Oh So Tattered and Torn...

Hello everyone,
Welcome and nice to see you all again. Are you ready for a new week of creative dabblings? Our summer has taken a right nose-dive but that can justify more crafty lock-ins! It's Monday so time for a new theme over at Simon Says Stamp & Show where it's all about torn and distressed edges. Well, that sounds like pure music to my ears and I totally indulged myself when making a card for my sisters special friend...a someone who cherishes her faith and the significance of butterflies. I just love these muted vintage greens and brown and decided an easel card would make things extra special.

I painted an old book page with Claudine Hellmuth's Gesso and then stamped the Papillon butterflies in Coffee Archival to achieve a crisp and well defined image. I tore and inked up the edges and then worked on building up the layers...Some people think layering is a tough job. Sometimes it works immediately or sometimes takes a while! It's trial and error - just keep putting on, taking it off....see which layers add interest, variation and contrast. I've used vintage pins on the book page scrap as well as stitching around some of the papers  - great fun! Distressing, inking, sewing, creating - what more do we need? (except time and new stash).

Here you can see how much I enjoy tearing and distressing. I have only used Vintage photo ink on this card which transforms the mint green into a fab shabby hue. I've inked up a silver frame with Alcohol Inks, stamped a sentiment and then placed it all in the frame adding a Mica scrap to the front.

More close-ups! Just showing off two beauties from my vintage button stash...love how they come - all bashed up for me to use. You can see I've also used lace doilies, scraps of design papers, Glassine Kraft paper and my faithful 'go to' friend - my gold thread. To finish off I generated a sentiment on my computer and matched the letter font to the framed stamp. Added lots of yum scraps and small ribbon trimmings to complete the card.




So, there you go. A good old-fashioned but very well-loved style of mine...and where I started out 4 years ago. I still really love designing and creating cards and I hope this one might give you a few small light-bulb moments.
Head over to the Simon Says Blog to see more fabulous pieces from the Design Team and also check out The Superstore to see how you might spend the $50 Prize Draw shopping spree!!!

Looking forward to seeing your creations - last week you were all Super-Duper!!! Take care and thank you so much for the visits, followers and new faces - all are so welcome. So have a great week whatever you do...
Sarah.