Saturday, May 11, 2013

Today's card is a little different than my normal offerings.  This card came about because a friend ordered the Ex Libris background stamp and wanted me to help her come up with an idea for it.  This stamp is so not anything I would ever choose myself, so this was a real challenge.  And after fooling around several days trying to get something to work, all at once I had an idea and it came together so easily I was surprised.  Here's the card I made with it...

Stamps:  Ex Libris, Four Frames, and Fabulous Phrases
Ink:  Versamark, and Cajun Craze
Paper:  Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla
Accessories:  Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Decorative Label Punch, 3/16" Metallic Brads, Piercing Tool and Mat, Sponge, and Dimensionals
I wanted to make the card look like it was an antique book with a tooled leather cover.  After a few tries, I hit on using Crumb Cake cardstock and Versamark ink to emboss the image.  It was then heavily sponged with Cajun Craze ink to enhance the lovely detail on the stamped image.  It was fun seeing the detail come to life the heavier I sponged.  Yes, it was a little work, but it was definitely worth it!

I chose the Four Frames for the 'title' on the book.  It was punched out with the Decorative Label Punch that mimicked the label on the main stamp.  It was popped up with Dimensionals to make it stand out.

The final touch was some metallic brads in the corners to go with the 'tooled leather' look.  All in all I'm very happy with how this turned out.  It was a struggle and a challenge to work with something so different than my style, but it was fun getting stretched and stamping outside of my little comfort zone.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you enjoyed this look.  See you soon!  Make time to stamp this weekend - it's what I wanted for Mother's Day!!  Sharon

No comments: