When 2 crafts collide

My silversmithing class returned after the Christmas break and I realised I have not show you what I made during the autumn term. The brief set by our tutor was to make something with a hinge. I have made hinged boxes in the past so she suggested that I made a hinged "card" pendant, as she knows my papercraft addiction.

That set me off with lots of ideas. I had a copper metal clay heart which I made some time ago and thought I could use it as a "focal" just as I do on my cards. I wanted to have some writing on my "card".The only way I could do this without engraving, which we don't have the tools for, was to use alphabet punches. I designed the front of the card to show "love" and the inside would reveal the rest of the words.....

 I cut 2 matching pieces of silver sheet and filed the edges. I wrote the words on paper and stuck them to the silver sheet. Using the punches and a hammer I struck the words...it took a lot of patience to get the letters spaced and in a line.

 I also soldered the heart to the front of my "card"

 The hinge was made with thin silver tubing,  measured into thirds and partially sawn through. The middle third blanked out with rouge so that it did not solder and remained "free".

 Once in place I carefully sawed out that middle section

and this piece was them soldered to the front. This was a complex procedure.
It all got so fiddly and there are no more photo but a piece of silver wire was threaded through and then riveted off to make the hinge. Then I had lots of filing and adjustments to made the "card" close.
I added a loop and a jump ring to make it into a pendant. Then there was a week or 2 or filing and polishing.

So do you want to how it turned out.......here we go....if you  think photographing cards is tricky sterling silver is just ridiculous!

Hinge side view

The front

Opening the hinge to reveal the inside words 

Another front view

and to give an idea of scale here is my card pendant on an 18" chain.

It's much prettier and shiny in the flesh and I really love wearing it...it combines my silversmithing with my card making, infact I am wearing it as I type this.

So having combined silversmithing with card making my busy creative brain thought...why not combine card making with silversmithing! I seriously had been playing with foil techniques before Tim brought out his January tag challenge. I made a faux riveted card using snippets of foil and lots of tools including staples.

I added some black acrylic paint and then gave it a good rub with sandpaper to give a real grungy rusted feel.

 I added a lovely red embossed heart

 and a Dymo sentiment for a retro look. I put this card in my Etsy shop and it sold in 2 days! I plan to made another version soon.

*******EDIT: 12.1.16....A new version is available via the link here***********

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

WOW embossing challenge anything goes my heart is heat embossed with red embossing powder,
Anything but cute Ring out the old...bring in the new this is a new style male card for me and my first outing of Wendy Vecchi's gorgeous red geranium embossing powder
Crafty calendar something new   this is a new style male card for me and my first outing of Wendy Vecchi's gorgeous embossing powder
Rubber Dance Black white and one other colour....mine is black white and red.
Simon says stamp Wednesday something new this is a new style male card for me and my first outing of Wendy Vecchi's gorgeous embossing powder.
Love to create anything creative/mixed media #27
Crafty friends something new this is a new concept piece for me combining silversmithing with card making.
Simon says stamp Monday something new this the first time I have combined card making with my silversmithing
Art with heart  Favourite things Combining my crafts is one of them!

I love how all my crafts....silversmithing, card making, art journaling, mixed media Moments, knitting, crochet and cake decorating all share some similar elements. It keeps me endlessly occupied and with so many ideas that if I live until I was 100 I would never exhaust them. I actually keep a notebook of light bulb moments so that I don't forget them.

Thanks for visiting me today. Have a lovely weekend and hopefully you will get some time to get creative. I hope to get some creative time on Sunday....and yes my brain is already ticking away with ideas.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Kicking off Jane's Journal's card versions of Tim's 12 tags of 2016

Yes here we go....I am delighted that Tim is continuing with his 12 tags challenge this year. He has decided to revisit some old techniques and combine 2 on each tag. I was amazed to see that he has been using foil for January...I had already been playing with this stuff myself  over Christmas but you'll have to wait to see what I made...

So back to Tim. Here is his January tag

If you would like to see his techniques in detail please pop over to see them on his blog here

Now as you know I make special cards by using his tags as inspiration and I needed a card for my sister in law so I decided to make a slightly more feminine version.

This is what I got up to in my studio

I had already found some foil tape so I used this instead of the foil sheets and used my sizzix flourish embossing folder which came with my Big Shot 3 years ago. It is such a useful folder. How cool is this....

The chalkboard technique is very tricky as again I don't have Tim's supplies but I did succeed with it in my own way

I made some other elements too, sorry re the very dark photos, I'm still managing some crafting in my studio but the light for photos is poor.

So then it was time to put on my creative hat........

and this what I came up with.

The sentiment is from my Clearly Besotted stamp set. You can see my chalkboard effect flourish stamping on the black card in the center panel 

I must admit I just love that textured background, heavy metal eh ;0)

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 January
Anything but cute Ring out the old...bring in the new this is a new metal technique and also the first outing for my new butterfly charm
Allsorts something new  My new metal technique and first 2016 Tim project.
Crafty calendar something new my new metal technique and new butterfly charm.
Crafty friends something new my first card with my new butterfly charm.
Pixie's snippets playground 2/3  #210 I used snippets of foil and black card
Rubber Dance Black white and one other colour....mine is silver.
Crafting Musketeers 1/3 new beginnings my first Tim project of the year
Simon says stamp something new new metal technique and new butterfly charm
Crafting for all seasons 1/3 monochrome

It's turned surprisingly chilly today and the forecast is that winter may finally arrive next week....we'll see. Meanwhile my indoor hyacinth is putting on a pink show on my kitchen window sill.

So much beauty about to unfold.

Thanks for visiting today and a warm welcome to my newest follower, my first new one of 2016.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

New beginnings

Well here we are at the beginning of a new year and 2016 looks to being a very new chapter in Jane's Journal. Everyone is back at work tomorrow, the tree and decorations are packed away and it's time to look forward to what is in store. My Hb and I enjoyed several walks over the Christmas break. The weather mostly was very kind. Although we have lived in our house for nearly 33 years I never bore seeing my local area through the seasons. Down at the ponds there are new beginnings as we witnessed the ducks and coots starting to build their nests.

I thought I would share a few of the photos I snapped.

I also had some crafty time, still in my studio. which is usually far to cold for me to work in  at this time of the year......it's so good to be able to craft outside.

There are lots of fun card challenges which have the theme of new beginnings so I thought I would share a new baby card I made for a friend's baby granddaughter, Her name was Amber so I though a yellow theme would be perfect.

The image and sentiment is Lili of the Valley. The cute dies are Memory Box

.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Allsorts something new  this is the first time I have inked this LOTV stamp.
Crafty calendar something new New Baby
Crafty friends something new my first outing for this stamp
Pixie's snippets playground 1/3  #210 I used snippets of paper for my squares
Noor anything goes
Live and Love crafts Something new
Penny Black and More 1/3 One for the girls
Stamping sensations anything goes with dies
Crafting Musketeers 1/3 new beginnings
Sweet stamping 1/3 something new new baby

I hope the new year brings some enjoyable new beginnings to you all. Have a happy and healthy 2016 and thanks for visiting.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x