GEARED-UP FOR A GREAT BIRTHDAY!

Hi everyone,

I'm back today with a quick post of a card I sent to my brother-in-law for his 60th.  Paul loves to alter objects. We recently visited his studio down in Amissville, Virginia and he was altering an old gynecologist's examination table into a kitchen island table.  Well, I'm almost sure the buyers won't know it's original purpose!! Were he a card maker he would definitely be into Steam Punk - let's just leave it at that, shall we??!!

Here's the table that he is repurposing:

He just loves gears and metals! Here is a photo of a painting that he has recently completed. Note the still life that he put together to paint from!

Yes, I know - nuts right? (no - bolts too!)

Anyway back to the card! I had this background which I had made a while back - which involved gears with metallic colors and I thought that would be perfect for him!

I took the plastic TCW Mini Gears Stencil (262s) and taped it down to a piece of black cardstock. I applied Dreamweaver Translucent embossing paste and then after removing the stencil I applied both Shazam and Abracadabra (separately) before heat embossing the entire background.

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The Happy Birthday is a Die Versions Die Cut (DVJ-081) cut out of white card stock to which I applied Versamark ink and then heat embossed with Copper Dreams. To make it look a little more rusted and worn, I added some more Versamark and then sprinkled on some Magic Speckle and heat embossed with the heat tool from underneath (to stop the powder from flying all over - which it will do if you heat from the top - just saying!) Love that look - I mean the rusted look - not the powder flying all over the place!

I had the self-adhesive numerical silver stickers in my stash, so trying to keep the card with the metallic look, I stuck them in the space of the cog. The background was attached to black cardstock (which is white on the inside). Happy Birthday was attached with Dimensional Foam and the card was complete.

Happy 60th Paul!

I'd like to enter this card in the Scrapy Land Challenge: No. 22 - Vintage/Steam Punk

Hope you've enjoyed stopping by today.

Hugs,

Shona

TIME FOR COFFEE!

Thanks for stopping by! If you haven't already got one, maybe you should pour yourself a cup of coffee to get you in the mood for the card I'm sharing today.

Every month, my Mum sends me the Craft Stamper Magazine, which is the UK's big stamping magazine. It's always full of great ideas and I usually find a technique to try that I would have never have thought of.

The January issue had an article about using coffee and tea as a coloring agent. I'm on the Design Team for Sparkle N Sprinkle, and on the first of March they will be revealing four new coffee-related sets. I decided to use the Coffee Shoppe scene for my card today. Think of this post as a "sneak preview". I am blogging this earlier than the reveal as I also want to enter this card in the Craft Stamper February Challenge - use a stencil.

So to begin with, I took a piece of watercolor paper and poured some coffee in the center of it and spread the coffee around with a brush, letting it pool in different areas. I then took my heat gun and chased the drips around the paper. Fun and it smells so good!

After it was completely dry, I flattened it out and swiped it with my anti-static bag. Always try to remember to do that before using a stencil - particularly when you are going to use embossing powders or glitters on top of the paste.

Copper Embossing paste was spread over the Tim Holtz Clockwork Stencil:

The stencil wasn't wide enough for the 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" piece of cardstock, so I just turned the stencil over (after cleaning it) and did the bottom half. It didn't matter that there was a line as it would be broken up by the scene and the clock. After removing the stencil I applied Bronze Splendor Glitter to the piece and left it overnight to dry.

The Coffee Shoppe was stamped in Versamark on watercolor paper and then heat embossed with Teddy Brown and was fussy cut. I dipped an aqua brush in my little jar of coffee and started to paint. To get the various degrees of tones of color on the scene I went over specific areas varying amounts of times, letting the coffee dry between applications.

The clock is the BigZ Dies Weathered Clock, I cut it out of watercolor paper and covered the face in Pebbled Copper embossing powder. The hands were heat embossed with Abracadabra embossing powder. I dipped the brad in Versamark and then it was also heat embossed with Pebbled Copper.

The sentiment, from the same Set 695, was stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with Teddy Brown. I cut and embossed with Spellbinders Fancy Tags and then distressed the edges a little with Memento Potter's Clay ink.

Then all that was left was to assemble the card, which I did with tape and Dimensional Dots. The card front was layered to a rust colored card base, keeping the monochromatic look. 

Hope you've enjoyed my share with you today and that I've inspired you to get more from your morning coffee other than caffeine!

As I mentioned I would like to enter this card in the Craft Stamper February Challenge - Stencilling.

Till next time,

Shona

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL!

Hi there,

Thanks for stopping by!  For the February Reveal I left you with a sneak peak of my four seasons. Today I'm going to share with you a set of cards made with the new Seasonal Trees Set 680. I used some little furry animals to bring my seasons to life!

                       

So let's begin with winter:

For this card, I stamped the tree with Versamark then heat embossed with Silver Lightning. The little snowflakes were done in the same way. The deer was a die cut, which was cut from a piece of white cardstock covered with 2 1/2" Tear-ific Tape. After removing the protective backing I then applied Amber Wheat flocking to the entire piece. Copic Marker E47 was used to add color to the hooves, eyes and antlers. Here is the tutorial on how to add highlights to flocking, using Copic markers.

The snow banks were made by adding a strip of 2 1/2" Tearific Tape to a 4" wide strip of white card. I tore the tape in half lengthwise at an angle. After removing the protective backing, Twinkling Clouds was applied. The sky was sponged with Memento Summer Sky.

The sentiment (Penguin Trio Set 616) was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed again with Silver Lightning. The eyelet was also heat embossed with the same embossing powder.

The card front was centered on an A2 card base which had been edged with 1/4"Tear-ific Tape and then Reflection Glitter was applied to the sticky edges.

On to Spring:

This time the tree was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Pear. The sentiment (from Spring Swirl Set 425) tag was done in the same fashion. The little yellow brads were added to the tag and another was applied with Versamark and heat embossed with Pear Star to hang on the tree.

The bottom of the card front was dry embossed with a Darice (Nature 3-pack) embossing folder. I then applied Memento inks: Pear Tart, Cantaloupe and Summer Sky to color the background.

The little kitty (from Kitty Trio Set 231) was stamped in Memento Tuxedo black on top of a piece of white cardstock covered with Tear-ific Tape and then Buff Flocking. Copics YR02 and E25 were used to add highlights to the fuzzy cat.

The card front was layered to a piece of yellow cardstock and then to the card base which had been edged with Versamark and heat embossed with Pear Star.

Summer is up next!

This time the tree was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Teddy Brown. The leaves and flowers were stamped with Memento inks, Pear Tart and Lady Bug. Two of the Darice borders were used - the flowers on the bottom and the birds on the top. Flowers were inked with Lady Bug and the birds were inked in Gray Flannel. Summer Sky and Bamboo Leaves were also sponged on the background.

The doggy was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on top of Buff Flocking. He was highlighted with Copics E33 and C5.

The clouds were done with white cardstock covered in Tear-ific Tape and then die cut with Spellbinders Rainy Day Dies. The protective backing was removed and they were applied with Twinkling Clouds Sparkle N Soft.

.... and to finish the year - Fall:

The tree was stamped in Memento Espresso Truffle ink. The fall leaves were stamped in the background with Memento inks: Peanut Brittle, Angel Pink, Potters Clay and Pistachio. The cattails was the third of the Nature 3-pack. and I went over them with some Toffee Crunch ink before adding Celestial Glitter to the plumes with a Sakura Glue Pen.

The sentiment (Harvest Pumpkins Set 228) was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Sienna. It was sponged with Cantaloupe and then cut up before being attached to cardfront with dimensional dots.

The critters (The Collector Set 682) were again stamped on top of a Buff flocked cardstock and then highlighted. This time Copics E00, E31, E33, R21, BV00, YG25 and W5 were used.

The card front was layered to purple cardstock, then on to a card base that had been edged with Versamark and heat embossed with Abracadabra.

.... and that concludes my four seasons! 

Hope you've enjoyed my take on the seasons and also that you'll give the little fuzzy animals a try. So much fun - with one flocking and a few Copics - the possibilities are endless.

Hugs,

Shona

RIBBIT - BE MY VALENTINE?

How are you getting on with your Valentine's Day cards? Well, here is another idea if you're not done, using the Sweetheart Frog Set 677 from last month. Isn't he just adorable?

I was inspired to make this card today, after seeing my dear friend Donna's post. I loved the stenciled background she had made and it really made me want to go play with some stencils and paste! So I looked through some of my stuff and lo and behold I found five different Sweet Stamps' Stencils. One of them was called "Cattails" - oh boy, did I have a stamp to go with that stencil? Yes I did!

So I got out some brown cardstock, the Sweetstamps' stencil and spread some Dreamweaver Copper Embossing Paste over the stencil. After removing the stencil, I then applied a brand new SNS Embossing Powder (Abracadabra) and left it (impatiently, I might add) for the rest of the day - I usually leave these overnight as the suspense of how they are going to come out almost kills me!! Anyway, I went up this evening to heat emboss and this is how it came out:

Here are three of many others that I did today:

Aren't these fun?  Well anyway, back to the Cattails! After I had made the background, I stamped the frog image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics as per the photo below:

I then sponged a little Memento Lulu Lavender around the frog. An oval was cut from the background of the Cattails to make it look like we were looking through his window into the swamp. To bring the two together I applied Embers Glitter to both the Cattails in the background and the image.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Copper Dreams before being cut and embossed with Spellbinders' Ribbon Banners and then a little Lulu Lavender ink was sponged before removing the die. It was attached to the card front with Dimensional Dots. The embossed panel was then layered to a purple card base also with Dimensional Dots.

So there you have it. Another fun little Valentine. Thanks for stopping by in my neck of the swamp!

I'd like to enter this little card in three Challenges:

Sweet Stamps: Challenge 206: Stencils and Paste 
Crafty Sentiments: Love, Valentine's Day Challenge
Cards and More: Animals

Hope you'll stop by my blog this weekend, for the Sparkle N Sprinkle February 1st Reveal, when we will bringing you six brand new sets from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

Hugs,

Shona