scrapbooking2angels: Happy Birthday Dad

Crafty Gift for Dad

Forget about socks and jocks! Throw out that cologne you got him for his birthday and put back that stubby holder - what you need is a personalised gift for the man in your life.

Better yet - spend a little time crafting with the kids and come up with something that every Dad will treasure.

Most men have their special place - it might be the shed down the back, a room all their own or just a corner in the back patio. This 'Man Cave' is somewhere they can retreat to and ~~sulk~~, sorry, enjoy being manly. Now you can make this a special place for them, by creating their own personalised light 'switch plate'.

The best part about this little project is that your kids will want to be involved - big or small, they just love to create things for Dad. This project is easy enough for kids of all ages to help out with - just make sure you supervise them. :)

So let's get started ...

Cut a piece of Inkssentials Metal Foil Tape into a 10cm x 14cm section

and place inside a Spellbinders Industrial Die, just below the "frame".

Pop it through your Cuttlebug with just the base plate and c plate.

Starting from the top of your foil, line it up and then peel off a small piece, so it will cover the top of your switch plate. (Most of them simply clip off and on and are really easy to remove.) Once you are happy with the placement, peel off the rest of the foil and cover the plate.

The foil is nice and soft, so just fold the corners over the edge of the plate, like you do when wrapping presents.

Cut 4 little slits with your craft knife to "open up" a hole for the switch. Fold back the foil as shown below.

Now that your light switch plate is covered, it is time to decorate. Even like this it looks way cool - just the pattern alone.

Since it is for Dad, use variously styled letters (leftovers from several font sets work best) small enough to create the title "Man Cave" or whatever you choose to title your switch project.

NOTE: Just be careful with what elements you embellish it with, we don't want any sharp edges that may cause Dad an injury!

Let's start embellishing by creating some Gadget Gears.

Cut 3 pieces of scrap card and 3 pieces of foil tape the size of the smallest gadget gear .
Peel off foil and attach to the card, before cutting with gadget gears big shot die.

Next, emboss your Gadget Gears.

Now I want to point out the Spellbinders folder I am using is REVERSIBLE, so you can flip the folder over to create a "different" style of industrial texture. You get so much bang for your buck with these sets - it's two folders for the price of one.

Using the other texture pattern will make the cogs stand out against the textured switch plate.

Now put the 3 gadget gears aside for second ...

Cut a piece of card and foil the size of the middle gadget gear. Using your fingers, rub over it with Hematite Inka Gold ... when dry, (takes about 30 secs) rub over it again with Cobalt Blue Inka Gold.

Cut the gadget gear out and remove the middle.

While your fingers are looking a lovely blue and grey, rub the 3 smaller gears with both Inka Golds. You don't want a smooth coverage - wipe it here and there and create some funky patterns. You're after a distressed industrial look - not something neat and tidy.

Using a good adhesive, glue your large gear as shown below ...

adding one of your smaller gears on top (or next to) of the first one.

Add your "Cave" words.

I replaced the "A" in "cave" with one of our new light bulb charms - first giving it a good rub with Hematite Inka Gold. As the charm doesn't have much width in area, I filled in the gaps with glossy accents.

Next, cut the left-over small cog in half
and apply foil tape as shown - with just a little overlap

so you can adhere it to the sides of the light switch cover.

Now you are finished.

You can't give a cool gift like this without an appropriate card - so now for the matching card.

Grab yourself a Twiddleybitz Black 13x13 card.

Cut a piece of white cardstock into a slightly smaller square, adhere to the card and give it a few "splats" of Faded Jeans Distress Stains.

Next, place a blue piece of cardstock inside your Spellbinders Industrial Die - just below the "frame".

Trim and adhere to the top of the white cardstock.

Cut a rosette out of some Inkssentials Metal Foil Tape, peel off one little end bit of foil from the rosette and join the two ends together.

Turn on your hot glue gun.

While the glue gun is heating up, run a few scrap bits of blue and white cardstock through the Spellbinders Industrial Die to create your rosette "ribbons".

When the heat gun is hot, attach the 'base' to the BACK of your rosette and drop some glue into the middle to secure the two pieces together.