Retirement gift

Friday! Yee-haw!

Hello, my friends! Are you dancing a jig as I am? Friday... probably the best day of the week. Later today we're having a very special ladies-only gathering .... the coven meets tonight! LOL. Frederica, a good friend and bridge buddy is retiring at the end of this month (oh so lucky!!!) and a few of us are taking her out for a meal. We'll make a fuss, she'll protest and we'll all have a gala time. That's usually how it goes with this lot!

Instead of adding to her growing collection of retirement cards, I made a Post-It holder, with a difference. You'll see in the pics what I mean.  And, we've all pitched in to get Fred a year's membership at a Wine Club. Very often Conan and I invite her as our guest at the club events. She always enjoys herself, immensely. I think Fred's old enough to have her own card now!

For this project, I've drawn inspiration from several challenges. The sketch is from Tuesday Morning #160 and the colours are from Colour Throwdown #206. Stitching is the theme over at Crafting For All Seasons #34 and at Paper Play Challenges #34 it's all about sentiment as main image or focus. I'm also incorporating the baby wipe re-inker pad technique from Technique Tuesday August Challenge... albeit with limited success <sigh>.

Here's my project:

The patterned papers are from Basic Grey's "Sweet Threads" 6x6 pack. That paper has a boho-hippie look, which is exactly how I'd describe Fred. 

Here's a close-up of my baby-wipe re-inker stamping. It's speckled, mottled, almost mouldy! So what happened? First I stamped my image on the baby-wipe, to leave an impression so I can choose where to ink. I don't have any solid stamps, but according to Beate Johns in her baby-wipes tutorial over at Splitcoastampers, if using ornamental stamps stick to monochromatic inks. And I, very cleverly, picked peachy-pink tones with some blues and greens.

I applied the pink tones on the baby wipe first, then with a cocktail stick I randomly put tiny dots of blue and green. At this point the phone rings and I leave everything to go have a chinwag. 20 minutes later I come back and continue where I left off... oblivious to the fact that the baby-wipe is not so wet anymore. The result is what you see. 

Quite disappointed with the way this turned out. It's not bold and vibrant. But what was I thinking? Just how feisty can Tattered Rose and Old Paper be? Seriously! Probably high time I retired! The sentiment in the middle is from WMS, heat embossed on blue CS. Other embellis include green twine, a felt flower, pink brad and pearls.

Here's the inside. I embossed the green CS with Crafts Too Love Hearts folder.  The Post-Its are looking a little "fluffy" because I stamped a daisy on random pages. 

 There's a pocket for little notes, tags etc. I've put her membership card there. There's a little compartment the pen ... because Fred is notorious for losing pens only to discover she has 15 buried deep in the carpet-bag she calls a purse!

Supplies:
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Spun Sugar; Tattered Rose; Old Paper; Broken China; Shabby Shutters
Stamps: WMS Seasons of Love; WMS Vintage Ornaments
Die: Spellbinders Lacey Ovals  S4-314
Paper: Basic Grey "Sweet Threads" 


Today's lesson, my friends, is this: if you want a striking tie-dye-ish image with the baby-wipe technique, don't do what I did.  Here's what you should do if you don't want to end up with a speckled, mouldy mess image:

• choose contrasting colours;
• don't answer the phone; 
• don't spend 20 minutes gossiping about the neighbour's son (or anybody's son); and
• this is key: get stamping while the baby wipe is juicy. 

Thanks for dropping in for a look-see. Until my next post, y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Beijinhos


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