"What's with the double posts lately?" I hear you cry! IKR??? (I Know, Right? … yup - I'm all hip with the tween lingo these days .. have to keep my husband posted as he never nows WTH I'm trying to say *lol*
I've been on a roll of awesome cards lately! I'd like to take credit for them but rely hey are all either CASEd or 90% CASEd. I've said it before, I'll say it again … a great card is a great card. We don't ALWAYS have to reinvent the wheel Ladies!!
Yesterday was my perfect Sunday. If you follow me regularly you KNOW what I'm talkin' about! Cold, gloomy, nothing on the calendar, pajama, roast beef and mashed potato kind of day! IT was FAB! The only thing I really wanted to accomplish was to make the perfect card for my brother. He's turning 50 next week (you didn't hear that from me … and for the record I'm WAYYYYYYYYY younger than he is ;) ) and he is the most amazing guitar player you will ever meet. I'm not just saying that because I'm his sister. In fact I was very critical of his abilities when we were kids … as we shared a bedroom wall and for HOURS I would listen to him lay the same thing over … and over … and over … and over. Ugh. It was torture. Now, however, he really should be famous. He's amazing! I usually send him a card but the Big 5-0 called for something a little O.T.T. (Over The Top for my non-british-speaking friends). I think this card fits the bill …
I absolutely-flippin'-LOVE these cards. Seriously. I just keep sitting here staring at them. They make me happy! I feel like a total Guitar Hero!
I can't take credit for them. I found a great tutorial by Carol Lovenstein on Splitcoast Stampers. Again - I won't reinvent the wheel. Just click here to access the tutorial. (Read through the tutorial before reading my amendments so they make sense.)
I had to make a few small changes as I didn't have the exact same products she did. Yes, I started with a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" back card base (hard to tell with the dark counter). The guitar front is 5 1/4" x 4". I used a piece of Hello Honey card stock and then cover it with actual thin wood. In her tutorial she calls for wood veneer. Ya - didn't have a lot of that hanging around *lol*. I TRIED to make a wood grain effect with my wood grain stamp but it wasn't a marbled, subtle effect … so I aborted. Then it occurred to me … about 3 years ago I bought some little thin wood strips that are the size of a business card from Lee Valley Tools (THE coolest place as my Canadian friend will attest to!). They are in fact intended for business cards. When I saw them in the catalogue I figured one day I could do something crafty with them. Well today was that day!! Wa-Hoo!
The wood really is just like a thick paper. I attached it to the card base with snail adhesive and it sticks perfectly! It was even thin enough to trip with my Craft and Rubber scissors.
I didn't have the Nestabilities circle Framelits for the hole … so I used my Stampin' Up! ones. I had to tweak a bit for the gold rim (using the brushed gold card stock) by cutting a thin circle rim (like Carol did) and then trimming it smaller on nth the inside and the outside of it so it fit nicely inside the black circle.
For the bridge (the part with the brads) I used another piece of the thin board. This part made me wanna stick myself in the eye with my pokey tool. Ugh! The wood is so thin that when I poked the 6 holes in the wood for the string and brads it broke the piece in half. I carried on but in future would use a piece of card stock instead.
Another tweak … instead of using the brad in the "usual" way (i.e. opening the legs at the back of the project) I used my Craft and Rubber scissors to cut the legs OFF the brad so I just had the brad HEAD … and attached those using glue dots. The rest was pretty much per the tutorial.
For the red card I used an actual guitar pick … but could only find one .. so traced it and used Island Indigo card stock for the second one.
Do I love it? Yes. Would I make another one again as long as I live? Probably not *lol*. 3 hours or so to make this little beauty. If I find out he threw it away I'm gunna tell my Mom on him … and then hide so he doesn't pin me down and fart on my head like the old days - hee hee. Awwww older brothers. Aren't they great???
That's it for today… but come back soon - I have more to share!
Have a super stampy day xxoo
Tam
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