Embossing Powder – The Art of Cobwebs

Now we are 5. A Super-Hero Mini Album!

Now we are 5 no2

It was my much adored Grandsons 5th Birthday a few weeks ago. We weren’t able to go to his special Birthday party on the day of his Birthday so we (Grandad and I) decided we would surprise him with ‘Birthday Party 2 – The Return!‘ at our home the day after his Birthday. (Why have I never had two Birthday party’s? I obviously just wasn’t cute enough).

Now we are 5 no1 — The ‘spine’ of the mini album, and the Spiderman tag (made using two Tim Holtz charms (thick, plastic, shaped pieces, much like you find Keyrings made from. I chose 2 rounds from an assortment).

We took tons of party photographs and I decided that I would make a Mini Scrapbook album to put all the photographs in.

I made him an album just before he started big school, all about the things he did with Grammy and Grandad in the summer before his first day at school. He absolutely LOVES the album. He loves to look through the photographs, pull out the tags and gets me to read them to him, and basically enjoy all the moments or occasions, which are pictured in the album, all over again. So it was a no brainer that I would have to make him another mini to house all the photos of his ‘5th Birthday Party 2 – The Return!‘.

The ‘plan’ was that I wanted to make the mini album as if he’d actually been sat there with me as I made it, choosing everything that went inside himself. So this meant that I had to think like a 5-year-old boy. Those of you who are followers or have read my blog posts before, know that I’d have no trouble thinking like a 5 year old. (I admit it. I never really grew up).

The following photographs are of the pages and tags, photo books, magnetic bits, openings, fun stuff … etc… and, I have to warn you, this post is VERY photograph heavy. Because of this I’ll keep the talking to a minimum so that you’re not here all day reading my yammering on!

Now we are 5 no2

The name of the Birthday Boy is all jumbled up on the front there …. he really wasn’t christened with a gobbledygook name.

Now we are 5 pages 1 and 2 — *Tags from pages one and two*

Now we are 5 pages 3 and 4 — *pages 3 and 4*

Now we are 5 pages 3 and 4 open — *Magnetic ‘book’ on page 3, … a hidden tag from page 4, … and a photograph ‘frame’ with a sliding out photo mat and room for notes on the back of it.*

Now we are 5 page 4 — Close up of page 4 so that you can read everything. One of the ‘presents’ we bought for his Birthday was a Spiderman costume – hence the speech bubble which says: “Like the Suit? It comes with the job”. I’ll pop a photograph of Mr. Birthday Boy wearing his Spiderman Costume into that sliding out photo frame so it will make sense.

The long shiny black bit to the far right of the photographs is where the Birthday Boys name is. I die cut all the letter of his name – twice. Once in blue and once in red (Super Hero colours) and fixed them in place so that his name read ‘down’ that black bit. But for the purposes of sharing this mini album on the internet, I blacked out his name. (I’m a protective Grammy)

Now we are 5 pages 5 and 6 — *pages 5 and 6*

Now we are 5 pages 5 tags — *Tags from the pocket on page 5*

Now we are 5 pages 6a tags — *Tags & photo mats from the pocket on page 6.*

Now we are 5 pages 6b tags — *the other side of the tags from page 6. All the tags and photo-mats in the album are all doubled sided.*

Now we are 5 pages 7 and 8 — *pages 7 and 8 of the **‘Now We are 5’** mini album.*

Now we are 5 pages 7 tags — *tags and photo-mats from page 7*

Now we are 5 pages 7 tags close up of embossing — *I love to emboss the edges of some of the tags with this ‘deckled’ twinkly style of embossing. It kind of adds a dimension to them.*

Now we are 5 pages 8 — *close up of page 8. That ‘POW’ is a magnetic fold out book for photos*

Now we are 5 pages 8 open magnetic book — *page 8 with the magnetic book opened.*

Now we are 5 pages 8 front of tag — *A hidden tag.*

The poem written on this tag (above) holds such a special meaning to me. My Grandson has Cerebral Palsy. It affects different children in different ways, and for my Grandson it affects his speech to some degree, educationally to a degree, and his walking. He can walk, but he falls over a lot and has trouble walking very far. He suffers dreadful pain in his legs – and has to have injections into his calf muscles to try to help with this and also to relax the muscles in his legs so that walking is made a little easier. He has some other problems too, because of this condition. This is the reason why this poem means so much to me, and why it catches me in my throat whenever I read it.

Now we are 5 pages 8 back of tag — *the back of the poem tag*

Now we are 5 pages 9 and 10 — *pages 9 and 10*

That big spiders web you can see on page 10, is one I drew on, using an embossing pen. I then embossed it with Tonic Silver embossing powders (because their silver is the best I’ve ever found), and try as I might I couldn’t seem to get a photo to show up how much that spiders web shines!

Now we are 5 pages 9 tags — *tags and photo mats from the pockets on page 9*

Now we are 5 pages 10 a — *page 10 has a magnetic fold out booklet, for photos and journaling.*

Now we are 5 pages 10 b — *page 10 – the booklet folded out fully.*

Now we are 5 pages 11 and 12 — *pages 11 and 12.*

Now we are 5 pages 11 and tags — *the tags and photo-mats from the pocket on page 11, – and … the finger you see pointing to the Happy Birthday – is to point out that it’s magnetic and will hold a tag or note under it.*

Now we are 5 pages 12 — *page 12. The ‘Heroes’ is embossed all around it in Tonic Silver embossing powders. This is a book which folds out to hold photos and bits of journaling.*

Now we are 5 pages 12 open — *it folds out like this … and it’s double sided, so there are photo mats on the back too!*

Now we are 5 pages 12 under the photo book — *.. and when you look under it, there’s a little message for the young man himself.*

If you’ve got this far and are still with me …. keep going .. the end is in sight!

Now we are 5 pages 13 and 14 — *pages 13 and 14*

Page 13 holds a poem which says it all ….

Now we are 5 pages 13. The Poem — I love this poem. *There’s a space right next to it waiting for a photo of my little rascal.*

Now we are 5 pages 14. The large Pocket — *page 14 which has a deep, deep pocket for special things ...*

Now we are 5 pages 14. The large Pocket tags — … his official SUPERHERO certificate; a postcard waiting for something special to be put on it. A very colourful tag/photo mat; some spare balloons from his Birthday Party; and there’s other stuff to go into this pocket.

And finally .... the back….

Now we are 5 Back Cover — I found a fabulous picture on the net, *used by someone else for their child’s birthday party*, and I thought it might make a fun picture for my Grandson … *only* I removed Superman’s features and replaced it with my Grandsons face. *(blurred out here because I’m a protective Grammy)*. It works so well and tickles the heck out of me when I look at it.

Now we are 5 Back Cover 2 — … the bit down the side reads: *you will always be my favourite Super Hero*

There actually is a little bit more which I wanted to share with you, not of this album but of something else I made for his ‘Birthday Party’, but I think you’ve suffered enough for one day so I’ll post a little blog post about it another day.

Thank you SO much for coming and taking a look at my Mini Scrapbook Album. I had so much fun making it – although it did take me rather too many days to actually get it finished. I’m such a slow worker! tsk tsk. I know that my little rascal is going to love it. I just have to get all the photos into it now.

If there’s anything you want to know – glues, papers, bits, pieces etc, please just ask away in a comment. I’m more than happy to share information.

Before I sign off, may I just take this opportunity to say a very warm hello to a couple of new followers. Welcome, it’s lovely to have you on-board, please make yourself at home here, and feel free to ask questions, make comments or just grab a coffee and settle down for a bit of a read.

Thank you everyone, for visiting me. I love you coming. I really do. It’s like having a stream of friends popping round for coffee and a chat. Fabulous. Absolutely, totally Fabulous with a capital F.

Have a wonderful day out there, and what ever you’re planning to do today, remember to stop, smile, and make a memory.

Have a blessed day all,

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Life is a Journey .. not a Destination. ~ A vintage style handmade card

This post is dedicated to Stacey, a fellow blogger on WordPress, who came up with a brilliant idea of promoting other crafting blogs in posts. Stacey very kindly mentioned my blog (with a link) and other crafters blogs that I hadn’t seen before – which was enough to tell me that I too should take up her idea and promote crafters blogs on my own blog here.

So, since Stacey came up with the idea, I am firstly promoting her blog (link below) and dedicating this post – and this card – to Stacey.

Stacey’s blog can be found here: http://staceyscorner.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/share-sunday/ ~ go and take a look and maybe even click to follow her.

To Stacey, a dedicated blog post and card, for an amazing idea! ~ from Cobs.

. . . join me on a journey through this card . . .

Every few days/weeks … now and again … I’ll make what I call a ‘labour intensive’ card. One of those cards which takes more time than the regular cards you’ve so far seen me post here. This card – ‘Life is a Journey, not a Destination’, is one of those cards.

It’s not that these types of cards are difficult, they just take a little more thinking and working out so that you end up with the ‘feel’ that you started out knowing you wanted. This particular card was inspired by a piece of wall art which I have hung in my bedroom, facing my bed. It’s an iron framed rectangle with a piece of calico strung in the centre and printed on the calico are the words Life is a Journey, not a Destination, and that’s what gave me the theme for the card.

I wanted the card to have a vintage style, with a slightly ‘steampunkery’ feel to it – but at the same time I knew I wanted it to carry a message, and wanted the message to be read as either literal or spiritual, depending on who the card ended up with, and the circumstances they were in within their life, at that time. And ... I think I’ve managed it.

This card could be for someone who’s:- moving house; going on a cruise or going abroad; it could be a simple regular birthday card (for either a man or a woman); it could be for someone who’s starting a new job; or perhaps for a person who needs some encouragement; maybe some tests soon?; or … it could be given to someone who is going through some sort of personal challenge or challenging time, and this card would be a gentle, loving way of saying that they’re going to get through this time and move on to a better place or time.

I’ll give you a list of everything I used to make this card at the end of the post, because I don’t want anyone to look at the list and think that they couldn’t make a card like this. I might have different stash to you, and I might have different cardstock; dies; ink pads; glues etc etc … but I’m pretty sure you will have things in your stash that you could use to pull a card like this or similar together. Just because the list of stuff I’ve used might look long – please don’t be put off. If you want to make something like this, go and look at your stash. You’d be surprised what you can use in order to make your own style of card.

For now .. I’ll just give you different photos of the card so that you can see things closer up….

Up up and away! . . .

A (working) compass to help you keep you going in the right direction . . .

Time passes quickly, – so some gentle encouragement to enjoy the beauty of every moment.

As followers and readers of my blog know … I LOVE to put surprises inside all the cards I make. I feel that the inside of a card is just so wasted and such a let down when you open a birthday/Christmas or any other time card, and find a big white space with a little bit of writing.

I like cards to be beautiful inside and out and surprise the receiver when they open their card! . . .

Oooo… I wonder what the magnifying glass is for?! ;D

OOhh .. another surprise! .. now we have a lucky wish star and a ticket which gives me ‘entitlement’ to one wish! But .. what the devil is that magnifying glass for???

Ah haaaa! . . . It’s so you can read the page from the dictionary/thesaurus! Ok .. one mystery solved, . . . but … what’s that pink ticket by the end of the handle?

Ah haaaa! . . . mystery number two solved! (Just call me Sherlock. lol)

Oh, and by the way … the postcard inside . . . is for you to write your message on, for the person you’re sending the card to! See? It all makes sense!

And that . . . (photo above) . . . is the just finished card, stood on a glass cutting mat, on my desk … and that’s all my ~~mess~~ important, essential, fabulous, well organised {cough} equipment and tools behind the card. (I’ll clean it up properly at some point, so that I can take a photograph of my craft room and share it.)

The Recipe for this card: I used:

Sheena Douglass – Little Bit Sketchy – Magnifying glass stamp.
Papermania Acetate (for the ‘window’ of the magnifying glass)
Papermania Black Embossing Powder
Stazon ‘Saddle Brown’ ink pad
” ‘Jet Black’ ink pad
Memento Dye Ink Pad in ‘Desert Sand’
” ” ” in ‘Rich Cocoa”
Xcut Build-a-Scene Dies – Vintage Hot Air Balloon
Heartfelt Creations 12×12 pad – which I used some of the images from.
Spellbinders ‘Once upon a Time’ Die
Tattered Lace ‘Postcards’ Die set
Heartfelt Creations ‘Time Sentiments’ stamp
” ” ‘Journey Sentiments’ stamp
Pinflair Gentle Blends – in Denim colour
” ” ” – in Dark Khaki colour
Graph It Glitter Ink Pen
Compass – was in a pack of 4 I bought a while ago, from the children’s section of either Asda or Tesco.
Dictionary page was cut from an old Dictionary/Thesaurus which was no longer used.
Cardstock used:
Warm Chocolate Brown 300gsm
Plain Black 270gsm
Orange – was scrap from my scrap draw
White – 270gsm
Kraft Card – 300gsm
Extras:
2 x short lengths of silver-grey Rayon Seam Binding.
Grey and white Bakers Twine
3 x fuzzy, funky fibre, Eyelash Knitting Yarn/Wool – 1 x length of warm brown. 1 x length of jet black. 1 x length of a blues and purples mix.
One tiny metal vintage looking Postcard embellishment.

And that’s all there is to it! 😀

Aw, please don’t be daunted by the apparently long list of ingredients for this recipe. I’ve named almost everything I used here just to be helpful to anyone who wants to know where I got a particular thing, or the make of the papers or dies etc, (named everything apart from glue .. but if you need to know: I used Collall All Purpose, Anita’s Tacky Glue, hot glue, and Double Sided Tape) – but I bet you use tons of stuff when you craft a card and you don’t even notice what you’re using anymore. It’s just all … ‘stuff’ … which is treasured and loved, and there because you use it!

Thank you so much for coming to read. I hope you like the card! Oh … and don’t forget to visit Stacey’s blog!

Please have a look around my blog here and check out the different categories. There’s a list of them all in the column over to the right, – you’ll find the list of categories towards the top of that column.