BBQ Apron

As someone who has been making cards for nearly 20 years there are times when I make a card I am super proud of and this is one of those. The sad thing is that the recipient probably will not appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it, he’s just not sentimental or comments on things that are extra special… it’s just a card. However, I enjoyed making it so much and that’s all the matters.

In the UK this Sunday is Father’s Day. Normally I would make a golf themed card for my Father in Law but this time I opted to make a BBQ themed card. With the great weather we have had for the last few months he has been having lots of BBQ’s and we have a special meat pack being delivered to him with steaks and burgers and sausages so it seemed particularly appropriate at the moment.

I started with an apron template from Valita’s Designs & Fresh Folds. I have had this template in my files for a long time and you can make a shaped card with it. I based my shape on this and sized it for an A5 card.

I cut a piece of brown card to the desired shape. I wanted to put a pocket on it and slip BBQ tools inside. I printed the sentiment from Diana All About Me’s blog. She has loads of freebies on there which I have used over the years. The sentiment is on the white card I normally use for digi stamps so I coloured it with a Promarker to get the desired colour.

I used my pricking tool to add holes all around the outside of the apron and also around the 3 edges of the pocket. Using 2 strands of the contrasting cotton I hand stitched the edges and the pocket onto the apron layer.

The ribbon is 2 layers of grosgrain that are stuck together with extra strong red liner tape. One layer was too floppy and I wanted it to stand proud. The layer of tape has given it so much more shape. I used some clear buttons that have been recycled from an old duvet cover. Clear buttons are fab as you can stick them to a scrap of patterned paper and completely change the look of them. I stitched the buttons through the ribbon onto the brown card so they are really secure.

Now I have a million and one digital stamps but no BBQ tools. I have images with small tools but nothing that would be suitable for this project. I wanted to make the tools 3D so you could take them out of the pocket. They needed to be strong and substantial so I decided to piece them together using various scraps of card. I found some simple vector shapes by searching Google and based them on those.

The spatula is 2 layers of matt silver card for the handle. This is then sandwiched between 2 layers of brown card strengthened with an eyelet rivet. The slotted top section is a glitter card. I used a craft knife to cut the little slots. Again this is double sided and an eyelet helps to secure the ‘handle’ between both pieces.

The tongs are 2 layers of silver mirror card and the handle is another layer of black leather embossed card on each side. I used a black Promarker to colour the sides of the silver card where the handle is and a silver Sharpie along the edges of the tongs.

The fork is 2 layers of silver card sandwiched between red handles and a silver sharpie ‘rivet’. The sausage is brown card with a little Promarker detail. The Meat pack is coming from a company we have used for years called  Supreme Sausages so it seemed quite appropriate 

Finally I added a rosette which is a digital stamp from the Father’s Day Stamps pack from Kate Hadfield Designs. This was printed out as 3 layers and decoupaged. The bottom layer is the whole image, middle layer the rosette without the bottom ribbons and the top layer is the centre sentiment. These have been coloured with Promarkers and a gold gel pen.

This last week we have had so much rain and huge storms. Although the gardens have needed the water hopefully the good weather will return so my Father in Law will be able to enjoy his gift.

Card Details -

Size - A5 plus the ribbon

Digital Image - Father's Day Stamps by Kate Hadfield Designs

Digital Sentiment - Diana All About Me

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Sharpies & gel pen

Embellishments - Clear buttons, eyelets, ribbon

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

• 613 Avenue Create – #234 Anything Goes
• A Bit More Time To Craft - #118 Anything Goes
• A Perfect Time To Craft - #6 Anything Goes
• A Place to Start – Create a Shaped card
• All Fun Challenges - #9 Anything Goes
• Arty Divas - #24 Anything Goes  
• Aud Sentiments  – #253 Anything Goes & Sentiment
• Catch The Bug – The Man, The Myth, the Legend
• CCC Digi Creations - #115 Anything Goes
• CCCE Stampers - #CCEE2024 Father’s Day
• CD Sunday Plus - # 37 Anything Goes
• Classic Design Challenge - Anything Goes
• Colour Crazy Challenge - # 22 Anything Goes
• Corrosive Challenge - #6 Anything Goes
• Crafting Happiness - #53 Anything Goes/Optional Dad
• Crafty Creations  – #410 Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals Corner - #208 You’re The Man
• Crafty Sentiments Designs – Anything Goes
• Creatalicious Challenges - #189 Anything Goes & No DP
• Creative Craft Cottage - #130 Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - #188 Anything Goes
• Creative Moments - #192 Anything Goes
• Dare 2B Artzy – Masculine
• Digi Choosday - #24 Anything Goes
• Dragonfly Dreams – Make it Masculine
• House That Stamps Built – J1020 Tic Tac Toe (Masculine, Non Standard card Shape, Real Stitching)
• I Love Promarkers - #412 Anything Goes/For the Boys
• Ike’s World Challenge - #133 Anything Goes
• Jan’s Digi Stamps - Anything Goes
• Lemon Shortbread - #122 Anything Goes
• Let’s Craft & Create - #160 Anything Goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - #133 Anything Goes
• Love To Craft - #47 Anything Goes
• Love To Scrap - #134 For The Boys
• Mix It Up Challenge - #38 Anything Goes
• Morgan’s Art World - #6 Anything Goes
• Not Just Cards - Anything Goes
• Papercraft Business Challenge - #30 Father’s Day or Male
• Pearly Sparkles - #52 For the Boys / Men
• Polkadoodles - #24 Anything Goes
• Scribbles Designs - #90 Flip A Coin (1T/2T/3H/4T/5T)
• The Creative Crafters - #29 Anything Goes
• The Paper Funday Challenge - #18 Anything Goes/Make it Masculine
• Try It On Tuesday – Make It Masculine
• Tuesday Throwdown - #459 Special Guy
• Unicorn Challenge - #55 Masculine
• We Love 2 Create - #6 Anything Goes
• World Wide Open Design Team Challenge - #06 Anything Goes
• Your Scrapbook Place - Anything Goes