Birthday Thoughts with Distress Re-Inkers

Hi Folks!  Hope you are all well out there in craftland!  Our house has been hit with illness over the past few weeks (not me...touching wood)  Hopefully everyone is on the mend and I can get back in to my craft room without feeling guilty!  I did manage to get a couple of cards done, a start on another art book for an illustrator, along with a training hike for my climb up Ben Nevis so not too bad.

Today I have a simple birthday card to show you all.  I chose an 8 x 8 card blank, an 8 x 8 embossing folder, Embossalicious - Chantilly Frame. Creative Expressions Die by Sue Wilson from the Italian collection - Umbria.

I began this card by playing about with my Distress Re-Inkers and a laminating sheet.  I laid my chosen colours down onto one side of the sheet.  I opened and closed it a few times pulling away from different corners and let it air dry for a few minutes.  I then added more colours. This time I left the colours to pool into circles and let it dry .  I then put the sheet through the laminator.

While the sheet was drying I put a piece of white card through my BigShot Pro, trimmed the embossed card back a bit and then used two Sharpie pens (Red and Wine) to get the colouring along the edge that I wanted.  I then attached a strip of Wine Organza (Poundland - 15 strips, 5 different shades in lots of colour ranges and guess what...only a POUND)  Needless to say I have a few of them now.  As you can see I gathered the ribbon in the middle with double sided tape.  I then attached this to my Base Card.

My next step was to attach a double sided sticky sheet (I used two of ClarityStamp sheets - bit left over to use for something else) to a piece of 7 x 7 Gelli Card ( I love this card, it is so white and so smooth, great for stamping and inking).  I then put this through my BigShot Pro.

Now a Top Tip #1 coming up!!! 

Remember with Clarity Double Sided Sheets the orange covering is slightly stronger than the  side with the writing.  So if you have problems cutting intricate designs with your Dies, then take the Orange side off to attach to your card and not the other way around as this will make life easier.

Top Tip #2 coming up!!!

Remember to pay attention to what side you place your card down on your Die or you will end up with the Sticky on the wrong side.  You want the Sticky to be on the Back once it has been cut out, hence the reason I now have a Gilded Frame - which I can use for another project but not what I wanted for this card. 

What I wanted was to have the sticky on the back, the lovely curved edges to the front as my next step was to attach this to the Laminating Sheet.  Which is what I did second time around!  I cut around the outside of the Frame so that none of the Laminating Sheet was showing. I just love the stained glass effect that this creates.

I stamped the sentiment using Brilliance Ink - Pearlescent Crimson.  The sentiment itself is actually two stamps.  The outer circle - Thinking of You, originally had a daisy in the middle but I cut that out and the inner circle On Your Birthday - is one from a sheet of A5 Grey Rubber Stamps that I picked up from ebay a while ago and had never used before.  I knew these would go great together and it was a bonus that they fitted. 

I attached Double sided Foam Tape to the back of the Frame, before attaching it over the Ribbon.

Another Tip!!

If you do not have any double sided sheets you can use a strong glue like BookBinding Glue to stick the Laminating Sheet to the Frame.  You would need to leave this to thoroughly dry before attempting to cut around the Frame.

Well I hope you like this little number and I have another card that I posted on FB a few days ago that I would like to share - a little bit of Grunge Paste fun.

So till then

Happy Crafting Everyone!!!

Emma xx