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A very warm welcome to my teeny, tiny part of the huge world of blogging. This is where I share my passion for making hand made greeting cards. So - why "Always with a Heart"? Well this is for two reasons. Firstly, it is because every card I produce carries a heart on it somewhere. This can be big and bold or small and almost hidden - the fun sometimes is just trying to find it! Secondly it is because I put my heart into everything I produce. I hope that any visitors enjoy seeing what I post. If you drop by then please leave me a comment so that I know you called. It would be nice to know that you have found my heart in what I do.

Monday 7 June 2010

TIME FOR A GOOD OLD LAUGH

Hi Everyone

I have taken a photograph of one of my "lovely" makes from my Stampalot workshop .. .. .. along with my reject of the weekend.

You know - that blasted brayered card that I am so ashamed of. I decided that you can't just share the good in this life .. .. you have to share the bad too. (Plus we could all do with a good laugh on a Monday couldn't we).

The first creation was made using a huge cutting template that fits into the Big Shot Pro machine. The die itself is about the size of one of the shelves from my oven!!!!

Once taken through the Big Shot Pro the die produces all three pages for this little booklet - including the little holes down the spine and the circular tabs.

We started off with plain cream backing card and clear embossed onto this. Then we used whatever distress inks we liked the look of and distressed the paper and stamped inked images alongside the embossed ones.

This was done on all three front sheets and these were stuck onto cardboard that had also been run through the Big Shot Pro too. On the reverse of each page I stuck backing paper - otherwise I would have been there all day just distressing all the pages.

My front page carries a lovely Penny Black sentiment that I might have to invest in one day.


The second page I though would be nice with a special photograph on it.

The third page is for me to write a special message - if I can ever bear to part with it.

My backing paper had a flower as part of the design so I ripped this out of the paper and distressed the edges along with the strip along the bottom and I stuck them on the back.


All the pages were then tied together with ribbon. It was really strange how all of us had exactly the same materials to work with and yet they all looked so different by the end due to different colour choices, stamp choices etc.

I am sorry but I do not have all the image makes and numbers etc.

Now this is something I was actually pleased with at the end of the day and doubt that I will ever part with. I had never done this resist embossing technique before but will definitely be doing it again.

But now to the thing I wasn't so pleased with - and something I am unlikely to try to do ever again. Just how hilarious is this .................................


LOL!!! Don't bother looking for the heart .. .. .. .. it didn't deserve one.

This was my second attempt at brayering the background - the first one went in the bin almost immediately as it had lines and repeat moons and all kinds of things wrong with it. Apparently I was too heavy handed. The technique is nothing like rollering emulsion on my walls!!

I did a bit of ink work to try and produce "mountains" and attempted to make the moon look a bit mystical but once the background was as good as it was likely to get I stamped onto the background with clearly the wrong images.

The first one was OK .. .. the one at the top .. .. but then the bottom ones went all wrong and I tried to hide my mistakes with another stamping session .. .. what a mistake. LOL!!

I then resorted to using a bit of ribbon to hide some of it.


Hardly any improvement at all .. .. and this is where I just gave up. I didn't even stick it to the backing card - I have just ledged it on top to take the photograph this morning.

Sorry I failed you Brenda .. .. I did try. Thank you for your patience in trying to teach me.

Well have you stopped laughing yet??? How horrendous is that?

Although I can just imagine showing it to my Mum and she would say "Well, a blind man would be glad to see it" - which is true!

I still have one beautiful creation to share - which isn't 100% finished yet and another one that is only 50% finished. I will hopefully get these completed and share these with you later this week.

Have a happy Monday everyone and from now on I will admire and appreciate much more any cards I see that feature the use of a brayer.

Thanks for calling by for a laugh. I hope I have cheered up your day.

Love Jules xx

17 comments:

chris said...

Hi Jules your first card is so so beautiful it really is, and the 2nd, well I have seen worse that is for certain.
lots of hugs chris xx

Maarit at Violets Corner said...

Love the gorgeous booklet Jules!

And I do like your brayered card, love the moon and the faraway mountains. Can't even imagine how you made them :) Will try with my brayer too!

Love
Maarit

Juls said...

LOVE the little book its so soft and pretty..... and your card is gorgeous too very dramatic!! glad you had a very fabulous time!!! hugs Juls

Netty said...

Hi Jules........don't give up on the brayer, that looks fab, very mystical. An idea maybe is not to stamp in black... just a thought.
Love the booklet, terrific. Annette x

Anonymous said...

I ADORE the book, its soo special and beautiful! what a great gift idea, or keepsake!

now I honestly think the card is OK... its better than I could do thats for sure... unless theres just no accounting for my taste? lol... but honestly it looks fine to me!

Shell Shearer Swinscoe said...

Lovin the book hun, its gorgeous & those soft pastel papers are lovely....as for your card, I laughed lots, but not at your card, at you...I think its fab you have done the sky sooooooooo much better than I could ever do

hugs shell xx

brenda said...

Well Jules, first of all I am so pleased you enjoyed you day as much as I did, but none of this defeatist talk.

You know what they say practice makes perfect and beleive me, my first attempts at bryering left a lot to be desired. As Chris said, there have been far worse.

You tag book is beautiful and look forward to seeing our other projects when you have added the finishing touches.

B x

Nannieflash said...

Hi Jules, please stop putting yourself down, your brayering is a hell of a lot better than mine.
Your first card is fabulous and beautiful, its stunning. With love and hugs Shirleyxxxx

Lynne K said...

Your book is truly beautiful, Jules, I love the soft colours and the stamping, which complement the backing paper perfectly.

As for the brayer card, I guess, like me, you expect to be able to get something right first time, & get discouraged when, inevitably, that doesn't happen! You should have seen my first attempts at brayering! I wouldn't have dared show anyone. Even now, after lots of practice, many end up in the bin, but I do get some good ones too, now and then!. I think it's one of those things where luck comes into it as well, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For a first try, I'd say your brayering is actually pretty good! As you admit, the choice of stamps is probably what let it down. You'd be surprised at how many little imperfections can be hidden by the right stamp! I think it would be a shame if you didn't have another go at it, when you've made such a good start. xx

peahen said...

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. It's brave of you to share something you're not happy with - but I think you're being a bit hard on yourself!

Grenouille Greetings said...

Gosh, I haven't popped by your blog for just over two weeks and you have loads of new stuff - all of which is fab. This book is GORGEOUS of course but you know you are way to hard on yourself about your brayering card. I find brayering really really difficult too but you could still save your card by stamping more of the same images in between and overlapping but dropping their bottoms off the page so that they are not all at the same height. If you stamped two more of the larger image, one over the shorter flowers and one in the corner but at different levels and then overstamped a few more of the shorter image, I bet it would work! Well done for trying something new anyway. Don't give up! Warmest wishes, Lesley

craftimamma said...

I agree with the others Jules, you are way too hard on yourself. Brayering is once technique I am definitely not good at but I would like to master it one day. I never seem to find time to practice though and I think your card is not bad at all for a 2nd attempt.

As for the booklet - now that is something else entirely. It is absolutely beautiful and I can see why you wouldn't want to give it away.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Sally H said...

Your book is gorgeous! Now, you must stop doing yourself down with the brayering. Just a suggestion, if you really aren't happy with it, cut it down and make it into a couple of tags - you might need to add a few more stamps, but I think it would really work. I have got lines down my brayering so many times, so I look for the best bit and then use it as a tag!

Unknown said...

at least you tried the brayering though :( I went for a wonder around the store whilst I waited for an ink pad and ended up not having time to do one - my own fault i should have left the flippin shopping to the end still think i will have a go at this technique though but I have to say my favourite was the resist embossing with the distress inks your booklet is gorgeous i love the colours and the stamps you have used are perfect.

MagsB said...

It's so reassuring to learn that other people as well as me have trouble brayering!! Though yours is 110% better than any of my horrendous, streaky efforts!

The tag book is superb! Really beautiful!

Beryl said...

I'm not laughing! I think it's a lovely brayered background. The colours are so soft and warm - your moon looks very mystical and the barely visible mountains add another dimension.I certainly wouldn't waste it - I think I be inclined to add some more assorted flower or grass stamps at the bottom and do away with the ribbon.I wouldn't give up either cos if you've done this in your first ever brayering session I'm sure you could do great things in the the future.And then there's your book - how gorgeous. I love your colour choice and the beautiful frame you've made around the sentiment. Fabulous work.
Beryl xx

Tracy said...

Oh wow Jules your book is stunning and really is a work of art. And you know what love, I bet you did a far better job with the brayering than I would have done. Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy!
Looking forward to the other projects.
Happy crafting
Tracy x