Handicrafts by Kate Perry and other ramblings

Thursday, October 9, 2014

If at first you don't succeed....

I have a lovely new frame die to show today. It took my fancy while browsing through a site so I ordered it. Since then I have seen it used on several challenge entries which surprised me as I didn't think it was particularly new, but looking back at the site, I see it is actually a new release, just last month. It is the Anja circle die by Marianne. 

I wanted to try it out straight away so I made a quick Christmas card, using an image from a Marianne decoupage page. I did it in a hurry and made some bad choices so I am not very pleased with the result.

The backing paper is too light so the pretty fame is rather lost against it. Also I used another die from the set to remove the centre, and the resulting aperture is too small for the size of the card and the image is also a 'bit lost'. But I won't waste it. It is usable, so I added some bling with holographic snowflakes, and did a re-think.

I then made a set of three smaller cards with a little step at the front of them. For the first one I covered some white paper with a double sided adhesive sheet. That was another mistake. Even after several passes through my Big shot, the film did not cut perfectly. Also some of the embossing is poorly defined. But I persevered and eventually got it more or less cut. Then I peeled off the protective layer, added a small image to the centre and poured Diamond dust over the frame. This is a glitter made from crushed glass, and it actually cut my hands a little when I was making sure it was all covered. It was a bit chunky and overlapped some of the cut out areas but I didn't think that mattered. I chose a fairly dark background from my snippets box to show off the frame, and added a strip of paper snowflakes and some silver peel-off flakes and a sentiment.
That left me with the die cut backing paper I had peeled from the adhesive sheet and I thought, "Why not use that as well?" So I painted it with diluted PVA glue and covered it with Glamour dust. I much prefer this to the previous one. I also cut the image with the next size up circle die, and I think that looks better too. I went for a strong contrast this time. There is a little brown in the image so I tried using a brown paper off-cut that I think was printed from a Crafter's Companion CD, and I used gold embellishments and sentiment.
For my final attempt I cut the frame using some silver starburst card. This looks rather 'gun-metal grey' in the photo but it is actually quite sparkly and pretty.
The backing paper is from one of those CD's that sometimes come with a craft magazine. This time I hand cut the image around the outside of the circle die, making it even bigger, and I think it works, and it doesn't cover enough of the frame to spoil it. A few tiny, silver peel-off snowflakes and a sentiment finished this one.
So I have made four more cards and learned a few lessons on the way. I can see me using this frame on birthday cards with just a spray of flowers across it, or something like that. I still think it is really pretty anyway.
As I used several snippets for my backgrounds, I will link this over at Pixie's Snippets Playground.

8 comments:

Jean said...

You have been a busy bee. Your die cut frame is certainly beautiful and you used some lovely images. A nice set of cards to add to your collection.
Jean x

Di said...

Oh that really is such a gorgeous frame Kate! And it looks so very different on each of the cards you made as well - beautiful images too. I actually love each one and found the different techniques you used very interesting - and will also watch myself with the Diamond Dust sparkles. Knew it was glass but never thought about the sharpness being a problem!

Hugs, Di xx

Shoshi said...

I think you've done really well with this, Kate. I know what it's like to be a perfectionist about one's work, but that first one I find very subtle and beautiful, and nothing to be ashamed of! It's good to experiment with different looks, and the result in this case is a series of perfectly useable cards which will be much appreciated by the recipients, I am sure.

Shoshi

Mrs A. said...

What super little images these are and they all look so different on the same frame. Looks like a god buy. Hugs Mrs A.

kiwimeskreations said...

What a work out you gave the die, and you have made some gorgeous cards Kate. I am sure the die will be used a lot, it is a stunner!
Blessings
Maxine

Sarn said...

Sometimes you just have to experiment with new goodies. Lovely die . . .and you have 4 lovely cards made using it in slightly different ways.

Hope your cut hands heal quickly!

Hugs, Sarn xxx

veronica said...

that's a lovely die Kate -not surprised you kept working with it! Really like the last two cards, think the diamond dust is a bit too chunky for the die, it looks much better in the plain silver!
hope the cuts aren't too bad - would be awful to bleed all over the card after all that work!

MaryH said...

Oh I did enjoy this post. I felt like I was right there in the studio with you, as these are the same kinds of things that happen to me! You overcame all the obstacles and have some beautiful cards. You can see where your mistakes are, but I sure don't see anything glaring. That is a beautiful die, and actually, I do like #1 quite a lot. It has a softness that is very pretty, even though it's not high contrast. Very nice with the delicacy of the die. #3 & #4 did show up lots better, but I think all 4 cards are perfectly fine. And if you don't tell anybody, your recipients won't know what went wrong!!! They'll just appreciate the beauty & time you took to create it! (now I'm drooling for this die). TFS & Hugs