Just A Note About A Note Card.

Have you ever made a card for no special reason, but that you were just mucking around with your supplies and wanted to see what happened if you did this or did that?  Seemily driven by something not necessarily evident at the time.  Well this rather bedraggled number is the end result of such a crafting session.  I made this a while ago when I had received my first Tim Holtz Distress Ink Stains and some new Glimmer Mists from Tattered Angels.  So this rather oxidized looking cardstock started off life as a crisp piece of Papertrey Ink Ocean Tides cardstock that was stamped initially with Versamark using one of the larger Fleur De Lys stamps from PTI's Embellishments stamp set.  I (impatiently) waited for the Versamark to dry and ended up giving it a wee toot with the heat gun, as it was really taking so long with very little effect.  After all that, I could hardly see the fleur de lys so I decide to give Vintage Photo Distress Stain a whirl.

I must say as a veteran enjoyer of Distress Inks, I found the use of Stains an all together wetter and less controllable experience truth be told and one I don't know that I see the benefits of, other than in covering (read: saturating) larger areas of paper quicker while maintaining the density of the color of the Stain. Yes, the jury is still out.  So after stepping back and having a look at the failed Versamarking and the now Stained Ocean Tides cardstock, it looked like an over-aged bit of scraggly paper that wasn't so interesting and fairly warped.  Sigh.

In an attempt to salvage the much coveted bit of Papertrey Ink cardstock, I decided to run it through the Cuttlebug with the Woodgrain Impression Plate by Papertrey Ink.  This is a much loved and often used tool from PTI and one I'd heartily reccommend.   It seems to add interest to just about everything from die cuts, to background layers and everything in between.  Luckily too, this also straightened out the bent card fairly well.  Phew!

Just because I couldn't help myself, I shook (and on hindsight that was my first mistake) and sprayed Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Coffee Shop straight onto the besieged card base at point blank range (mistake number two).  Yep, you guessed it, I didn't know that one must hold the card or item being glimmered at least an arm's reach away and waft the base through the shower of (stirred not shaken) mist as one would do with a fine perfume.   Hence, the globs that splatted onto my base.  Eek!  Oh well, even though I did learn to not employ my rather rough as guts technique forevermore, unless splats were what I was definitely after, but I think it sort of worked on this patently experimental card.

Luckily, the rest of the card was fairly straight forward and just involved using my tried and true Distress Inks, good old Memento ink and a trusty shipping tag.  The stamped images and text was from Waltzingmouse Stamps and Papertrey Ink.  I know that the sentiment is from PTI but I don't recall if the text stamped under the frill was as well or if that belonges to Waltzingmouse Stamps.  It is definitely one or the other.  The nifty Asian-inspired tiling is from Waltzingmouse Stamps for sure.  The bookplate is a Tim Holtz goodie from his large Shipping Tag die from Sizzix. Oddly enough, I rarely use the large tag as it is indeed a large'un, but get tons of use from the two bookplate options included on the same die.  The buttons are cool and are authentically vintage treats complete with the original threads still in the holes.  I just love that.  So, they just needed a bit of glueing on top of the mint green vintage tassle, also from my stash, and Robert's your mother's brother.

This card has long since sold and has ended up being one that I think of often.  Not only because I was truly crafting out of my comfort zone, which I certainly was, but because it ended up being a likable card born out of happy (and some not so happy) accidents.  I kind of think about it as a diamond in the rough, that stayed rough and was still admired.  The woman who bought this card from me said it was going to her friend that was in rehab and that it reminded her of her...her diamond in the rough , who was rising up through adversity and still continuing to shine despite all that she had been through and thought this card would suit her to a T.  How cool is that!   Perfect.

Thanks for letting me share with you yet a bit more about my musings in craft.  Do know it means the world to me.  Have an inspired day!