Back in the saddle again!

After taking a few weeks off, I am finally back into the blogging saddle again....and I have accummulated quite a few projects to share with you! 

This is a beautiful card I made several times last month...I found the lovely card inspiration on Monica Weaver's Add a Little Dazzle website.  She does amazing projects with "craft metal", be sure to check out her blog  here http://www.addalittledazzle.com/my_weblog/2011/02/good-evening-stampers-i-am-so-glad-to-be-up-and-posting-today-it-has-been-a-veryinteresting-week-in-our-home-this-week-be.html

You will see her Valentine card which inspired the two cards I am sharing today.  Obviously, I changed the color scheme and sentiment but other than that it's a very similar card...I used Tempting Turquoise cardstock and the turquoise colored craft metal for this first card on the right.  It's a card we made at my March downline meeting as well as at my March stamp club gathering.  I think it's safe to say that everyone loved it...including me! Guess who will be getting this card for Mother's Day next month?  Sssh, don't tell my Mom...I like to surprise her!

The background for both of these samples was stamped "tone on tone" (using the same color of ink and cardstock)with the flourish image from Bliss, a great stamp set which was available as a free gift with minimum purchase during the recent Sale-A-Bration promotion.  I loved this stamp and will miss using it on current projects but I believe this one will remain in my stamping arsenal for personal use long after SAB is over.

The craft metal used for the accent panel is a very thin metal product, a wee bit heavier than a good quality brand of heavy duty aluminum foil but very soft so it runs thru the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder as easily as cardstock...leaves a great embossed pattern and can be sanded to show the plain silver color underneath.  Isn't that fun?  And such a nice contrast!  If you get messed up and run it thru the folder backwards so the wallpaper image is debossed (pointing down) instead of embossed (raised up) then don't worry!   The metal is very forgiving.  Just use a bone folder (or a Pampered Chef pan scraper will do in a pinch!) and smooth it back out then flip it over and run it thru again to get the color on the raised portion so you can sand it off.  Please don't ask me how I know this...ha! ha!  When sanding, be very gentle and go in one direction only instead of scrubbing back and forth so the metal doesn't tear.  Don't ask me how I know this either! ;-)

To get the "levi tag" look (picture the little tab on the back pocket of your favorite Levi's jeans) I used the Designer Label punch.  Because I can punch straight much better than I can stamp straight, I stamped the sentiment first on a scrap of cardstock toward the edge then punched it out using the Designer Label punch.  For the Levi Tag look, you don't even need to punch the entire piece, so save a tree and just use a scrap and punch toward the bottom of the label punch so your sentiment will be visible on the bottom edge.  I sponged around the edge with black then tucked that piece under the embossed panel.  Slick idea, eh?  Not mine but I have seen it done quite a lot around the stamping community lately and figured I would try it too.

The cute little butterfly is one of the multiple butterfly shapes on the Beautiful Butterflies embosslit....just crank it thru the Big Shot and you get butterfly images which are not only embossed but also cut out for you!  On both of these cards, I cut the butterfly out of the turquoise colored craft metal and sanded it with a sanding block to remove the color and show the silver underneath,  Gives it a little more personality, don't you think?  The butterfly attaches easily with a snippet of a Stampin' Dimensional...I use the partial pieces along the side edge of the dimensionals for this type of project.  they fit perfectly without trimming so I use them down to the last scrap. 

Now, some of you may be thinking that I attached the butterfly sideways or posted the photo sideways but keep in mind this is a Levi Tag card so it is supposed to have the writing tacked onto the side (again I refer you to the Levi tag on a pair of jeans, preferably worn by a cute guy with a nice butt?) so really this card wasn't bungled and done sideways.  That has happened to me many times, but this time it was intentional!





Here is another version of the same card layout, this time done using cardstock instead of craft metal in the side panel of the card.  I wanted to re-create the same look for a workshop of my regular stamping customers who are experienced stampers so I cut everything the same but substituted a cardstock panel which I first ran thru the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, then we inked up a brayer with Black StazOn ink and very gently (using no more pressure than the weight of the brayer) brayered black ink over the panel.  The raised portions caught the ink and the flat cardstock was unchanged.  Take a little practice to get the "pressure" right but it has a great vintage look and a few black smudges here and there just add to the vintage style, right?  Sometimes grunge is good...that's my story and I am sticking with it!

Everything else on the card is essentially the same.  Hope you have enjoyed it and I look forward to sharing some more March projects with you later this week. Happy Stamping!  Jan

p.s. I forgot to tell you, if you are looking for craft metal product, I have found the craft metals in various locations....it can be ordered online from various places (just do a google search for craft metal) and I have been told that it's available sometimes in some of the Big Box craft stores (hint...usually the ones that carry fabric and share my first initial!) but I did get mine online.