Crazy for you

Hello Friends, and TGIF! Do people even say "TGIF" anymore? Am I dating myself? LOL!

My card today is for three challenges: Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 3 Sketch Challenge, Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #136 Challenge--"All Dolled Up," and Lily Pad's Bling Challenge--use any kind of bling.

I had more fun making this card today than any card I've ever made. It's as different as is possible from the last card I made that was inkless, crisp, bright, and clean. I'm not sure if you'd call this card grunge, shabby, or vintage, but whatever it is, I believe I've finally found my "style." Maybe I should call this "Kitchen Sink" style. On this card, I distressed with ink and a Distrezz-it-all, used my sewing machine, embossed and inked the raised areas, made a ribbon ruffle, used twine, paper pierced, used Liquid Pearls, Enamel Accents, eyelets, half pearls, and a metal charm, and made a "metallic" hinge out of cardstock and Perfect Pearls Mist. Here are a few close ups before I show you the whole card.

I used a page from an old dictionary for my sentiment stamp. First I aged it with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress Inks and Distrezzed the edges. If you look closely, you can see the paper piercing. It's a little hard to see because the paper is so busy, but it's there. Then I used Black Soot Distress Ink and a Quietfire stamp for the word, "Love." To distress it even further, I spritzed the stamped image with water to make the ink run. I drew the swirl by hand and put the half pearls on one at a time (I don't have ready-made swirls yet). I adhered this to a Beaded Circle die cut which I had inked while still in the die. I used Liquid Pearls in each of the "beads." I finally learned how to use the stuff, and all my dots actually turned out round this time instead of blobby. 8~D

In this picture you can see the embossed strip. I used three different color Distress Inks to ink the raised areas, starting with the darkest color on the outside and working to the lightest on the inside. I attached four large copper-colored eyelets to the top of the strip and tied a metal charm to it by running twine through two of the eyelets. You can only see a smidgen of the ruffle that is sewn to the bottom of the embossed strip. I made it by folding a length of ribbon in half lengthwise and gathering it with basting, then sewing it to the cardstock.

You can see the edge of the faux metal hinge in this photo in the lower left corner. I misted it heavily with Perfect Pearls Mist and dried it with my heat gun, then added four dots of black Enamel Accents. See that loose thread at the top of the photo? I did that on purpose. I stopped sewing there, pulled the thread out of my sewing machine and continued stitching to the end of that edge so that it would look like the stitching had come loose. The top of those panels are distressed the heaviest, so it made sense to me to have loose threads there.

And, here's the finished card. See the stitching on the outer edges? I kept changing from a straight stitch to a zig zag and back to straight as I went around the card, and when zig zagging, I randomly changed the length and width of the stitches to add just a little more shabbiness. 

On the inside of the card, I layered up different papers from the front of the card. If they look a little crooked, it's because they are. I purposely tilted the two middle panels just a tiny bit. The bottom and top panels are both straight and fairly centered (I seldom measure--I just eyeball things. I figure if it looks right to me, it will look right to anyone else, unless, of course, they are going to get a ruler out to check).  ;D I'm not sure why I couldn't bring myself to make all the panels be straight. I fiddled around with it for quite a while and just was not liking it all proper looking.

So just what IS this style? I don't have a clue. But, I sure had a blast making it!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you've got a wonderful weekend ahead of you.

~Hugs,
 

Stamps: Quietfire
Paper: Once Upon a Time (DCWV); Que Sera Sera (K&Co); old dictionary page
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Dies: Beaded Circles, Std Circles Large, Lattice Pendant, Lattice Rectangles, Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Tropical Paisley embossing folder (Sizzix); ribbon (Michael's); embossed metal charm (Making Memories); Enamel Accents (Inkssentials); Liquid Pearls; half pearls; large eyelets; household twine; Perfect Pearls Mist; sewing thread; foam dots; Distrezz-it-all
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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