Friday, September 25, 2009

Tartan!

I think there was a collective gulp when we heard what Jo's challenge for us over on the Daring Cardmakers was going to be.

It's Jo here this week to set the dare, the design team may have groaned a little when I picked the theme, but I don't think that it is too bad :)

I would like you to use some sort of tartan on your cards, fabric, ribbon, paper, even a piece of an old tartan rug(!)etc.

Oh dear! Tartan is not my favourite pattern, it ranks along with that awful diamond Argyle pattern that just shouts socks and bad gold sweaters! Actually, now ponder on it, maybe tartan isn't quite as bad as Argyle because some tartan patterns and colours are more gentle on the eye than others.

Anyway, the only tartan stuff in the house that I could think of was a picnic rug given as a Christmas present by MIL some years ago, and with a bit of luck some tartan ribbon - I used to buy ribbon bundles from the market when I did more sewing projects and seemed to remember seeing some tartan stuff lurking unloved in the bottom of the messy ribbon drawer (I have a tidy ribbon drawer too!)
In the end, even though I was forced to tidy up that drawer full of fibres and bits of ribbons that get shoved in there all I came up with was a metre or two of the stuff I ended up using and a ready made bow which probably came from a jar of marmalade. I don't actually like marmalade so I guess it came in a gift box some time.

Despite those naughty fellow Teamies of mine shouting "cut the rug" I managed to restrain myself and instead made a double rosette type "flower" with my ribbon. I added a button to the centre and gave it a coat of Stickles.
I ran the card blank through the Cuttlebug using the "Flower Squares" folder and added another length of the ribbon down the side, along with an extra knotted piece.

I quite like the white flowers with the tartan centres - I wish I'd thought of that before I'd made the rest of the card, I'd probably ahve made something different if I had.

I glued a piece of ribbon onto thin card and when it was completely dry used the smallest of the Cuttlebug Scallop Flowers dies - they cut pretty well, I'd tried first with a Spellbinders die but that didn't work at all well.

You can check out (pardon the pun) all the ways the DT have used tartan on their cards by clicking HERE, and we hope you'll feel inspired to rise to the challenge and use some tartan on your own cards this week. There are a couple of places you can download tartan papers for free on the web btw.

A couple of people asked about the "homemade" rub-ons I mentioned earlier this week.
I saw this dry Rub Off Decals paper on the Crafty Computer Paper website when I was buying some of their pc printable Shrink Plastic/paper and thought I'd give it a try for making my own sentiments etc.
I made a Paint Shop Pro sheet of the right size and filled it up with loads of greetings. When you've done that you need to reverse it all - use the "mirror" command to do that, don't forget to save it for future use too.
You get two types of "paper" in the pack, one is a transparent sheet the other is in two parts - a sticky one with a backing sheet on it, so it's easy to tell which to print on.
You need to print it out on the rougher side of the transparent sheet - it's actually quite tricky to work out which is the right side - I found that feeling it with my nail made it more obvious than running a finger over it.
Anyway, print it out and leave it to dry for at least an hour.
The next bit is easier with two people - you need to apply the sticky side of the 2-part paper to the inky side of the print out so an extra pair of hands to help keep things still and lined up is good.
It's a bit like covering something with sticky backed plastic, and in the same way you need to get rid of any tiny bubbles by smoothing carefully. Once the bubbles have gone leave the two bits to "cook" for a few hours - I left mine overnight. After that they are ready to use. I left quite a lot of space around my words on the first one I made, but, as you need to cut them out quite close to the lettering (or pictures, patterns, whatever) you can actually fit loads and loads onto one A4 sheet.
This is the birthday greetings one I made yesterday
Imagine what that lot would cost to buy from a scrapbook place! To use them you just cut out close to the edge of the greeting or picture, peel off the backing and place on your project. You use a lolly stick or whatever in the same way you do on bought rub ons/transfers. I used my Christmas transfers on the cards I made for yesterday's Bubbly Scrumptious.





















I think they've worked out pretty well. I'm going to be adventurous next time and try some coloured ones and maybe some dingbats and what-have-you!


I was going to share the card I've made for hubby's aunt and uncles Ruby Wedding Anniversary, but I've waffled on so long I think I'd better stop right now!

Thanks for popping by, I hope you'll visit again soon

18 comments:

Lisa said...

Oh Kathy, so much lovely info in one post!
The tartan card is beautiful. I love it all.
As for the rub ons..... I love the idea. Sounds very complicated but I might give it a go as I love rub ons and can't always find what I want to say
Thank you
Lisa xx

Kaz said...

I love this card Kathy, and I'm so happy you did a tute on the rub ons. I will definately give that a go as I love the ease of rub-on greetings. Thanks hun xxx

tracy said...

loving the tartan kathy :)
and thanks for the info on the rub-ons :)

Unknown said...

Ooh... check you, LOL! Fab card Kathy.

Great heads up on the Decal paper too, thanks I may have to buy some of that to try myself.

xx

Hazel said...

You've done an excellent job with the tartan, Kathy. Thanks for sharing the info on the rub ons - I bought something similar ages ago and only used it once because I got poor results - it wasn't exactly the same as yours - but I'm not sure that I used it properly. I think I'll get some of this and have a go x

Karen said...

ooo thanks Kathy!!! I was only looking at my Decal paper yesterday but gave up trying to work it out!!!!

I love the way you have used your tartan...its looks really fresh with the white! I have loads of the darned stuff as, like you, I used to get bargain bags XXX

Lythan said...

faberoonie cards Kathy. But who first talked about cutting the rug. Eh? Eh? You did very well without it though. Those flowers are gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Love the use of tartan on your card...beautifully done!

Vicky said...

Fab tartan card, and thanks for the info on the rub ons :)x

Lynda said...

Fantastic card Kathy - Love that ribbon flower and thanks so much for the rub-on info too.

Love Lynda xxx

Angelnorth said...

Well done on persevering with the tartan! Not sure I have anything other than plaid (which is not quite the same thing, is it?). The rub ons look fab, too! (but I can imagine how long I would take to choose fonts for that many sentiments!)

Anonymous said...

Love the rosette you've made (still think you should've cut the rug though!! LOL)

And the rub-ons are great - gorgeous stuff. :)

Vanessa.

Traceyr said...

Kathy thanks for the tutorial on the rub-ons and well done for making them. Love all your projects. :)

Sue said...

I love your tartan card, especially those white flowers with tartan centres - so fresh looking.
Will have to try making some rub-ons you make it sound so easy to do.
Sue x

Rika said...

Fabulous tartan card Kathy!

Jo said...

This is a fabulous card Kathy - sorry for causing a little bit of panic with this week's dare :)

It all came out brilliantly in the end, and the rug stayed intact!!

Fantastic rub ons, I'll have to give these a go :)

jo x

Gez Butterworth said...

Brilliant Kathy. Looks clean & classy. Great tartan.xx

RedLan said...

So beautiful and the colors look so sweet. You are perfect in making flowers in different shapes and style.