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Friday 31 October 2014

Peace on Earth..

 This card very nearly didn't make the cut and I wasn't doing to post it, but hey, we can all make mistakes and this is one that didn't turn out anything like the vision of loveliness that was in my head, but there you go, that's crafting for you

I have a theory that I never stick to. If a card isn't going the way you imagined, you should really reach a point, quite quickly, where you rip it up, go and have a coffee and start again....

So I have had the new Tim Holtz falling trees embossing folder sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, and also his Christmas word dies. I thought I would ink the embossing folder to get a faux letterpress look...



So the first attempt, I inked the wrong side of the folder. Next, I used a very harsh green ink, it looked terrible, then I did it again using distress inks and some pearlized water, forgetting that I was using ordinary cardstock instead of watercolour paper, so the card disintegrated into a soggy mess. This should have been my 'give up and have a coffee' moment, but no. Onward I pressed and eventually ended up with this rather muted watercolour type embossed image that I quite liked

Then came the fun with the word dies. Now the font on these is fabulous, and you get a whole load of sentiments in the set. They are very fine, and need waxed paper and a metal shim to make life easy, but the problem I had was that I found it impossible to look at all these little metal shapes and figure out what the word was. By process of elimination, I put aside the longer words like 'christmas' and 'Greetings', but however hard I tried to figure it out I couldn't make out what the other words were (apart from the little word 'on', that one was easy to identify), so had to cut the lot out. (I have since hit on the idea of marking the back of the metal with a sharpie so that I wont's have to do this again...)

But that idea didn't occur to me until much later, after I had cut out the lot in white, tossed the dies back into the package, then decided I really preferred black, the white was too wishy washy. So out came the dies again. Repeat the nonsense I describe above, cut in black, toss dies into package...

THEN I decided I needed two more cuts of each word so that I could layer them together for a chipboard look...

By this time, never mind the coffee, I was ready for a gin and tonic..




So here is a 'quick and easy' card that most definitely won't be on the mass production list. Perish the thought!

I hope that those of you who are planning spooky times involving lots of candy have a great time tonight

I'll be back from Yorkshire tomorrow with photos of my adventures there, see you then x

22 comments:

  1. This looks such a simple design to make - how wrong can I be? It was worth all the effort though, it looks beautiful. Hope you are enjoying your time in Yorkshire. Pat x

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  2. I'm glad I'm not the only one who perseveres long after I should have given up! The finished card is lovely, though, and well worth all your effort.

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  3. Making that card was quite an adventure on it's own!!! I do like the look though. However, I think I'd have put it on a black base, to give it a proper burial, after today's airing. LOL Sorry... it's all this Halloween nonsense. Hope you're having a great time, see ya tomorrow.
    Big hugs, Jess

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  4. I'm glad you stuck with it and finished your card, because I love it! You've also provided me with an entire list of "what not to do"! LOL!

    We are suppose to get rain/snow today, somewhere around an inch of snow before it's over. I don't think the kids will have a very nice evening for Trick or Treating!

    Hope you are enjoying yourself on your trip!

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  5. I love your stories. I laughed so hard. I guess I am not the only one that makes mistake after mistake and carries on, anyway. Make mine a rasberry martini.

    Dianne Bell - Sewpro02@aol.com

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  6. In the end it is a wonderful card.
    I know the feeling, I see people make videos of "easy, peasy" cards and it takes them all of 15 minutes and I'm still at it 2 hours later. Hope your having a great time with your friends.

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  7. Well it was well worth the effort in the end - I would have given up after the second problem!!

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  8. My Quick cards always seem to take me hours to do lol. Love your card worth the effort. Have a great weekend

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  9. It did turn out nice. At least you have something nice to show for all your hard work. Most of my projects I have problems with just go into a stack in my drawer !
    Anna N.

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  10. I think you are one of the funniest people I know. You always put a smile on my face. I do think that the card turned out lovely. I have days like yours....but I never end up with something so good to show for it....God bless, Smoochie

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  11. What an adventure in crafting you have had, but the card is so pretty! I'd love a G & T after having so much "fun", too! BethAnn M.

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  12. This tree card turned out great! Just returned from trick or treating with my son. We went to the Mall and got lots of candy. My son went to his favorite stores.

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  13. Luv this card!!! can't imagine it might have been a toss card :( but when they don't cooperate I have tossed "plenty" lol after the gin and tonic it seemed to come together...lol hope your having a fab time in Yorkshire.... and would enjoy seeing pics :)

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  14. Looks a happy mistake to me because I really like it.

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  15. Ha ha! Glad to hear I'm not the only one! Perseverance was rewarded though. Dee x

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  16. Pretty card Enfys.
    Hope the journey home was uneventful.
    Toni xx

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  17. I'm glad you persevered, because I love the watercolour look of the background. I've been meaning to try some faux letterpress myself and I will try not to make the mistakes you made LOL. As for intricate dies, I die cut a set of my sentiment dies out of a scrap of yellow cardstock and stored them with the dies, so that I can see at a glance what the text look likes and how big it is.

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  18. Oh this is so elegant and l'm looking forward to hearing about yorkshire such a beautiful part of the world x

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  19. Well it did turn out nice in the long run! Well done for persevering - maybe *next time* you can take step-by-step photos and we can have a laugh at (I mean, sympathise with ) you. ;)

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  20. The finished result is so worth it - I love it!

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  21. I love how your card eventually turned out. Very pretty. I think we all have those times like this and then later, once we figure it out, wonder why we didn't think of the solution sooner.
    Thanks for the little chuckle, I can see me doing just the same thing as you did.

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  22. Love your crafty tales, Enfys, they always make me smile! I have to say, you ceratinly lasted the mile and I would've had the lot chucked in the bin long before the gin and tonic stage! You have encouraged me to have a bit of perseverance and have another go at the letterpress technique, as it turned out brilliantly...in the end! Hugs, Lisa x

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I love reading your comments, thank you for taking the time
Enfys x