There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want

I’m sharing a card I made for a colleague who is retiring featuring some rusty watches courtesy of the Time Pieces stamp from Docrafts.

I’ve rusted up my watches after seeing all the inspiration over at Country View Challenges for their current rust theme.  Got to say I love the rusty effect, best I’ve achieved to date.  To make sure my paper would stand up to the rusting I used Yupo and created a metallic background with alcohol inks (my Copic Various Inks as I don’t have any grey in Tim’s alcohol inks).

Alcohol inks are my ‘choice’ to make up the third element for the current CAS Mix Up challenge.  Got my stamping covered with the watches and the inlaid die-cutting with the ‘congrats’ sentiment.  I didn’t have a die for a retirement so teamed this with some printed words (no retirement stamps either).  In hindsight I think I should have swapped out the diecut for one in another colour so it would actually stand out, as it is, it’s quite hard to actually see the ‘congrats’.

The layout of my card follows the current sketch over at Fusion.  I’ve just used the sketch this time as this card is going to a male so a bouquet of flowers wasn’t appropriate.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Twiddleybitz ~ Rusting Powder

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Clearly Besotted Die ~ CBDCO064 Congrats Word

Inks & Paints etc

Copic Various Inks ~ N1, N3, N5

Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink ~ Blending Solution & Silver Mixative

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Embossing & Hickory Smoke

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Bazzill Prismatic Cardstock ~ Black

Creative Memories Cardstock ~ Silver

Yupo ~ 200gsm White

Stamps

Docrafts ~ Time Pieces

Challenges

CAS Mix Up ~ Stamping + Inlaid die-cutting + Your choice

Country View ~ Rust

Fusion ~ Truck Bouquet

Thanks for stopping by!

…leaving no other impression than that of a well-dressed gentleman

I’m sharing a male card I’ve made featuring one of the stamps from the All Steamed Up set from Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps.

It’s been an age since I got my Steampunk on and when I saw it was the theme over at The Male Room I decided I’d make my card to match and finally get some ink on this fine fellow.  The fact the current theme at Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Saturday challenge is also for the boys/men was pure crafty serendipity.

To help me along with the layout and colours I’ve taken inspiration from both the sketch and photo at Fusion.  The letters are echoed in the designer paper I chose with the lovely blue and brown palette working perfectly for a Steampunk theme.  I’d planned to go with stripes of the vertical rectangular element but loved the diamond pattern too much to go past it.  I did add a second smaller rectangular element to frame my image, mostly because he was a bit small and would have got lost had I fussy cut him as planned.  The one drawback of real stamps, you can’t resize them.

I used the Beautiful Square Time Pieces stamp from Docrafts to add the pattern to the blue cardstock of the horizontal rectangular element.  I stamped it in Ingvild Bohme’s Dark Rust and then sprinkled with clear embossing powder to give a metallic effect.  Added my ubiquitous shaker element in a gear shape in a quick way by using a Jillibean Soup shaker cup.  In the end I’m not so sure I love how much it protrudes from the card, would be nice if they were only about an eighth tall.

I thought about adding in some metal gear embellies but in the end decided to leave this as is to preserve the balance between all the layers and the image.

Ingredients:

Copics

Skin E000, E00, E11, E21

Eye E29

Hair E23, E25, E27, E29

Outfit BV02, BV04, BV13, BV17, BV23, BV29, E23, E25, E27, E29

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Jillibean Soup Shaped Shaker Dies ~ JB1023 Small Circle Set

Spellbinders Nestabilities ~ S4-386 Cogs

Embellishments

Craft Medley Sequins Pailettes ~ Dazzling Metallics

Jillibean Soup Shaped Shaker Insert ~ Small Circle

Little Things from Lucy's Cards Shaker Selection ~ Nautical Sparkle

Inks & Paints etc

Prima Ingvild Bolme Chalk Ink ~ Old Rust

Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink ~ Alcohol Blending Solution, Caramel, Mermaid, Silver Mixative & Stream

Tim Holtz Mixed Media Archival Ink ~ Ground Espresso

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Pumice Stone

Papers

Bazzill Criss Cross Cardstock ~ Lily White

Bazzill Smoothie Cardstock ~ Milkshake

Core’dinations Tim Holtz Kraft Core Metallics ~ Bronze

Crafter’s Companion Neenah ~ Desert Storm

Glossy White Cardstock from stash

Maja Design Life by the Sea ~ Bottle Message & Navigate

Stamps

Docrafts ~ Beautiful Square Time Pieces

Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps ~ All Steamed Up (retired)

Challenges

Fusion ~ Scrambled Letters

Kraftin’ Kimmie #371 ~ For the Boys/Men

The Male Room #55 ~ Steampunk

Thanks for stopping by!

Of the sweet years…

My favourite stamp company, Simply B Stamps, is turning four this month and us DT gals are celebrating with a blog hop featuring Betty’s awesome birthday collection of Betty Boos.  If you’ve come here from the lovely Irene’s blog you’re on the right track, if not, head on over to the SBS blog to start from the beginning as you aren’t going to want to miss any of the beautiful cards the talented DT have made.

My card features the gorgeous Birthday Goddess, loving the floaty toga she is wearing and her glorious hair!  I usually agonise over colours when I first start on an image and go looking for paper to make my card but not with this one.  Why?  Because I just used Betty’s favourite colours of course.

To make up my card I followed the current sketch at Digi Sketch, I’ve also got their optional twist of a stamp covered.  I did add in the bottom element to get my sentiment in, which comes with the image.  Birthdays are the theme over at Jo’s Scrap Shack so I am also entering my card there.

You all know how much I love my layers, a good thing too for this card where I wanted to cover off all of Betty’s favourite colours.  With all the layers I am linking this in Suzy Bee’s Bloomin’ Challenge.

Now head on over to the delightful Rebecca’s blog and check out the stunning creations she’s made with these fantastic Birthday Betty Boo images.  And if you’re a bit lost, I’ve got the full blog hop list at the bottom of my post.

Ingredients:

Copics

Skin E000, E00, E11, E21 (E02 cheeks)

Eyes B000, B02

Hair Y21, Y23, Y26, YR23

Outfit BG000, BG01, BG02, BG05, BG07, BG09

Sandals Y21, Y23, Y26, Y28

Cake & Candles N4, N6, N8, RV000, RV00, RV02, Y21, Y23, Y26, Y28, YR02, YR04, YR07, YR31, 100

Chalks & Powders etc

Lindy’s Stamp Gang Embossing Powder ~ Stardust Candy Rose

Pebbles Cream Chalk ~ Metallic Purple

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Spellbinders Nestabilities ~ Grand Large Labels, Labels Medium & Labels Small

Embellishments

Petaloo Darjeeling ~ Dahlias Teastaine Purple

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Black Soot, Peacock Feathers, Spun Sugar & Victorian Velvet

Papers

Core’dinations Tim Holtz & Ranger Adirondack Cardstock ~ Stream

Docrafts ~ Simply Gorjuss

Kaisercraft Violet Crush ~ Musk

Prima Optimist ~ Whimsy

Stamps

Simply B Stamps ~ Birthday Goddess

Challenges

Digi Sketch ~ Use a stamp and/or sketch

Jo’s Scrap Shack FFC #52 ~ “HB2U”

Suzy Bee’s Bloomin’ Challenge #31 ~ Layer It Up

Blog Hop List 

SBS

Corinne 
Celina 
Irene 
Emily (me)

Rebecca

Tanja

Kay

Louise

Lisa H

Thanks for stopping by!

…how strange is that clinging love we have of life…

This is my second project featuring one of the new commissioned images from Simply B Stamps, this one is Franken Cutie Helen, and she really is a cutie.

As these images are commissioned there is no theme to the collection so you really get images to suit any occasion, from the inspirational Fight for the Cause Nancy in my previous card to this image perfect for Halloween.  Not that I’ve really used a Halloween theme on this card, mostly because I won’t be waiting til Halloween to send this one.

My card follows the current sketch at Jo’s Scrap Shack, a sketch that was perfect for Franken Cutie Helen and the ‘stitched together’ theme I was going for.  I’ve used stitching on this as well as distressing, a couple of techniques I am particularly fond of.  With my featured techniques I am entering this in the current challenge over at Scrapping4fun.  This card features a couple of other things I am particularly fond of too, flowers and lots of layers.  I realy do love layering up my cards to show off various designer papers and really add weight and dimension.  It’s L for layers over at ABC Challenges so I’m also entering my card over there.

Ingredients:

Copics

Skin E000, E00, E21, E11 (cheeks E02)

Eyes E23, E25, 0

Lips R29, R46, R59

Hair E30, E31, E33, E35, E37, Y26

Dress BV20, BV23, BV25, BV29

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Spellbinders Nestabilities ~ ATCs & Labels Four

Embellishments

BoBunny Jewels ~ Glaze (coloured with Y19)

Jolee’s All That Bling ~ Multi Color Multi Shape Gems

Mulberry Roses from stash

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain & Weathered Wood

Papers

7 Dots Studio 9th Wave ~ Golden Sand & Stormy Sea

7 Dots Studio Cold Country ~ Lost Letter

7 Dots Studio Love is in the Air ~ Illusion

Core’dinations Tim Holtz Distress Cardstock ~ Weathered Wood

Ribbons & Trims etc

Docrafts Gorjuss ~ Simply Gorjuss Baker’s Twine

Stamps

Simply B Stamps ~ Franken Cutie Helen

Challenges

ABC Challenges ~ L is for Lots of Layers

Jo’s Scrap Shack FFC #50 ~ “It’s Sketch Time”

Scrapping4fun #17 ~ Technique Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!