59 days to go did you say!! Craft Countdown....

Into the 50's we launch.  I must admit, I'm dreading having to do my posts over Christmas!  That will definitely be interesting - lets see what I come up with (how many crafty cheats do you think I'll be able to get in).  Haha, decorating Charlie with tinsel.....that's crafting right?

Anyway, this evening I'm back to the inky fingers.  I started with a really old embellishment from the QVC days.  I have so many kits from the QVC days.  We did have some good stuff.  And they had the BEST staff shop.  It was seriously amazing.  I used to get some fantastic craft bargains.  C&C didn't do that I'm afraid.  Ahhh, QVC.  Their restaurant was amazing as well..... anyway, craft.

The beginning...metal embellishments that were adhesive (they're old, and the stick has gone).  And also a beautiful Graphic 45 pad.  I treasure these pads, this one is called Kraft Reflections.  When I had my web site it was the perfect excuse to buy the pads, one for me, one for the web site!!

I also brought some flowers into the mix, and a MDF tag and hearts

First of all, I started playing with layout idea's, to see if I needed anything else:

I find taking photo's of the layouts helps me to decide what to finally go for.  If I don't photograph them, but the time I'm on the third, there's no way I can remember what the first looked like.  This way I can see all the idea's.  The beauty of technology :)  I inked the craft card with black distress ink, this doesn't have to be neat as I am covering it up:

I then added gesso to the MDF tag.  I sponged it on, and left it uneven and textured - as this will show through when I apply the ink:

Something I am addicted to is Pebeo gilding wax.  It's so creamy, and gives a fantastic finish.  You need a tiny amount - as it's easy to get carried away and ruin your piece.  I brushed it lightly over the top of my tag with my finger.  I didn't apply any pressure, just literally skimmed over the gesso.  

Look at the sheen.  Lush.  I then got carried away.  The piece of paper I had cut down and inked with broken china distress ink, I scrunched up, ran the ink pad over the top, and then HAD to add gilding wax.  I attempted to keep it subtle!

Next, play with the arrangement again - and I added a tiny bit of gesso to the edge of my sentiment card, so it would stand out from the background paper

I painted the heart with gesso, and repeated the ink technique, with the blue covering the heart, and black just around the edges.  I managed to stay away from the gilding wax with the hearts.  The flowers weren't as lucky.  They got gilded.

I'm happy, so I threaded ribbon through my tag, and glued everything down:

Phew, another one done.  Owww, tomorrow could be tricky...I'll tell you why - tomorrow :)