and you need to rush.And, in the early morning, on my way to work, the morning dew on a freshly bloomed flower, will catch my sight and I will stop and look at it..And sometimes, I am in awe, in front of such natural beauty.I cannot describe it and I do not know if you will understand what I am saying....but this is how I feel.And yet again, I might stop infront of a window shop and admire the display, and I might be lost into my own world for a few minutes.I think, we are so busy and stressed out nowadays that we do not give ourselves the time to notice little things in life...But , I also know, maybe I am just plain weird as , sometimes, even a ray of sunshine , across my net curtain, can be fascinating as it projects an interesting pattern on my desk!!!!Maybe it is just me, or maybe, just maybe, I am a bit mad!LOL...my sister told me one day, I am the 'Misunderstood Artist'.I quite like that because, most of the times, I try to explain myself, and people totally misunderstand me or I admire something which people find absolutely normal and do not understand where I am coming from.And if you have read all of this, until this word, right here, right now...then, I must say, I am impressed!Are you not bored yet?

Bye for now and take care, until I see you next time..hopefully soon.

lotsa love,

Tassy

x.x.x.x

Acetate Card

Hey everyone!It's me again.I have made this Acetate Card and would like to share with you what worked and what didn't work.And also, a few ideas about how you can make a see through card while still being able to hide the glue on the other side.

Oh before I forgot, I have finally managed to upload mini pictures (which are clickable for a bigger view I hope!) and I am going a bit mad with it.It took me ages to learn this and I must say a BIG THANK YOU to Emilia (click on her name to view her fab and cute blog)who has has helped me. This post here, I have managed to group the pictures together by resizing on Paint Shop Pro itself.My previous post, I had to upload in photobucket and when you click on it, it takes you to photobucket, and it wasn't what I wanted. Anyway, all in all, I am very happy that I have managed to work this out, but without the help of Emilia, I wouldn't have managed.

Click HERE if you want to see the picture tutorial she did on her blog to explain how you can do this.

Okay, let's get started with this Acetate Card.First of all, you can buy two types of acetates, one which is the normal acetate, and the other one, though I wouldn't say it is abnormal, it is the special one that you can put in your photocopier. And the latter is smooth and glossy on one side, and rough on the other side. Now if you are planning to make an acetate card without heat embossing, then go ahead and use the 'normal' acetate which you can get in different thicknesses.I have a few acetates (normal ones) and some are thin, and some quite thick.But I cannot remember where I got them from *sorry*. But in this project, I am using the special one and I got it from a stationery shop, I just asked for Photocopy Acetate.

Then, I stamped as usual with embossing ink on the glossy side, and I have used white embossing powder and heat embossed with a heat tool. Remember to move your heat tool about so you dont scorch the acetate. Sometimes, the acetate might start to curl ever so slightly but by that time, the embossing powder should have melted anyway.

Here in the first picture, I have used a normal acetate just to show you what will happen. It doesn't work as it is not heat resistant and obviously you will not have a pretty sight, huh!Also notice how the embossing powder sticks to the acetate as the acetate is very static.

Here I have used the special acetate. It has started to curl very very lightly, but the embossing is done.It is less static but I did have to use a dry paintbrush to brush off excess of powder around the flower, inside the petals.

Comparing the two acetates here...you get the idea.

Okay, so I went ahead and stamped a flower image(by Katie & co- Flower Bud) three times, embossed and cut out. The smaller flowers are die cut using Thin Cuts(Flowers) using a Big Shot machine.I have used an embossed card (which I have embossed using the cuttlebug embossing folder) but when I have cut the flowers, the embossing flattened down as I suppose, when it gets through the Big shot, for cutting, the embossing went down.So I have 6 of the smaller flowers.

Then ,I have trimmed down a Basicgrey 'Phoebe' paper to fit about a quarter of my card from the bottom. I have punched one end with a scalloped edge punch.I have used an ATG gun to apply glue to the back of the paper. If you dont have an ATG, you can use double sided tape as you would want the paper to stick pretty good to the acetate.See picture below...

Next is another piece of patterned paper (birds)from the same Basicgrey paper pad, and I have trimmed it down a little smaller than the first piece attached to the card.

Next , I have embossed a piece of white card using the Cuttlebug embossing folder 'Textiles' and trim down so that it hides the seams of the first two layers making sure it doesnt cover everything!I then decided to show only the scalloped edge part of the green paper.

Then, I have used the same pattern paper of the Bird that I have used on the front of my card to cover the inside of the card so you cannot see the glue. All you need to do is measure the size of what you can see in the card, and trim your patterned paper and glue as usual.

See picture below.Make sure it fits properly...In my picture a tiny bit of paper from the front of the card can still be seen at the top...and you DO NOT want that.Oh , also, punch the edge of the card with your scalloped edge first then you trim down to size. I have made many mistakes in the past by measuring up first then punch out, the whole piece will get smaller as when you punch out , you use more card.

I cannot help from not doing some grouping of pictures.But lets just say, these are 'At a Glance' kinda thing!

I have attached a polka dot ribbon to match and now, adhering the flowers. I have used mini glue dots to stick the first flower but I have put the flower inside. If you look at the picture you can see the glue dots( I hope).

A close up here so you can see exactly what I mean.

Then, to hide the glue dots, I have adhered the mini flower on the front of the card, using glue dot again but making sure it hides the glue dots on the other side(inside) of the card.Repeat with the other two flowers, but instead of putting them inside, I have this time, glued them on the front of the card, and repeat the process of hiding the glue dots on the inside of the card.

I have finished off by stamping down the 'hugs and kisses' sentiment which is from the 'never a loss for words' by Kitchen Sink Stamps.

This is the inside of the card. So, there you have it!I hope you have enjoyed this and please comment if you have a minute...When I get comments, it makes my day.My husband asked me: And how do you write in this card?

I stared blankly at him and I said very confidently: Crafters will know how to write in this card, come on, be creative!!!And anyway, this card is a gift in itself, it says everything..you actually don't have to write anything!

So come on crafters, make a see through card and stamped your heart away on the front of the card.

Bye and see you again soon!

Tassy

x

Daring Cardmakers Challenge

Daring card makers Challenge - Friday 01/06/07

This is what I've came up with. This is to start me off as I have been lacking inspiration since two days now....complete lack of creativity. I've opted for acetate as I already had some and I wanted to use these stamps since a while now. I find this challenge to be very interesting and challenging indeed. Now that I have been able to unblock the main stop button, I hope to be able to let go now.I will do some more later on.

I have used 'paisley set' from Clever cut on clear acetate . I have also used versamark ink and chalk for a light background with the same stamps. I cut away a piece of the front card and attached the stamped acetate (I have used permanent ink)to the front card with eyelets. I finished off with a piece of card stamped with a tiny 'thinking of you' stamp.