Industrial Card + Steampunk Canvas . . . my first ever

Good Evening All,

The EM and I are celebrating our 15th anniversary so I've been beavering away in secret . . . the EM has been banned from entering the craft space for several days . . .  to make the card and a surprise present for him - my first ever attempt to decorate a canvas!

This card was inspired by Sarah's (Sasa) first Mojo Monthly. I took her idea of re-using photographs in a different way, in this case photos from a recent visit to Dunaskin Heritage Centre, some of which can be seen here. Using MS Publisher I changed the photos from colour to black & white and shrunk them down to 2" x 1.5" and printed out onto glossy paper. It was easy enough to cut them all out using my trusty guillotine.  The base is made from black leather-look card and the photos are layered on to white textured card.

The insert is simply white copy paper decorated with Inkadinkado's Steampunk Flourish stamp (won on ebay) and sentiments from Inkylicious. And yes, that is a black smudge you can see there. This was my second attempt at the insert too - the first one, I stamped it up in portrait instead of landscape orientation :(  So, thanks to you Sarah, a great idea that makes perfect use of photos that remind my husband of a day he really enjoyed . . . he tells me that it's a keeper!

I don't know what possessed me but I decided that I wanted to make a canvas to commemorate the 15 really happy years of marriage we've had together. Again, it had to be something that appealed to my DH and, as he loves machinery and clocks, etc., I thought the steampunk style would be just right. But as steampunk hasn't exactly been my thing I had to search the world for the materials and it took me quite some time I can tell you. The already mentioned Steampunk Flourish stamp was shipped from the US (arrived surprisingly quickly - in only 2 weeks!); the tickets stamps are Hero Arts, also US, just a different state; Clarity Wire Heart stamp from Edenbridge, England;  Coredinations card and Kaisercraft Timeless Collection, Script, design paper and the TH Alterations Pocket Watches folder from Glasgow; the watch findings, yet another ebay purchase, were shipped from Guernsey.

So what did I do - well I started by giving the canvas (measures 5"x7") a coat of white gesso and then distressing it with matt acrylic paint (Pebeo) in burnt umber, petroleum jelly and antique white paint. I then dabbed some Adirondack mushroom because I thought it was a bit stark - not that you can see much of it in the finished piece. The metallic edging was done by rubbing Versamark all round the edges and embossing with platinum UTEE.  The embossed brown coredinations card was cut to size, sanded and distressed to within an inch of it's life. Same with the strip of script paper and I also distressed it with TH idea-ology Regal masks. The TH distress inks I used throughout the piece were, in no particular order, Dried Marigold, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick and Black Soot.

This embellishment (top left) is made from stampboard, distressed with Fired Brick & Vintage Photo; numbers made from card, 3 coats of UTEE and stamped with the Steampunk Flourish; watch findings attached with Anita's 3-D Clear Gloss; the 'yrs' topper is a circle of distressed card stamped with letters and covered in the clear gloss.

The heart was stamped in black onto shrink plastic, cut out and coloured with Fired Brick and Vintage Photo.

The Steampunk Flourish was stamped in VersaMark and embossed in gold onto mountboard that had been treated to the crackle affect way back in March - recorded in this post here. The unfurled coil spring came with the watch findings and was just perfect as an embellishment.

And just for a trip down memory lane here's a layout with a wedding day photograph.

Not a very good photograph as it was taken with a very old camera. I'd have taken fresh shots of the layout but a friend has a loan the album . . . once it is returned I'll photograph it again and maybe do a post on it.

We are off tomorrow for a few days to celebrate - we are taking a trip on the Jacobite Express steam train which runs from Fort William to Mallaig so, be warned, there will be a ton of photographs to mark the occasion. I'm looking forward to seeing Loch Lomond and passing through Glencoe . . . a place that I always find awesome. 

I thought I'd leave you with a photograph of the pot of red lilies as they are now . . . I posted a photo of just one in June - link here  - but I thought you might just like to see how fabulously massive they are now - they are about 4' tall.

Right, must go - The Boss is refusing to come in for the night so I better go and persuade her, and I need to get get to bed too - we have an early start in the morning.

Take care all,