Faux Leather at Card-io's Open Dem Day

Yesterday I did a special open dem day for Wendy and Martin at their shop Card-io in Pemberton, Wigan and had a really fabulous day there. So many people stopped by, including a few familiar faces and friends and they were all so friendly and interested in everything I showed them throughout the day. Thanks to Monica, a lovely new recruit to crafting, for coming all the way from Preston on public transport.  

Wendy and I were somewhat adventurous and decided to cover a few techniques, changing through the day to keep the visitors interested. Luckily it worked very well, apart from my table becoming congested pretty quickly with so many samples and examples laid out to be handled and examined. Nobody seemed to mind as it gave them lots to see and a good mix of ideas too. It was a little like my work desk at home!

Thanks so much for the warm welcome from Wendy and Martin and to Martin for all the coffees, teas and chocky bars throughout the day. Their lovely young daughter was such a help too and she is such a credit to them.

First I demmed my "faux leather" technique and  used it on the die cut dress form for this tag bag.

This was the only photograph I took as, once people arrived, it was far too busy to even think of it!

Here's a quick rundown on how to create this great effect......

(Note; there is a full tutorial for this technique in a previous blog, just... click here )

Crumple tissue paper and stick it down on to strong card or mountboard (I use cereal and soap powder boxes) When it is completely dry, colour it with Distress Stains or Distress Inks, dry again then die cut shapes. You can of course die cut before colouring to save inks but it is easier to colour a piece of card than a fiddly shape. Be sure to use a permanent ink pad if you want to decorate the tissue with images, swirls, flowers etc.

 You can see the card with crumpled tissue before and after colouring and the shapes cut out ready.

Next swipe a Versamark pad over the surface just catching the creases of the tissue.

Sprinkle sparingly with embossing powder, gold, silver, clear to your preference. Heat to emboss and the results achieved can be seen below. It is certainly wiser to emboss after cutting the shapes to save expensive powder.

A close up to show the different results gained by using more or less powder, gold or silver, bigger crumples or finer creases. Just play around, have fun and you will get some beautiful results.

With the die cut bodyforms I made a few new items. The blue legless body has felt adhered to the back to which I added just a couple of drops of essential oils (1 of lavender and 1 of geranium) to make a little hanger to ward off moths in the wardrobe.

It could also hang in the car and could be made with the die cut vintage car shape. Don't go heavy on the oils as they could be too strong and they can easily be refreshed when necessary.

 The black lace one (on the right) has felt inside making a handy needle case. Both ideas would make great little gifts or fundraising sales items.

This one below is a double full dress form with a concertina book inside to join the two together as a special greeting card.

 The skirt is made by sticking the centre point of small squares of fabric on to a strip of redline tape. 

 To die cut the concertina for the inside, fold card slightly narrower than the sides of the die so there will still be uncut areas to form a hinge on each page.... as below.

 Here's another scented one with a beaded fringe to dangle nicely along the bottom.

 This dress form decorates the front of my tag bag and, as promised to quite a few people's requests, I'll be posting a tutorial for the tag bag as soon as I get time but hopefully over the next week.

The two die cut cotton reel shapes also have a tiny concertina inside to make a mini book and a space can be left on which to write a message or greeting.  

 Over the next few days I hope to show some of the other techniques, (including air blasted Alcohol Ink fun) from yesterday so, for now, I hope you've got some ideas from this post and thanks for visiting. Stay tuned....