Making Rust

Recently I went looking through my stash of completed cards to see if I had an appropriate one to send to my brother for his birthday and I found one - I mean only one in a box of maybe 100 cards.  I decided then and there I better make a few more cards for men so I wasn't scrambling at the last minute when the need for one arose.

The timing was rather perfect because then I could play in the current challenge at The Artist Trading Post Exchange challenge blog where they want mixed media projects based on a photo that looks like rusted metal.  The challenge is called Any Old Iron and I think my card fits the bill.

I decided to try my hand at turning white card stock into something that looked rusty and after searching on the internet for techniques I settled on one from Gingersnap Creations but gave it a few of my own twists.

As I said I started with a large sheet of white card stock.  Then I covered it with Mod Podge, making sure it was quite thick.  Next I randomly sprinkled sand on it, which I snagged from some my husband had in the garage for use on the driveway when it gets really icy.  I originally put a thin coat of Mod Podge on with a credit card but the sand didn't stick so if you try this, make sure to glop it on and then the sand will settle into the glue.  I then set it aside to dry overnight.

Once it was fully dry, I took a stenciling brush and randomly smooshed on four colours of Folk Art craft paint - Pure Black, Coffee Bean, Charcoal Grey and Terra Cotta.  I dipped my brush in combinations of the first three colours for the most part and only added the Terra Cotta for small sections.

Once the paint was dry I mixed Meadow, Aqua and Copper Mixative Adirondack Alcohol Inks and dabbed that on in random spots.  Then I rubbed here and there with some Oxynite Treasure Gold.  Finally I added a slightly thinned out coat of Mod Podge to make sure the sand stayed put.  The end result was a fairly stiff but still a bit flexible rusty looking sheet.

Next I made a metal foil panel.  Again I started with a piece of white card stock and added some bits of drywall tape, some ric rac and a few washers.  Then I cut small pieces of foil tape used in the heating and air conditioning industry and added them in both directions to cover the card stock and the bits and pieces.  I used an embossing tool to go around everything and then some Walnut Hollow metal working tools to create texture and pattern.

The next step was to give the whole thing a coat of the Coffee Bean paint and wipe away some of it, leaving some paint in the recesses of the piece.  Next I added a blended combination of Rust, Ginger and Caramel Adirondack Alcohol Ink to the whole piece and then followed that up with the Meadow, Aqua and Copper Mixative combination in a few spots.

An image from the Tim Holtz Time Traveler stamp set and a sentiment from the Tim Holtz Simple Sayings stamp set were stamped onto some scrap card stock with Ranger's Jet Black Archival ink.  The sentiment was cut apart and then I sponged the edges of all the stamped pieces with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger.

All that was left was to glue everything down on a card blank made from some Bazzill card stock.  Finally I added some rusty pieces of hardware - two screw heads and another thing that I have no idea what it is but it looked cool when I dug it out of the jar.

I have started making my Christmas list for Santa and putting copies everywhere.  Besides lots of crafting supplies, I want a good photo setup - the weather has been up and down here and so has the quality of my photos.  I sure hope Santa realizes that I have been a really good girl this past year :)

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Any Old Iron
The Paper Girls - Mixed Media
Cupcake Inspirations - Photo/Color Inspiration
Suzy Bee's Challenge - Anything Goes with a twist to make it male
Stamplorations - Stamps and Layers
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge  - Stamps