Grand Vacation 2013 - Above & Beyond Swap Card

As Grand Vacation West Caribbean approaches this year I realised that I had not as yet shared my Swap from Grand Vacation Utah 2013 ~ how remiss of me right? In actual fact it was because I gave away all of my swaps at the Grand Vacation and didn't keep one for myself or even take a picture. . . my excuse I was caught up in the joy and enthusiasm of the wonderful trip, making swaps for North American Convention, packing, booking hotels, arranging itinaries and still doing workshops, classes. . . you get the gist. . .

So this is my Grand Vacation Swap 2013(in fact one of the prototypes that I put together whilst planning it):

It's a 6"x 6" card - the base card is Basic Black and it is mounted on a square of Cherry Cobbler to frame the card. I then mounted a piece of Very Vanilla to form the "canvas" for the card design. I was channeling my steam punk self for this card as I wanted to do something completely different.

The sentiment "above & beyond" from the One in a Million stamp set is meant to convey the hard work and effort that everyone went to to achieve the Grand Vacation. It also has a secondary meaning in relation to Stampin' Up! and especially Shelli Gardner for their continued commitment, vision and passion for all things stampin', paper crafting and creative.

I will work from the base card up so as not to confuse you. I spritzed the card with Early Espresso and Crumb Cake ink then daubed the edges in Crumb Cake ink to lend a vintage theme to the project.  I used the newspaper print page from Modern Medley DSP, daubing the edges with Crumb Cake to give it that aged look. Stamped on the left hand margin in Early Espresso ink are some cogs from Clockworks. To the right hand side - I stamped the mottled frame background from Everything Eleanor in Cherry Cobbler ~ I fussy cut this frame out so that it would be the perfect background mount for the clock piece.

The clock piece is stamped off the edge of the Apothecary Accent Framelit which matches the Cherry Cobbler background. I also stamped the fob watch face and hands (using Staz On Jet Black Ink), punched it using the 1 3/8" Circle Punch, daubed the edges in Crumb Cake Ink, pierced the centre with a brass brad from Vintage Trinkets and mounted it on the piece. You stamped a filigree image in the background in stamped off Crumb Cake. I daubed the outside of this cut out too so that it would pop from the red background even more.

Behind this I stamped two vintage postage stamps from the Postage Due stamp set in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla cardstock. I punched these out using the Postage Stamp Punch. My thought behind including these stamps with this design was along the lines of . . . time flies and whilst we think that there is no cost involved in this there is always a cost. . . and we normally pay it simply because we have to.

I couldn't resist adding some texture and luxury with the Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon. I tied this in a simple know and added a piece of Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbons which I ruched by pulling a thread through the centre of the ribbons. I added the safety pin from the Vintage Trinkets sets because I thought I needed more metal on the card to balance the different elements.

The main feature of the card is the winged bust. Starting from the back and moving forward. The sunray stamp with wings and filigree is from the set Great Sport; I stamped this stamp in Staz On Jet Black ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and fussy cut around the image. I brushed Illuminate Glimmer Watermark ink on the wings to pop them a little. I then cut Window Sheets using the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die and embossed the edge of the right wing using the Flower Garden TIEF.

I love the Dress Form Pop 'n Cuts die and cut just the bodice using Crumb Cake cardstock. I then embossed the piece using the Elegant Lines TIEF (although in the real swap I used Flower Garden TIEF again as Elegant Lines had retired). I daubed the edges and raised sections on the bodice with Crumb Cake ink. Finally I stamped the butterfly from Papillon Potpourri in Staz On Jet Black Ink, punched it with the Elegant Butterfly Punch and daubed it lightly on the edges with Crumb Cake ink. I attached it with Glue Dots.

You can see from another angle how many layers there are and how each level adds a different dimension. I know that I added a heap more steps to the final card which ended up including wheels and additional stamp sets although the overall effect was similar to this prototype. 

A final shot of the card standing up as it would on a desk or shelf:

I enjoyed making the swap and would happily have made 100 in order to have collected that same number from all the other talented attendees.