Warts and all.....

When I restarted my blog I promised myself not to get too carried away, just pop on a few projects and visit some of the fab crafty sites.....but.... When I saw that "Less is More is 5!!!" I had to join in.

It's a challenge site dear to my heart as they started just after I got my blog going....and unlike me they have great staying power and are incredibly successful.

The projects that people create for their challenges are simply stunning and I have kept up with their weekly challenges throughout my blog absence.

 But oh no!! .....White on white....a theme I love but in reality I would reach for my die cuts or even white embossing powder to fulfil this challenge, so for a while I was stumped as to how I could do this with my frugal ethos.....and I nearly succumbed  .....embossing folders called to me and my Cricut was rearing to go.......but as I wanted to celebrate the beginning of less is more and my blog I knew I would have to keep to "no crafty stuff allowed".

Anyway I made a little topper which I attached across an A6 portrait style card. I only attached it along the bottom which allowed me to tuck in a mini card with my "secret" message.

The pleating was quite hard without my score board but I did come up with a method which gave nice even folds but it was still quite difficult to keep it from going "squiffy". Might pop another post on with the details .....essentially it was creasing it across two different widths (a ruler and lolly stick) before pleating.

My original idea .......was awful! .....In my head it was brilliant but unfortunately like a lot of my cunning plans it didn't quite work as expected ..and isn't it hard matching white paper......really was the worst bit of the pleating project and it still isn't a good match.....but at least it was better than.......

 as the post title says the "wart"...

....While we were doing MORE decorating at the weekend I spotted the lovely, ready made filler Steve was using.....ah..ha!! I could make a fabulous embellishment with that...pure white ...very mouldable and can be sanded when dry......some how the pot found its way into my craft room....made a dear little heart and as I was rubbing my hands with glee a voice said over my shoulder ...."you do realise that can take days to dry" ....pessimist!!! Couple of hours later ....look ye of little faith...it's gone hard ....but oops as I took it off the tile the SOFT centre gave way and it broke......I hate it when he's right!

I know I will mix it with PVA and make it more bendy.....mmmm well it was interesting to work with (will have to experiment with ratios another time) but I did manage to knock up a heart ...bit bulky but that will do.....I will sand it when it's dry........well that was the plan......too much PVA clearly doesn't like sandpaper....back to the decorating....as I was undercoating the doors it dawns on me .....if I dunked it in the paint it would have a lovely thick coating .....

Fab! nice and smooth....time was ticking on so I put it on the heater to dry.......BIG mistake.   My lovely smooth heart was now quite cracked and distressed.

Still I think Steve will see the irony in his Valentine card....not only is it made with his own filler, it now has quite a few cracks to fill??????