Wednesday, September 1, 2010

First Camaro

Happy Hump Day Peoples!!  I swear I am in some crazy vortex that I just can't escape!! I thought that once the first full week of school was behind us, things would quiet down.  NOPE.  Life is still spinning out of control!! LOL!!

It would seem that in a previous time frame of life, I thought it would be just fine to have BOTH my children on holiday weekends.  Wellllll.  For the most part, it doesn't matter.  Except when one child's birthday happens to come two weeks after school starts.  You know~~~when life is still spinning out of control!!  My youngest is having his birthday this Labor Day weekend (and yes....I've heard all the snarky jokes about that one!!).  Seeing as I also have to make his great grandfather a birthday card before Friday, I sat down and got the kiddo's done today. 

It would seem that this child developed a love for OLD Camaros when the Transformer movies came out.  He is in his glory when he spots some beat up Camaro on the side of the road with a For Sale sign on it (never mind that he won't be old enough to drive for SEVERAL more years!).  He has a Camaro calendar above his desk. You get the idea.  The kid LIKES Camaros. 

When CHF (Cornish Heritage Farms) gave notice that they were closing down their doors, I happened upon a couple of Camaro stamps from their GM line.  They managed to jump into my cart pretty darn quick!!  This is what I came up with today:


Let me tell you~this card was a BUGGER to photograph with all that metal!!  Several weeks ago, I got the wild idea to try something a bit challenging with metal embossing.  I stamped the background stamp License Plates from CHF onto a piece of aluminum metal from TenSecondsStudios.  I then embossed and debossed the various license plates.  I rubbed some black acrylic paint over the finished product to give more depth to the recessed area and wiped off the excess. Now, while I really like how it turned out, I had NO idea as to what I was going to do with it.  Shoved it into the metal drawer and walked away.

Enter the Camaro from CHF.  I stamped this particular image with Archival Jet black ink onto a scrap piece of Gina K's Pure Luxury card stock.  Colored with my copics (is there any other color medium out there?!! LOL!!) and wrote the "vanity" plates with a 08 Micron pen. Got lucky and had a light bulb moment and remembered the previously embossed license plates.  PERFECT.  Now, how to use them together.  Initially, I wanted as much as the background to show as possible.  I think it had something to do with the HOURS spent on it!!  So I cut out the image and thought about having it rest on top of the metal.  But the angle of the image just called for bursting out of the "frame".  After a severe panic attack that I would ruin my many hours of metal work, the Toad suggested that I make a paper template first and see what angles would be needed and if I even wanted to go that route (I'm tellin' ya....that is yet another reason I married the man!!  He is my sounding board when I create stuff and (sigh) isn't afraid to give me honest criticism).  I made my template and used it to cut out my "X" on the back side of the metal.  I then adhered the metal using some Humungo sticky tape just along the edges to a scrap piece of textured black card stock.  I then carefully rolled back the metal and place the front portion of the image on some pretty thick dimensionals and then layered down the height as I got closer to the back of the car.  Tip:  I did color the sides of the dimensionals with my black copic so that they would not be so obvious from the edges.  Here is a side view of the picture trying to show just how much dimension this image has popping out of the metal frame:

 I used more Humungo sticky tape to adhere the image onto a piece of 6"x 5" textured red cardstock that is my base. 

Decided that the metal was embellishment enough and called 'er done!!  I must say I'm pretty dang pleased at how this came out!

Whew!! One item checked off the list!  Now to see if I can crank out some more house cleaning before the family gets home!!  Thanks so much for dropping by again today!!  And remember~~take a deep breath and take your creativity outside the box today! You might be pleasantly surprised!! 

8 comments:

Glenda said...

Starla, I just love how your mind works! This is a wonderful idea! Your metal work is to die for. I tried a little of this, but as it turns out, it is not for me. Every piece I have seen of yours, I just love. Well done!

Sylvia said...

Wonderful work! Great birthday card and I am sure he will like it! I am glad you are having so much fun amidst all the caos. I have decided that everyone is in this mode, maybe someone is trying to hurry up and end the year, it is such a busy time!

slbt17 said...

how clever!
Sandra

Anonymous said...

That DH of yours is sure creative. You are lucky to have him around

Joan B said...

Wow wow wow. This card is amazing

Carolyn King said...

totally fabulous. love the embossed licence plate bg! genius!

Daisy said...

The metal sheet really adds that dimension and wow to your awesome card!

Anonymous said...

Oh my Starla! This has to be one of your best creations! You have so much genuine artistic talent and creativity. This is such a fantastic card and I'm sure will be treasured. I'm really pleased you showed us a side view, as it gives a great idea of the depth and dimension.