Interactive Cards: Swing Cards

The next card up for review is the Swing card.  Again, this is from the book Interactive Cards edited by Tanya Fox.  The card I worked from is on the right.  The idea behind the swing card is that there's an element that swings freely, suspended on thread or wire.

This card brought up the first... challenge with using this book.  With the other cards I'd done, following the directions was easy and didn't require tools I didn't have (the only things they needed were a knife/cutting board, score board and a circle punch - the last of which I didn't use having modified the card so I didn't need it).  This card's directions required taking the ... second largest (or largest, I can't remember which, as I don't have these) circle die from a set (Spellbinders, etc.)  Since I do my die cutting with my Silhouette, this required that I find out what size the largest/second largest die in the set was.  That was easy, I just went to the Spellbinders website where the die dimensions are given.  I'm surprised the book didn't simply say, use the 2 1/2" (or whatever it was) circle die.  Anyway, got my circles cut, which was a challenge as I needed the circle in the middle of my cardstock and I'm used to just doing edge cuts for applied pieces.  I had some trouble with the fleur de lis paper.  The crests were supposed to point up, but measuring that carefully on a Silhouette is hard (generally since you have to also be aware of where the wheels that feed the paper into the machine fit in your measurements.  If you're off there, it doesn't matter how carefully you placed your paper.  I didn't consider this when I cut that sheet, so it was a bit off and I had to trim it down around the other edges and turn it on its side to make it fit the card backing).

Here's my card:

I also discovered that heat embossing a detailed image is tough if you don't want bits of powder in the center of your image (and trying to wipe those away by hitting the back of the card only gets rid of too much powder so you have to reink the image and start again).  I tried the paintbrush method of getting rid of excess bits of powder, but it was too heavy handed.  Perhaps I'll try a better quality or smaller brush next time.  The cameo is suspended by a piece of jewelry cord (so you can see it, but it's small and clear).

Supplies:
cardstock: Recollections, DCWV Mariposa Matstack
stamp: Close to my Heart Sweet Moments
ink: versamark
embossing powder: gold
pearls, tape runner, jewelry cord - dollar store