Today’s project was a happy accident. I wanted to get that out in the open from the start. I’ve been having a bit of a sort out and found some scraps of card that had got creased somehow. I used to throw those pieces away, but not any longer. I have a simple 30 second solution for saving those pieces. So I decided to take life by the reins and create a 30 second solution video for you.

Ok, so I took a little bit of poetic licence and exaggerated the creases in the Call Me Clover piece. But I wanted to show how this tip can save even the most badly creased pieces.

After I’d finished filming I set the pieces aside and that’s when I had my project idea. You see the deep embossing on the two pieces meant that when I stacked them they sort of locked together. I realised I could use this to create a really interesting layered effect for a background.

BY THE REINS

I’d been wanting to decorate a notepad with elements from the Let It Ride Stamp Set and this was my chance.

First I stamped the Take Life By The Reins sentiment onto some Very Vanilla Card using Rich Razzleberry ink. Then I punched it out using a 1-1/2″ Circle Punch. Next I punched some Copper Foil Sheet with a 1-3/4″ Circle Punch. The two pieces were then layered together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

Now it was time for the horse head image.

I placed the stamp onto my Stamparatus, inked it up with Soft Suede ink and stamped it onto Very Vanilla Card. Leaving the stamp in place, I then began to colour in the image using a barely-damp Aqua Painter.

I closed the lid of the Soft Suede ink pad and pressed onto the lid to transfer some of the ink from the pad to the inside of the lid. Then when I opened it up again I was able to pick up the ink and colour the horse. The water from the Aqua Painter did blur the lines in parts of the stamped image but that wasn’t a problem. I simply set it aside to dry while I prepared the rest of the project.

COVERING THE NOTEPAD

I took a simple 4″ x 5-1/2″ notepad and placed a 4″ x 8-1/2″ piece of Rich Razzleberry Card on top. Next I folded the card over the top of the pad and round the back, marking the fold lines with my fingers. Then I placed the card onto my Stampin’ Trimmer so that I could score along the fold lines. With that done I folded the card along the scored lines and sharpened the creases with a Bone Folder.

I found a mechanical pencil that coordinated nicely with the card but needed a way to fix it to the notepad. So I placed the pencil in the centre of a 1″ x 4″ piece of Rich Razzleberry Card, then glued rest of the of the card together with liquid glue.

Next, using more liquid glue I fixed the pencil holder to the back of the notepad. Then I attached the cover to the notepad at the back with liquid glue. This also covered the other side of the pencil holder making sure it would stay firmly in place.

The two pieces of card I’d embossed in my video came next.

I used my Stampin Trimmer to tidy up the edges of the Call Me Clover piece. Then I used liquid glue to attach the Call Me Clover piece onto the Soft Suede piece lining up the embossing. Now I could see exactly where to trim the Soft Suede Card to create an even border. With that done I fixed the layers to the cover of my notepad.

HORSE DETAILS

Once the painted horse image was properly dry I went back to my Stamparatus and the stamp that was left on the plate. I placed the card back on the platform in exactly the same spot as before and reinked the stamp with Soft Suede ink. Then I stamped onto the painted image. This then put back all the lines of the image that had been blurred by my painting.

With the stamping complete, I used Paper Snips to cut out the horse image and then fixed it to the notepad with liquid glue. Then once I’d used liquid glue to add the layered sentiment I was finished.

I’m really happy with how this project turned out. I’m not sure the colours are ones I’d have deliberately chosen in advance. But actually I quite like the combination. I suppose that’s what happens when you take life by the reins.

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