IMITATION LEATHER

I am here today to -- once again -- reiterate that almost anything can be used as an art supply. My warning: THINK twice before throwing "garbage" away! It could just be the star of your next project!

Case in point: the card I'm sharing in this blog post. I didn't throw away this garbage packing material.

As all the packages began arriving at my house containing Christmas gifts I'd ordered, I, of course, examined everything that was inside each box, besides the gifts, that is. (Usually bags don't contain anything just too interesting.) I really felt like I had hit the jackpot when I spotted this strange thick waxy paper in one of the boxes!

The photo below shows my finished card sitting atop a piece of the waxy paper.

I just KNEW this was a truly valuable art supply and that I could create something quite monumental with it. Well, maybe monumental is a little stretch. But I knew it had possibilities. 

To start, I trimmed away a piece of it that measured about 5" x 6". I crushed it in my hands, then flattened it out to see how it looked. Hmmm. I did this 4-5 times, creasing it a little more each time. The piece below shows the results of all this torturous treatment.

I liked it. It looked sort of like leather.

I remembered that I had in my stash some of the cool wood-look Designer Series Paper, specifically the piece with the rings of a cut tree trunk. I thought they would work really well together.

So, I cut a piece of this to the size of a card, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". I had to do a little trimming so the rings were in exactly the right place for the edges. I selected one of the Stitched Rectangles dies (page 174, Annual Catalog) that measured 3" x 4 3/8" and placed it in the center of this piece to cut it into a frame.

I cut a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", piece, folded in half, from Soft Suede cardstock for a card base.

The "leather" piece was cut to about 4 x 5 1/4" and adhered to the Soft Suede card base. I fitted the wood frame over this. Since the wood DSP was cut to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", it fit perfectly on the card front.

I loved the texture and look of the imitation leather and wanted to preserve it as much as possible. I selected a simple die cut "happy birthday' in Early Espresso cardstock to finish the look

After that, I was quite happy with my card -- which was destined as a birthday card for my husband. It only needed one more thing. The "i" needed to be dotted. 

I took a small Basic Pearl and colored it with a Dark Soft Suede Stampin' Blend and adhered it above the "i". There! Now I had all my bases covered.

Have you come up with any masculine-looking cards lately? Especially using weird art supplies? Would you have thrown away this valuable paper?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The heart of man is very much like the sea; 

it has its storms, it has its tides, 

and in its depths, it has its pearls too.

- Craig Ferguson -

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Imitation

Smiles.