Stretching Dies & Glossed Embellies

I've been having a bit of a play around today, making cards. A bit of using and reusing and it's been more challenging than I thought it would be.

My first card, for instance was borne from the idea that I wanted to cut out a basic shape and make it pop by adding a glossy coating to it.

I've seen Mark Gould use a Triple Gloss Glaze from Decoart on his ATCs, which has always impressed me. When I made the triangle embellie for this project, I didn't have any in my stash, so I used Ranger's Glossy Accents. However, this morning, my bottle of glaze has arrived, so I will be trying this idea out again and see how they compare.

The triangle embellie was easy to cobble together. I took some polka dot pattern paper, cut out a triangle with a Spellbinder's Die and stamped a flourish from Inkadinkadoo onto it, using black archival ink from Ranger. I painted on the glossy accents and left it to one side to air dry.

Today, I took the embellie and used it to create a card

And that could have been it, card-wise for the day but whilst I wandered down to the shops at midday, I was plugged in and listening to the latest podcast from Paperclipping Roundtable, Birded Out and the subject under discussion was how to make more use out of your crafty stash.

In the show, Jennifer McQuire said that before she bought anything, she had to think of at least three uses for it first. As it has a tendency to, my mind wandered to my own collection of stamps and dies and how it would have served me better to be a little more discriminating in my tastes.

One particular die came to mind, a Gilded Gate from Spellbinder's. I purchased it back when I was making projects in a shabby chic style. It's a die that looks like it works well as part of a created scene. Perhaps adorned with flowers around it's base. As I've only used it once, I wondered if I could use it in a cleaner, more graphic design. A card that, if I saw it in a shop, I'd be happy to buy.

Not easy. This eventual card came about more through trial and error than by design. The biggest problem comes from the fact that it's a gate! It's not really an image which can easily be used on its own.

I had an idea to cut it out from white card & stick onto black for an easy graphic look. But I wanted more colour, so I cut it out of blue instead. I had an idea of darkening the posts of the gate by sponging on some ink. I wasn't happy with the result so continued to ink the whole gate. I noticed the blue card from which I had cut the die piece from and placed it back inside. I tried it over a lighter blue card and it almost worked. However, I decided to cut the gate out again in a darker blue rather than use the inked up one.

I like the result...but...

Who wants to receive a card with just a gate on it? I haven't solved that issue yet. I need to sleep on it. I do have another idea brewing but I'll think on it a bit longer. I'm determined to make this die earn it's place in my stash.