Cogs, Scribbles & Splats

Happy Valentine's Day!

Teenage son comes into my room to inform me that he will be heading out to meet some friends. "Who is she?" I enquired as son's face turns various shades of red, "Who says there's a girl, Mum?" so I told him his face told me all I needed to know - apart from her name but my guess as to that was, eventually, correct. I gave him the little box of heart shaped chocolates that came with the M&S "Dine in for Two" Valentine's selection his Dad & I plan to have tonight. Not to worry, there's a rather yummy pud (looks like a bar of gold bullion)  I picked up that may make up for  losing out on the chocolates.

The weather has been fickle again this time it can't make up it's mind if it wants to rain, snow or sleet but as long as it doesn't get too much colder I'll be fine. As it is this cold snap is playing havoc with my TMJ (painful jaw joint) as it sets the pain off. It doesn't help that the new Doc carrying out my last injection would appear not to have hit the right part of the muscle and I am experiencing the problems I normally get as the effects of it wear off around 12 weeks down the line only it's only been 3 weeks and my next one isn't due until the end of May. I can't have another injection so that leaves me muscle relaxants which are non selective and have been leaving me a little spaced out!

Time for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.

As it's Valentine's Day I used "love" for the sentiment but I didn't intend this as an actual Valentine's card.

Cogs

I decided to try a masculine card as I had recently bought a couple of "industrial" type embossing folders one with cogs the other with a tread plate design.  It was kind of crying out to be made using metallic cards so out came the copper, silver and gold cardstock and my Grand Calibur.

Craft Essentials Creative Embossing Folder was used to emboss the cog design on the copper & silver card while the individual cogs were cut from gold card using X-Cut Cogs Chronology dies. Crafter's Companion "Gun Metal" folder was used as a back ground. The card stock with the embossed cogs was lightly sanded and then lightly inked to give a distressed look.

What I used

Cardstock

PayPer box

Dies & Embossing

X-Cut - Cogs Chronology

Lawn Fawn - Scripty Love

Crafter's Companion - "Gun Metal"

Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Peeled Paint
Memento - Black

Scribbles & Splats

This is another card I've been playing with using some Tim Holtz Dies. I love the ornate grille design, in fact it was the reason I wanted the set. I decided to team it up with the Scribbles and Splats.

The card stock base is a 300gsm white linen and for each cut out in the white cardstock there is a shadow piece in metallic copper placed behind it. I used a leather effect paper in Navy blue as a contrast.

What I Used

Cardstock

Hobbycraft - DL White Linen Card Blank

PayPer Box - Navy & Copper Metallic

Dies

Tim Holtz - Scribbles & Splat

Tim Holtz - Mixed Media

Lawn Fawn - Scripty Love

New Toys!

The wind and rain have, at last, subsided and the sun has finally reached the Kingdom of Fife - yipee!!! I always feel better when the sun is shining - my joints certainly appreciate the warmer weather!

When I was have my clearout the other week I came across several jars of embossing powder that I've had for a few years but hardly used as my heat gun stopped working and I never got around to replacing it.  I had some Birthday money left over so decided maybe it was time to get a new one so I bought a Ranger Heat It tool along with some UTEE to try.  The UTEE is Cosmic Shimmer but for some reason this particular colour was rather cheap and classed as an "add on item" on Amazon - I wasn't too bothered about the colour, Lapis Black, I just wanted  get some to try it out.)

My order has now arrived so it was time to play. I found that perhaps why the UTEE was cheap was maybe due to the fact that the Lapis Black ain't black, it's more of a peacock blue/green. Never mind, as long as it works!

I dug out some of the die cuts I'd been making from scrap cardstock on my new Spellbinders Sapphire and set to work on them. I took a Joy! Craft butterfly applied clear embossing ink then sprinkled on the UTEE, once it was melted I sprinkled it with some gold and silver ordinary embossing powder and reheated it before decided to add a little black to it as well. Turned out rather well I thought - think it would make a nice brooch if it had been put on chipboard.

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge card, (based on sketch below) 

 

 

I decided to use a filligree style butterfly within the oval. Once cut & clear inked I  used black embossing powder, heated it to melting point then added some of the UTEE to give it a little splash of colour.

Once I had my butterfly sorted out I set about looking for what else I could use. I took my Darice Oval embossing folder and embossed some pearlised cardstock which was then trimmed around the scalloped edge to create a topper.

 

I played about with my Promarkers to create a coloured a strip to go down the left hand edge, the nearest colour in my collection which toned with the Lapis Black was "Soft Green".  Originally I thought of making diagonal black and Soft Green stripes but then settled on plain green before deciding that was too plain! To compromise I cut a narrow, tapered, strip from one of the striped pieces I'd made and stick it on a diagonal over the Soft Green one. I finished off by adding a daisy with a coloured (& glittered) centre and a colour co-ordinated "Love" sentiment. I toyed around with making my own version of baker's twine (using kitchen string and Promarkers) but wasn't sure if I liked it so took photos of the card with & without - still not sure which version I prefer!

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

PayPer Box - Pearlised White

Image - Supersmooth White

Dies:

Spellbinders - Outrageous Butterfly

Spellbinders - Jewel Flowers & Flourishes.

Lawn Fawn - Scripty Love

 

 Inks etc:

Dovecraft - Clear Embossing Pad
Cosmic Shimmer - UTEE Lapis Black

C&C Embossing Powder - Black

Superfine Clear Glitter

Letraset Promarkers - Black & Soft Green

Love Holds The Key - FMS 185

 

It's an overcast day today with rain looking imminent but I managed to get the photographs of my card taken while the sun decided to peep out for a wee while.

 

Once I saw this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge sketch I decided to have a rake through my dies to look for some inspiration.

 

With some of my newer die purchases I'd made samples to be kept together with them in their packaging so I could see what the actual die cut looked like. Whilst going through my box I came across the Spellbinders "Heart Locket" die. The sample I'd cut out was in matt silver metallic cardstock so thought that could be a starting point and with the latest addition to my collection being a Fawn Lawn "Scripty Love" die I decided to try them together. When I was playing about with them I picked up the love die  to change it's position and  as I lifted it up I found that it had the key hooked over the "e". I had a wee laugh to myself when I realised that love really did hold the key!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a little clearer in close up . . .

 

 

 Cardstock

Image -  Supersmooth White

PayPer Box - Matt Silver & Red Metallic

Black Cat - Black

 

Embossing Folder

Spellbinders' M-Bossabilities - Hearts 5 x 7"

 

Dies:

Spellbinders - Labels 4

Spellbinders - Heart Locket

Cheery Lynn  Designs - Pierced Banners