Smashing Edinburgh International Book Festival

Today I am happy and can look back on round about two fantastic weeks, but also have a tear in my eye. The Edinburgh International Book Festival has yet again been fantastic with such a calm and very enjoyable atmosphere during this busy festival time, but it is coming to an end tomorrow.

After all events there are book signings with the authors. But this year I was also faced with a challenge: How do you get eBooks signed? While I still love the actual books I have the work of some authors solely as eBooks due to running out of storage space.

The solution for me is a smash book. I have been thinking about starting one for all those tickets from sport events, concert, etc. that you want to keep but can then only find by accident for a while. And it also seemed ideal for collating book festival tickets alongside signatures of authors.

I prepared the pages before the event, asked then the authors to sign in the smash book and finish the pages off after the individual events. The pages shown here are just a taster. And my smash book is already turning into a very treasured item.

Wedding Acceptance

Today I undertook my first attempts with gilding flakes and Indigo Blu Flitter Glu - and had a fight at my hands. I applied the Flitter Glu to a stamp, but sometimes the cardstock was tearing when I lifted up the stamp. When I used the stamp in such a way that it hardly touch the cardstock I could lift it up, but the image was not complete. A touch up with a cheap paintbrush worked well.

But removing the stickiness on the rubber of the stamp was a nightmare. I washed it in water right after use, but I also had to use the specific stamp cleaner twice to get the stamp halfway back into working order. I doubt that I will do that again to any of my stamps any time soon. I will rather stick to highlighting areas by applying Flitter Glu with a paintbrush and then using gilding flakes.

I am actually quite pleased with the result - just the cleaning up process was too lengthy. And as I got a bit of glue along the edge of a fingernail, I am sporting a bit of red and gold myself ...

And here is what I used to create the acceptance card:

• Big heart stamp by Crafty Stamps (RM105F)
• Heart cutting die by Joy! Crafts
• Wedding ring die by Marianne Designs
• QuicKutz alphabet dies
• White textured and white smooth cardstock
• Gold metallic cardstock
• Red mirri card
• Adhesive gems
• Indigo Blu Flitter Glu and Lancashire Rose gilding flakes