Friday, August 28, 2009

Give 'em an Inch.....

What with holidays, house-moving, poorly people and poorly computers and goodness knows what else we're a rather depleted DT over on the Daring Cardmakers this week - but that hasn't stopped Our Sue from issuing another of her Very Scary Dares!
This week it’s my turn (Sue) to dare you and I was having a bit of trouble finding a challenge that would stretch the imagination and get those creative juices flowing.
The idea for Inchies came to me when I was chatting to a friend about people taking liberties and she uttered the old saying, “give them an inch and they take a mile”……..Ahh. Inchies I thought!!
"Inchies" are 1 inch (or 2.5cm) squares of card, inked, painted, papered and decorated in any way you like, they are often made to a theme then swapped with others in a group rather like ATCs are.
So my dare this week is to make inchies and put just five of them on your card.
There’s no set theme, colour or shape, I’m just intrigued to see how many different ways you can arrange the five tiny squares.
I've only ever made one set of inchies - that was a while ago for a swap on one of my favourite forums. I enjoyed making them and they do make lovely embellishments for cards. They can be as simple or as intricate as you want - there are some amazing teeny tiny pieces of artwork out there, if you google on "inchies" you're sure to find some fabulous examples.

I went down the "simple" route!
I decided I wasn't keen on the birthday card I'd already made for Emily (the flip-flop/swing card from a couple of weeks back) so I made this one instead.

The inchies may have been simple byt the spring (pardon the pun) flowers were not - they took ages to put together. This was not helped by my going a bit bonkers and deciding that they should still look good from the other side! Sometimes I do wonder about my sanity.....

Anyway, Primas and other blooms are layered up with Cuttlebug ones and the occasional punched flower too. Glittery buttons, blobs of Glitter Glue and little gems are used for the centres of the flowers and they are attached to the card with tiny springs made by winding coloured wire tightly around a cocktail stick.

I made the inchies from card, covered them with different MME "Pretty Please" papers, inked the edges then drew a line on the card so that I could align them properly (I couldn't really get away with my usual slapdash for this design lol). I used little Primas on the inchies, then applied Glossy Accents and Stickles to get some more interesting effects.
Here is what the back of the card looks like

The letters are stickers that come in the "Pretty Please" collection pack, stuck on to more Cuttlebug flowers
I can't say I'm particularity pleased with my inchies for this challenge but time ran out before I could have another bash! If you want to seem some really fabulous ones, head over to the DCM BLOG and see what the others have been doing - they are just wonderful!

That's it for today, it's a Bank Holiday this weekend, we've nothing planned but fingers crossed the weather in nice and we can get out in the garden.

Back soon probably with the cards I've made to say "well done" to my nephew and niece, who got their GCSE results yesterday and did really well.
(Proud Auntie Moment!)

thanks for visiting, have a great weekend,

15 comments:

Annie said...

That is just sooooo pretty Kathy. You must be a very creative person to be able to meet every challenge as you do with such lovely results. Well done you. A x

tracy said...

love the back side too :)

Gez Butterworth said...

Fabulous card Kathy. Love the sparkle on the inchies.xx

annes paperfun said...

Gorgeous card Kathy!
Love your flowers :o)
Have a nice weekend
hugs Anne

Anonymous said...

a wonderful design....love everything about this card!

queen-of-nostalgia said...

very cool! I may have to give this one a whirl....

Anice said...

As always I am in awe of the wonderful creative ideas that you have for your cards. I haven't had a chance to join in with a DCM challenge for ages. I will do my best this week to find some time..but at least I get to enjoy what all the DT create.
Anice xx

SueH said...

I’m sorry if this was a very scary dare Kathy………NOT! Lol!!

I love your ‘Spring’ Flowers and the ingenious way you’ve used them on your card. Emily is going to be so thrilled when she opens that……not that there was anything wrong with the first card you made for her.

Kaz said...

Bonkers but worth it Kathy as it does look fab from the back as well.

Love it.

CLARE said...

Brilliant - how lovely to have a card that looks just as good from the back as from the front

Desire Fourie said...

Kathy what a wonderful cheerful creation and a love the diagonal inchies.
Hugs
Desire

Myriame said...

Very beautiful, and a great idea

Crafting Queen said...

Fun card, great colours! Anesha

Kim Dellow said...

Oh so cool Kathy! Love the springs. Kim

zcdl said...

amazing card :)