Heartfelt Creations – The Art of Cobwebs

Time is not measured by clocks, but by Moments.

I have a fascination of/with time. It’s not an obsession, but it’s been something to which I became more aware of about ten to fifteen years ago. I can’t quite explain it… well, no, actually that’s a bit of a porky pie. I could try to explain it, but to do so would unfortunately give away something in my book – which I’ve been writing inside my head for .. oh – heaven knows how long! And a girl has to have some secrets, so I don’t want to divulge them yet … at least, not until I write my book first!

Because I have this ‘time thing’ going on, I thought last week, that I should make a time card. I had a sentiment in mind and had recently bought some new stamps which would fit perfectly with that sentiment … so I went to work.

I began by making a sort of ‘explosion’ of colour happen on a ready scored 6″x 6″ card…

I stamped four different coloured ink pads in a (sort of) circle onto my glass mat, then spritzed them with water so that they bled into each other and ran a little. I stamped the ‘spoldge’ stamp into that watery mess and then stamped it straight away onto my card. There was a little section which didn’t quite pick up enough colour, so I just used a paint brush to fill in. You can see in the photo where that was – but I knew it wouldn’t matter as this was just to be the (kind of) background to what was to come …

After the ink dried thoroughly, I stamped the image of a Fob Watch which had exploded …

.. and embossed it part in silver and part in gold embossing powder.

Then on another scrap piece of white card I stamped the same image again…

This time though I didn’t do the explosion of colours behind it.

This was because I wanted to cut some parts of that image out and needed those particular parts to be crisp white . . .

The white arrows in the above photo point out which parts I wanted to ‘fussy cut’ out. This was so I could coat those pieces with Anita’s 3D Clear Gloss – because the parts I’ve pointed out in the photo above, would be the face of the clock… and would have had the glass over them too – so I wanted to give those parts a clear glassy type finish.

By half way through I have to admit that I was beginning to wonder if it was such a great idea, but I plodded on telling myself it would look fine and groovy once I’d finished.

Once cut out, I used the Anita’s 3D Clear Gloss on those pieces and put them on one side to dry overnight.

The following day they were dry and ready to go . . . so I fixed those pieces in place using Pinflair Glue Gel (what would we do without that gel, eh crafters?!). But I put the pieces in a sort of ‘wiggly woggly’ way. Some were tilted one way. Some another way. Some this way, some that.

You can’t quite see it here in this photo (above) but you’ll see it better in the final photo in a minute.

The sentiment I found some time ago and don’t know who it’s supposed to be credited to – even though I’ve searched the internet. I think it’s just something which happened one day and there it is. It belongs to us all (maybe).

It reads: Time is not measured by clocks but by Moments. I printed this out using my computer and Photoshop. I knew how I wanted it to look, and had a font in mind … so built it then printed it out onto card, then matted it onto gold Mirri board.

Finally … I added a short length of Ivy (Ivy is so timeless that I felt it married well into the card) and some paper flowers …

I made the flowers from music sheet paper which I ‘vintaged’ with an ink pad and a duster brush. The die used to cut them out was a large die of different flowers by Heartfelt Creations. The added bits, of cogs and parts of the clock explosions, were also cut from a Heartfelt Creations die, which I die cut using my Ebosser and three colours of Mirri Board, Silver Shiney Gold and Matt Gold, and then the resulting die cuts I cut into to make the effect I was after.

And that’s all there was to it. 😊

This card, well …. I very nearly opened my bin and plonked the whole lot in. It took me sooo long to make. Doesn’t look as if it did – but oh boy, it was all Start. Stop. Start. Stop. I had to wait for glue gel to dry. Ink to dry. Work out the size I wanted the sentiment to print out – I only had a certain amount of space – so it needed to feel balanced. Even when I finally said “Ahhhh. Finished!” I still had to wait till the next day to photograph it because the centres of the flowers have gold and silver Tonic Drops as their centre and they had to lay flat in order to keep them where they should be.

So yes.. I’ll admit that I was kind of glad this card was finally finished. But … I’d still make it again. (I know… glutton for punishment. lol).

I trust your Monday went well and that now you’re home (or when you eventually get home) that you feel that wonderful “Ahhhhh” feeling when you shut the door and kick off your shoes”.

Oh I remember that moment so well, and will freely admit that I don’t miss it. Although I’m not of retirement age, (YAY) … naturally – because as you well know, I’m “Ooooonly 27“, I am truly blessed to be ‘living the retired way‘ – even if very early on in life. And no, it’s not because I won the lottery or have pots of money – sadly. But if I ever do …. I promise you’ll be the first to know.

I’m glad to not have that horrible Monday morning feeling – which actually happens sometime during Sunday afternoon. See …. not so old that I don’t remember that feeling.

I hope your Monday has ended with you having a smile on your face. And remember … Tomorrows Tuesday … already on the way to Friday! YAAAY for Fridays!

BUT . . . For anyone who needs an extra smile today … I’ve come complete with a joke. It’s the tiniest bit naughty … but not really, because it’s your mind which will make it naughty.

A Joke For the Day

The Mole Family
A papa mole, a mama mole, and a baby mole all live together in a little mole hole.

One day, papa mole sticks his head out of the hole, sniffs the air and said,
“Yum! I smell maple syrup!”

The mama mole sticks her head out of the hole, sniffs the air and said,
“Oh, Yum! I smell honey!”

Now baby mole is trying to stick his head out of the hole to sniff the air, but can’t because the bigger moles are in the way.
This makes him whine,
“Geez, all I can smell is….

.…. Molasses!!!!! 😆

Have a truly fabulous rest of your day, and a blessed rest of your week.

Squidges and love,

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,

Coffee Sig

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Embrace Life; Live in the Moment ~ A Mini Album from scratch!

I’m a scrapbooker, card maker, Melt Pot Marveller; Polymer Clay player … oh! and all sorts of other things – but I’d never made a mini album before. But … I decided to make one for my lovely parcel delivery lady. She’s the best delivery person I’ve ever had, and I really appreciate her for who she is; her kindness; her concern, and how brilliantly she does her job. She goes that extra mile – and nowadays it’s difficult to find someone who does this in their job! I love her to pieces for being so wonderful. (… and yes, I have told her this, whilst giving her a hug).

She said some weeks ago, that she’d love a card or something I’d made – “just for me. Just for myself”. So I put my thinking cap on and thought about what I could make for her which gave a nod to all the things I knew she liked. I wanted something which would have a theme of travelling – she is my parcel delivery lady after all, and she does a LOT of travelling – both in her job and because her family is spread over many miles. But I wanted an album which could be for all those things plus: Day trips with her family. Holidays. Moments in the car. Things she’s seen while she was out and about, and snapped a photo of with the camera on her phone. The Journey of Life in general. (it could even be about her job if she wanted it to be).

I chose the papers ‘Celebrate the Journey’, which are made by one of my favourite paper crafting & rubber stamp companies: Heartfelt Creations and various other bits and pieces which you’ll see in the following photos.

To begin with – I had to make the pages of the album on which I could work.

Being the recycler that I am, I turned to my re-cycling box to find some stiff card which I could use to form the base for the pages. I knew I wanted them to be firm – almost like thin wood, – but I also wanted them to be able to have a slight ‘bendibility’ to them, which would accommodate embellishments on the pages. And this is how I made those base pages:

A HUUGE box of chocolates which was bought for Christmas last year. I saved the box as I knew that it would come in handy for something at some point. (I was right!) 😀

Took the sides of the lid and base, then cut out the sizes I needed for my pages. — Took the sides off the lid and base, then cut out the sizes I needed for my pages.

Glued some craft card to the re-cycled card, to make it rigid, then trimmed to size.

Once made, I scored down each page, to ensure that the pages all had a little 'bendability' to them, in order to accommodate any thick embellishments which I might add to the pages — Once made, I scored down each page, to ensure that the pages all had a little ‘bendability’ to them, in order to accommodate any thick embellishments which I might add to the pages

Once the pages had been constructed it was time to decorate.

I’m not going to talk you through how to decorate a page because we all decorate differently, – so I’ll just walk with you through the pages and you can look at the finished book as if I’d handed it to you.

1a front — close up of the handmade maps, the ‘Embrace Life’ ticket, brass postcard etc.

1b front — another ticket; another map – rolled up and tied with bakers twine; a metal embellishment: a butterfly.

Pages 2 and 3. The little blue'ish' tag holder on the left hand page, actually opens. It has a magnetic catch which keeps it closed. You can open it by gently pulling on the silver dragon fly hanging on the silver chain. — Pages 2 and 3. The little ‘blueish’ tag holder, on the left hand page, actually opens. It has a magnetic catch which keeps it closed. You can open it by gently pulling on the silver dragon fly hanging on the silver chain.

The little 'book' opened, and the tags pulled out slightly from the hidden pocket. — The little ‘book’ opens, and the tags are pulled out slightly from the hidden pocket.

page 3. (the tags do come out of the pocket). — page 3. — (the tags do slide out of the pocket).

All the tags are removable, and you can either write and journal on the back of them, or stick photographs to them. You can also attach photo's to the book page, and glue notes, or journalling, or even glue the tag to the page! — Page 4. All the tags are removable from the pockets, and you can either write / journal on the back of them, or stick photographs to the tags. You can of course attach photo’s to the book page, and glue notes, or journaling, or even glue a tag to the page! The little framed map is actually a photo frame. You and insert a photograph into the frame from the top. The map is a section I cut from a larger map. It’s a map of somewhere which means something to Mrs. Delivery Lady and her family.

Pages 6 and 7. Spaces for journalling or glueing. Tickets; receipts; maps; mementos of a trip or journey - or even a sweet wrapper, which brings back a memory? — Pages 6 and 7. — Spaces for journaling, or:- glueing tickets; receipts; maps; mementos of a trip or journey – or even a sweet wrapper which brings back a memory!

Page 6. I hand stamped the bicycle onto the backing paper and then added the hot air balloon, which I die cut from an X-cut die and added the swing tag, which reads: ‘Life – The Great Adventure’.

Page 7. A pocket full of tags, and a photograph frame (the heart) - which has a journalling tag which you pull out and write details about the photo. — Page 7. A pocket full of tags, and a photograph frame (the heart) – which has a journaling tag which you pull out and write details about the photo.

... page 7 ... what's behind the tags? .... now you can see for yourself! — … page 7 … what’s behind the tags? …. now you can see for yourself!

It was at this point that I wanted to put a little fun . . . my delivery lady has a huge sense of fun and she and her daughter love anything to do with fairies – so naturally … it had to be Fairy inspired! . . . .

Pages 8 and 9 …. and . . . . AND . . . ‘The Pocket of Secrets!’

In order to enter the realm of the fae, ... one must come with the right key! Can you pick out the right key? — In order to enter the realm of the fae, … one must come with the right key!
Can you pick out the right key?

The Pocket of Secrets. . . . can you guess what's inside? — The Pocket of Secrets.
. . . can you guess what’s inside?

Inside 'The Pocket of Secrets' is a key, captured and sealed inside resin and attached to a metal charm, and ... a tiny vial of Fairy Dust! — . . . . a key, . . . . and . . . . captured and sealed behind resin and attached to a metal charm, a KEY! … and there beside it is …. a the tiniest vial of Fairy Dust!

page 9. What's behind the Fairy Doors? . . . . — page 9.
What’s behind the Fairy Doors? . . . .

A peep behind the Fairy Doors! — A tiny peep behind the Fairy Doors!

5c3 — There’s a BIG tag behind the doors …. ‘Believe’ – well do you? …. Do you see the tiny wish Bone? (it’s not a paper cut out, nor is it made from card or such like!) … ah, but you can only make a wish if you truly believe, otherwise … how is your wish supposed to come true?

6 pages 10 and 11 — Pages 10 and 11 ~ Somewhere to add notes, mementos, and somewhere to add photographs and memories.

page 10. This is a removable photo album - where each page can be removed, added to, written on, glued etc. . . . and it's also hiding something ... — page 10 – “A photograph is like a recipe. It’s a memory of the finished dish.” — This is a removable photo book within the mini album! The whole of this smaller photo book can actually be removed from the album, and even, if need be, every page can be individually removed, to be written on or something glued to it etc. It’s a clever little detail which I loved!

6c pages of the little album — Pages of the smaller photo book. Each page has a section where the story of the photograph which will be attached below it, can be written.

The photo album is completely removable. — The little photo book is completely removable.

And that brings us to the back of the mini album….

I thoroughly enjoyed making this mini album – although it took me a handful of weeks to complete due to poor health. I’ve been suffering with a chronic sinus infection which has, most days, totally wiped me off my feet. My delivery lady knew that I was making something for her, and was so patient. She never asked once about it. I finally got to give the album to her last weekend, and I know that she’s been waiting for me to post photographs of the album on my blog here, so that she could tell her friends to come and take a peep at it.

So a big ‘HELLOoooo’ to all new readers and fabulous friends of my delivery lady!

I know that my delivery lady will see that some of the photographs here might be missing tiny little details which are actually on the album in real life. This was because I added little touches to the album after I’d taken these photo’s.

For those who might like to make something similar, or may be wondering about something I’ve used in the making of the mini, I add a list of the items and products used:

Heartfelt Creations 12×12 Celebrate the Journey papers.
” ” Timeless Clock stamp
” ” Celebrate the Journey Sentiments stamps
” ” Time Sentiments stamps
” ” World Map stamp
” ” Bike Stamp
Spellbinders (for Heartfelt Creations) Once Upon a Time Die
Brass Postcard embellishment
Assorted Brads
Dragonfly Metal Embellishment
Resin Blue Butterfly
Papermania ‘All Aboard’ Kraft Luggage Tags
Crafters Companion Stick and Spray
Crafters Companion Spray and Shine
Anita’s Clear Gloss
Graph ‘it Glitter Gold Shake it Pen
” ” Silver ” ” Pen
Pigma Micron 01 Archival Ink Pen
Assorted ink pads – Memento; Tim Holtz; Staz-on
Map cut from an old(ish) British map book
Tonic Header Dies
Tonic Corner Dies
Tonic Fairy die.
Creative Expressions Gilding Waxes – Greens, Blues, Lavender.
Pinflair Gentle Blends in various colours (Denim, Teal,
Ranger Melting Pot
Dovecraft Ric Rac in Black
seam binding / glitter ribbon / string / silk ribbon / Bakers Twine – used for ties, tags, bows and decorations etc.
Kraft/craft card
Black ‘Linen effect’ card
Tim Holtz Idealology metal keyhole
Ranger Stickles in various colours
Spellbinders Die D-lites ~ Birds Scroll.
Sheena Douglass embossing folder
Assorted tags – both bought and hand cut, but all decorated and adorned by me.
Resin birds in flight.

…… and various other bits and pieces which I’ve probably forgotten to add to this list.

If there’s anything you can see in the photo’s which I haven’t mentioned in the above list, but you want to know about it, please just ask in a comment. I’m more than happy to help. If there’s a certain something in the photographs which you’ve spotted and need to know how I did something etc etc … again, please feel free to ask. I’m not one of those people who won’t share things. I’m more than happy to help fellow crafters – just leave a question in the comment section and I promise to reply.

Thank you SO much for stopping by and taking the time to read and have a look at the photographs.

Finally … a message to my lovely delivery lady … I’m sorry it’s taken me a week to get these photo’s onto my blog. I’m being invaded by germs! eeeeeeeek! But I got there in the end. 😉

Have a truly lovely weekend everyone. Me? I’m too blessed to be stressed about being so poorly, so I’ll carry on carrying on! 😀

Take time to Stop and Smell the flowers

I’m going to attempt to say as little as possible in this post (because I’m WAY too ‘wordy’), and instead just add ‘points’ to tell the story of what went into the making of this card, in case you’d like to make one like it.

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White 8 x 8″ scored & folded card on which to build the finished card + 2 x sheets of Kraft (craft) card + 1 sheet of Black card.

Measure, cut and attach the black card to the front of the white base card.

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Embossed one sheet of craft card in a ‘hessian’ effect embossing folder

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Cut into the edge of the ‘hessian’ card to make it looked like frayed hessian. Then lightly dragged some ink in three colours over the hessian effect so that it looked grungy. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t blended properly – most of it isn’t going to be seen – but it’s more important for it to have that ‘old and battered’ look.

Attach the ‘hessian’ to the black card which is fixed glued to the front of the card.

↑ ↑ ↑

Embossed another sheet of card (cut to size) – but this time the Kraft card is a warmer shade than the ‘hessian’ effect card.

↑ ↑ ↑

Die cut a bike and fill the ‘basket’ on the front of the bike with an assortment of flowers. Add brads to the centre of the wheels, then attach the bike to the card.

↑

Stamp up a tag with the sentiment.

(The wiggly border on the tag is hand drawn with a fine tipped pen).

Die cut a fob watch shape, added a metal clock face, pointer – and a ‘dis-armed’ large brad cap. (there’s a smaller, hidden brad which holds the pointer in place and because of that the pointer actually does spin round!) Attach the fob watch to the front of the card – over the ‘hole’ in the tag, so that it looks like the tag and watch are ‘paired’

Add a brown ribbon bow.

Ta dah! Finished.

Thank you for coming and taking a look at one of my card makes.

I really like this card. Do you like it too? Please – let me know!

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.