Fleather Birthday Card

 

**This is the FINAL post in the Magnificent Men Promotion & Giveaway. Remember to leave a comment, by midnight tonight, on this & every blog post since May 5 to be in with a chance of winning.**
 

Hello, Kirsten here, I hope you're all having a great weekend. And no, that is not a typo above. Today I’d like to show you a tag card I made using the faux leather technique. This is currently my favourite technique. It’s easy, if a bit messy & the results are lovely. It’s also impossible to photograph, so you’ll just have to take my word for it & try it for yourself.

 

You will need:

 

Kraft card

Water

Glycerine – available in chemists & the baking section in supermarkets

A small spray bottle

Your hands

 

Instructions:

 

Add one part glycerine & four parts water in the spray bottle, shake well to mix.

Spray one side of the kraft card liberally & rub well.

Turn over & repeat on the other side – you’ll get tiny bits of card coming off, don’t worry.

Turn the card over again & spray again, massaging the liquid in as best you can. I usually do this about three times on each side.

When the card is very wet scrunch it up & wring it as best you can, you’ll be able to hear the liquid as you do so & there might be drips, this is good.

Unfold it, but don’t flatten it, & leave it to dry overnight – you can dry it with a heat tool, but it takes ages & I don’t think the results are as good.

 

The next day your card will be very soft, flexible & virtually impossible to tear.

Now it’s time to add colour & texture. I crumpled the tags again & then applied Barn Door & Spiced Marmalade distress inks, not being at all careful how, you just need to get colour on. I also flicked drops of water on top. Leave them for a few seconds then dry with a heat tool, you'll get a nice splattery effect.

 

Next, I put them through the Embossalicious Lattice folder & blended Tea Dye & Walnut Stain distress inks over the raised areas.

 

 

I mixed black acrylic paint with water & added splatters with a paintbrush.

 

The reverse of leather always has a rougher texture so I just added some Walnut Stain to the reverse of the tags.

 

I needed a spine to hold the tags in place, so I cut a piece of kraft card, 4 cm x 12.5 cm & scored vertically at 2cm. I added a length of Crafts Too tissue tape - it's already sticky, but I added some Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear glue to give it extra hold.

 

 

 

More distress inks; Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Black Soot. I flicked water on top & dried after a few seconds & distressed the edges. I added faux stitching with a black fine liner pen.

 

 

 

 

Turn the spine over & place the tags on either side of the score line, making sure the inside of the tags is facing you. You'll need to use a strong wet glue for this, double-sided tape won't stick to the faux leather.

 

 

 

 

Almost finished.

 

 

 

 

I kept the inside very simple, just matting & layering with scraps of Kaisercraft & Woodware

Vintage Perfect Prints papers, hand sewing on a button & stamping the birthday greeting with black Versacolor.

 

 

To finish the outside I punched two holes & added eyelets, threaded through a piece of vintage style ribbon & added a circular Crafts Too slider buckle. I swiped on tiny amounts of

Antique Bronze Sparkle Medium & tied some seam binding through the top of the tags.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank for looking. If this has inspired you to try the faux leather technique for yourself, let us know, we'd love to see what you make. And if you would like some more inspiration, take a look at the
faux leather wallet I made on my blog.


                                   

I will be back sometime tomorrow with the giveaway winner.

 

Kirsten