You Had Me at Merlot

Here we are at Crafty Secrets August Linky Party and I have a wine folder hostess gift to share with you today, followed by a tutorial on using a stylus to give dimension.

Our theme this month is autumn/back to school. Very easy decision for me as both our kids graduated some years ago and we haven't got any grandchildren around us, excited about school. For those of you who live near vineyards, like me, the autumn means wine tours and special dinners offered at vineyards. Grape leaves turn the most amazing copper and gold shades during this season and the vineyard restaurant offerings usually feature the local produce paired with their vintage wines.

I have a friend who often hosts wine and cheese get togethers so I made this as a hostess gift to be given when we go for dinner in a couple of weeks (as well as a bottle of course!!!) It is not a standard size (a bit larger than 5x6.5) but this doesn't matter as it will be hand delivered. It wouldn't mail very well anyway as the two pockets are 1/4" each, equally a 1/2' depth.

Front Cover

This is front cover. Everything you see here is from Crafty Secrets "Wine Lovers". The only change I made to the scene is I painted the clouds with acrylic white paint instead of using the clouds as they were originally drawn. The slab of cheese has the cutest little mouse peering out of a cheese hole bottom centre but he didn't work with my theme so I covered him up with the grape cluster. I just know he's under there thinking "the indignity of it all" or maybe he's appreciating his privacy so he can carry on eating the rest of the cheese! Everything in this project is coloured with copics except the forementioned acrylic clouds.

Inside Pockets

 

This is the inside of the folder. Each pocket is 1/4" deep,  the left pocket holds the wine glass ID tags and the right pocket holds the invitations. Again everything you see here is part of the "Wine Lovers"

stamp set. The wine bottle on the front cover is the same one used for the bottle border, just sized down. 

Hooray for digital!

Tutorial

A few people have asked me what exactly I mean when I say "flip it over and take a stylus to the back"

There are no secrets here my friends, that is literally what I do but the difference comes by what stylus you use and the glue you use to adhere your 3D item to your project. I use Sizzix "Susan Tierney's" tools created for flower molding. You can see from this picture the stylus has a very large ball. Why this 

is necessary is that you can work the back to the point where you can take a flat circle and create a bowl without leaving any scratch lines like you would with a smaller stylus. With the bottle I wanted a

horizontal curve only so I only used the stylus in the middle going up and down. The wine glasses I wanted more of a bowl shape so I did the same as the bottle but in the bowl part I worked in circles until it took on the shape of a glass. Here is an attempt to show you how much curvature I put on the bottle and glasses.

When you use copics it's easy to use a stylus on the back.  The reason parts of an object are light is that they project into the light further and parts are darker because they recess. Because copics bleed through the paper you can see where the light shades are and take a stylus to them. For example the grapes, when you turn the coloured grapes over you can see a bunch of dark circle so you press in on the centres. If you don't use copics you can indent on the right side and then turn it over and push out the indentation the other way.

The next challenge (if you are mailing) is to make sure all this dimension you've just created doesn't flatten. There is only one glue I have ever been happy with. "YES" is a paste glue that keeps its shape with no shrinkage when it dries. It is also a very strong adhesive.

You are looking at the back side of the wine bottle with enough glue so it will hold it's shape. For this project I used this technique on the bottle and glasses on the front cover, the slab of cheese has indents, and the three large clusters of grapes. 

“Now it’s your turn!  Visit each of the design team blogs listed below.  Then create a NEW project of your choice featuring Crafty Secrets product and link it up to the blog (http://heartwarmingvintage.blogspot.com/) no later than 11:59PT, Sunday, August 17^th. You do not need to follow this month’s theme to play along.  If you do not have any Crafty Secrets goodies, check the FREE DOWNLOADS located in the sidebar of the Crafty Secrets blog.  Be sure to link to the Crafty Secrets Blog in your post, and let us know what Crafty Secrets product you are using in your project. One lucky player will be randomly selected to win a $50 shopping spree in our online store.  Each player who participates will receive a $6 credit to the online store.  We’ll be popping by to leave you some lovely comments on your blog post, too. Thanks for playing along, and good luck!”

Crafty Secrets Design Team

Kathy Clement, DT Leader  http://www.kathybydesign.com

Darlene Pavlick, Dar’s Crafty Creations    http://darscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Diane Hover, Nellie’s Nest   http://www.nelliesnest.blogspot.com

Elizabeth Lincoln, Paper Passtimes   http://paperpasstimes.blogspot.com/

Gloria Stengel, Scraps of Life   http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/

Melody Clement, Paper Melody’s   http://papermelodys.wordpress.com/

Michele Kovack, Thoughts of a Cardmaking Scrapbooker   http://chelemom.blogspot.com/

Shantaie Fowler, Inking Pink  http://www.inkingpink.com/

Sheila Rumney, Sheila Rumney Design and Photography,   http://www.sheilarumney.com/

Thanks so much for visiting me at Paper Pass Times

Cheers,

Elizabeth