Way way waaaay back in February, I read Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli who was then a guest on my International Women’s Day podcast. So I made her this “antique” thank you card.
Before we get into the card, I highly recommend you read her book about an Olympic gymnastic team and the #MeToo movement, which was inspired by real-world sports scandals a few years back.
About the “Antique” card
Once again I regret to say I made this card months ago so can only give you the broad brushstrokes now. I’m going to get on top of this and start writing cards up before I pack up after making them, I promise. Soon. Eventually.
I spent a whole week working on a handful of card fronts, one of which was this one. I’m not sure exactly what I did now but I can tell you what I learnt is necessary!
Before you do anything like this card, COAT YOUR PAPER. You can use gesso or matt medium I believe. This way it will stand up to all the many layers of goop and liquid you put on it. I used varnish, crackle medium and antiquing medium. I think I tried putting color underneath the crackle medium and on top. From the research I’ve done, it seems either some people recommend color first, some after the crackle medium. Perhaps some crackle mediums require different applications. I’m not sure. And I haven’t done this since. I really want to get back into it and try some more though because I think this has enormous potential.
Backgrounds are fun!
Also I keep making backgrounds. Finished cards, not so much. Backgrounds are fun! Jennifer McGuire agrees with me! (Disclaimer: I’ve never used a gel press, which is the linked video, but I love her videos.)
Actually finishing cards becomes stressful because I worry that “it’s not right”. It’s easier not to finish.
Antiquing
I also used antiquing medium. On the way through I think I learnt I was doing it wrong so my recommendation is READ THE PACKAGING. And find demo videos. The crafting community has a wealth of videos on YouTube. When I revisit this technique, that’s what I’ll be doing.
I deliberately tried to distress the edges of the card but the tool I bought for that purpose didn’t work. Or it was “user error”. Anyhoo, you can see that I tried and what the outcome was.
The roses and leaves are a Kaisercraft die that I glued on and painted with gesso and antiquing medium etc. Same with the “Thank you” die cut, but that’s probably from colored cardstock and not white.
I have some Tim Holtz distress crayons, which I think is what I used to color the roses and leaves.
I can’t see it in the photo but I tried a combination of glue and foil to get some gold edging and “worn” traces in places on all these cards, with mixed success.
My thoughts on the antique look
I had a red-hot go at this card. Although I like the look in principle, and think it has the potential to look fabulous, I couldn’t help but feel that this card looks a bit like a kid tried and failed in making something. Funnily enough, I think the antique look would have carried better if I’d cut the card front smaller and had a frame around it, even if that frame was just created by gluing a smaller card front to a larger plain card. However, by the time I reached that conclusion, I thought if I tried to cut the card front smaller I would haven ended up with a complete disaster.
My philosophy is to do the best I can at all times and to never (almost never) bin anything. So that’s what I did.
And if you get a grade for effort – well, most of my cards take at least a few hours to make. This one took many, many hours because I’d apply a layer, clean up, wait for it to dry, apply another layer, clean up, wait for it to dry, do the next step… you get the idea. This card was LABOR INTENSIVE!
Thanks
Thank you for visiting today. If you’re a card-maker or a fan of card-makers, please feel free to comment (be kind) and if you can recommend a tutorial, PLEASE link it. All comments are moderated so it might take a few hours or days but eventually all genuine comments are published.
And if you’re a book/TV/movie fan, then thanks for visiting this outside-the-box 2020-sucks-so-I’m-doing-something-different-to-cope post. And especially, thanks for reading right to the end!
You have a great week and be kind to yourself.