Spread Your Wings... Try Stampin on Tuesday #465

Things that fly!   This was the optional theme with the sketch challenge with Try Stampin' on Tuesday #465 here.
I immediately envisioned a majestic eagle soaring over the mountains....

This Eagle, from Stacey Stamps, called "Freedom", is coloured with watercolor pencils and a blender pen and then fussy cut.  Dimensionals are used to add this majestic bird over a mountain scene created using the Waterfront stamp, and die cut with a circle die.

The circle is adhered to a Gray Granite rectangle, matted with Basic Gray card stock.  This is added to the card front with dimensionals.

The card base is Basic Gray layered with Smoky Slate with a 2" strip of "In Good Taste" DSP on the left.

All edges have been sponged with Smoky Slate ink.

The sentiment is from a stamp called "Spread Your Wings" created by my friend Marie the owner of Frog's and Whiskers store in Campbellford. After stamping with Smoky Slate ink, it is added to the card front below the bird, using dimensionals.  Selective words from the rest of the sentiment (highlighted with a Basic Black marker) were stamped on the inside of the card.

Some linen thread tied into a bow is added to the top corner of the sentiment.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Freedom (Stacey Stamps), Spread Your Wings (Frog's Whiskers)

Inks:  Black Memento, 

          Eagle:  Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black

          Scenery:  Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate, Pear Pizzazz, 

          Sentiment:  Basic Black Marker

Papers:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Gray Granite, Whisper White

Accessories:  Circle dies, Dimensionals, Linen thread, Blender Pen

True Gentleman Box on top of a Card

This has been a great week for making a variety of Masculine cards.

So far I have made two cards featuring the True Gentleman  DSP; 2 cards made using shirts designed with the same  DSP, and a Double Z fold card.

I am no stranger to this unique card featuring a box on top of a card, as I have made several of these at Christmas time.  The Box on top of a Card  has that wow factor and can be a gift by itself for a very special person. These little boxes are perfect to "hide" little mementos in.

I used the video tutorial by Frenchie help me with the dimensions to create this card.

The card base is comprised of Tranquil Tide card stock folded to form a top fold card.  At the right end, an aperture is cut out to allow for the insertion of a 2 by 2" box.

This is done using the Stampin' Up trimmer. 

Cutting the Aperture for the Box

With the folded part of the card at the top of the trimmer, place the left edge of the card at the 1" mark and cut down to 2".  Move the card so that that same edge is now at the 3" mark, and again cut down to the 2" mark. Now turn the card 90 degrees, and matching up the cut marks at the 2" mark, cut across the bottom of aperture  from the 1" to the 3" mark. Remove the card stock (I like to make this into a tag)  You now have a place to insert a box.

Decorating the card:

A strip of DSP layered with Very Vanilla card stock is placed on the lower front, A sentiment  stamped, and punched with the 'tag punch was added to the upper left and a "arrow-like" image stamped on Very Vanilla on the right side. Three buttons already threaded with Linen Thread, were added to the left using glue dots.

Making the Box:

Box: Score a 6 by 6" piece of DSP 2" on all 4 sides. Make into a box

Lid: 1 1/16 by 1 1/16 piece of coordinating card stock scored 1/2" on all four sides. Make lid.

The lid of the box is decorated with a piece of DSP matted with Tranquil Tide card stock.  I used the bow builder punch to create a bow which was adhered to the top using glue dots.

On the inside  I added some Very Vanilla card stock stamped with a sentiment towards the left side.

The box fits very nicely into the cut out aperture.

Supplies
Stamp: Truly Tailored
Inks:  Tranquil Tide
Papers;  Very Vanilla, Tranquil Tide, True Gentleman DSP
Accessories:  True Gentleman buttons, Linen Thread, Stampin' Trimmer, Tailored Tag Punch, Bow Builder Punch 

Sea Turtle Shaker Card

The "Just Add Color" DSP is a new add on to the SAB offerings. There are pages of images to color, from Sea Turtles to Teacups.

Last night while watching Television, using my Blendabilities, I coloured the Sea Turtle and some images around it, then made the Sea Turtle into a shaker card.

The image was coloured with blendabilites - Daffodil Delight with Old Olive over top of this colour.  When finished I applied colour to the background using the direct ink to paper approach.  I started with Pool Party, then Marina Mist, Island Indigo, and finally Pacific Point.

An Aperture was die cut using a rectangular stitched framelit (non SU) on a piece of Always Artichoke card stock embossed with the Sea shore embossing folder - and set aside.  A larger rectangular framelit was used to die cut a window sheet.

A frame for the aperture was made by die cutting 2 sizes of the rectangular framelits.

The die cut window sheet was adhered to the back of the card front.  Foam adhesive was added to the edges of this sheet, as well as around the edges of the card.

After applying shaker elements, the art piece was attached, and the entire piece added to the card front. The frame was added around the art piece.

Embellishments made from Sea Grass and a colourful fish  coloured and cut out from the same 12 by 12 DSY were  added to the front.

Supplies Used:
Inks:  Blendabilities, Pool Party, Marina Mist, Island Indigo, Pacific Point
Papers:  Just Add Color DSP, Always Artichoke
Accessories:  Rectangular Stitched Framelits (non SU), Window Sheets, Shaker Elements (non SU),Seaside Embossing Folder, Foam tape.

Tool Box (in a card)

I was thinking of a different masculine card.  I wanted to feature the "Nailed It" stamp set and came up with the idea of a card in a box (aka tool box) - a simplified form.

Like a tool box, this box red, so I made this card in a box out of Real Red card stock. See a post here on making a card in a box.

This, however, is a simplified version of this 3D card.

After scoring the cardstock and making the cuts on the scored seams, the box was decorated before it was formed into the box you see in the picture above.

A piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, embossed with the dots embossing folder and rubbed lightly with a sponge and Crumb Cake ink was added to the back panel.  On the left side is a die cut Real Red ruler sponged lightly to bring out the markings.  On the back side of this panel is a similar sized piece of Whisper White cardstock meant for messages etc.

On the 3 top panels I adhered embossed adhesive silver foil pieces.  Then I adhered, using dimensionals, a hexagonal shaped matted sentiment to the middle panel.

I stamped and colored with markers the various tools, cut them out and adhered them with glue dots to strips of  Window Sheets and then to the box inserts.

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Urban District, Nailed It

Inks: Black Memento, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Markers (Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Pacific Point)

Papers: Real Red, Crumb Cake, Adhesive silver foil (non SU)

Accessories Dots embossing folder, Argyle embossing folder (retired), Build it Framelits, dimensionals, Window sheets, glue dots

High Tide Shine - Try Stampin' on Tuesday #305

I am excited to be selected to be a designer on  Try Stampin' on Tuesday.  This is not the first time I have been a designer here, but it has been a number of years and I look forward to contributing again.
My first posting as a design team member is not this week, but I thought I would post a picture for challenge 305 , the optional theme is "My favourite thing"
I chose to use a nautical theme as my birthplace is Holland, a sea faring country and I do love light houses.

Supplies Used:
Stamp: High Tide
Inks: Basic Gray, Black Memento, Real Red marker, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Marina Mist, Island Indigo
Papers:

• Island Indigo 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 scored at 4 1/4 to make an A2 card (card base)
• Island Indigo 2 1/8 by 4 1/4" (mat)
• Whisper White 4 by 5 1/4"
• Whisper White 1 7/8 by 4 1/8" (art piece)
• Serene Scenery DSP - two pieces.  One piece 2 1/8 by 5"; the second 1 7/8 by 5"
• Whisper White 2 by 3/4" (sentiment)

Accessories: Dimensionals, Wink of Stella

Directions:

1. Sponge edges of both pieces of the DSP with Island Indigo ink and adhere to the 4 by 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock leaving a 1/8" gap between the 2 pieces.
2. Stamp the sand pipers with Crumb Cake ink on the left DSP (bottom)
3. Stamp the light house scene on the art piece, with the light beams shining off the art piece and onto the DSP and the sand pipers also stamped onto the art piece
4. Mat the art piece with the 2 1/8 by 4 1/4" piece of Island Indigo and adhere  to the card front using dimensionals.
5. Stamp the sentiment with Island Indigo ink, sponge edges, and adhere to left side of card using dimensionals.

Nailed It

The new Occasions catalogue will be here soon.  Today I made a Twist and Pop card which high lights the new Masculine stamp set "Nailed It"  It reminds me so much of an older stamp set which has a been a favourite of mine for years "Tool Time".  Remember that one?

I did incorporate some images from that retired stamp set into this card.

For the background of the art pieces the smaller images (nails, screws, etc) were stamped randomly using Basic Gray ink. The Timeless Texture stamp set was used as well.  I just love that set!! All edges were sponged with Basic Gray ink.

The images were coloured with markers and then cut out and placed where I wanted them on.

A belly band was used to keep the card closed.  A real screw and bolt  was used as an embellishment on this band.

Supplies Used: 

Stamp: Nailed It, Timeless Texture, Tool Time (retired)

Inks: Basic Gray, Black Memento, Markers (Real Red, Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede)

Papers:Whisper White, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Smoky Slate DSP

Accessories: Labels framelits, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, dimensionals, Clear Wink of Stella glitter, a screw and a bolt.

Picture Perfect meets By the Tide

I just loved this card when I saw it on Pinterest, and I unabashedly cased it.  It was originally made by a demonstrator in Germany, Carmen  Morris at "Caringforstamps.blogspot.nl"

• The base card is Soft Suede, layered with crumb cake.
• The images are stamped on  Very Vanilla cardstock, using only 2 colours of ink:  Crumb Cake and Soft Suede.  A piece of Burlap ribbon was adhered randomly near the bottom right.  Gorgeous grunge was used to mimic the air bubbles from the fish.
• The top was torn, sponged, and Baker's twine was wrapped around it.
• The star fish, from Picture Perfect, was stamped on a separate piece of paper and stamped first with crumb cake and then with Soft Suede.  It was cut out, the edges sponged, and mounted onto the card front using dimensionals over the burlap ribbon.
• All edges were sponged with Soft Suede ink, and on the image piece part of the middle was sponged as well.

Stamps: Picture Perfect, By the Tide, Gorgeous Grunge
Inks: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake,
Papers: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Baker's twine, dimensionals, Burlap ribbon

Time for Fishing - The Friday Mashup #224

The challenge this week with the Friday Mashup  is to make a card with a hunting or a fishing theme, using the following colours:  Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, and Marina Mist.  I'm afraid I forgot about the colours required for the challenge, so I used some different colours.  I managed to get Marina Mist in, but that's all.  But my card does have a fishing theme.  So I'm going to share the card I made.

• To make the image, I sponged the following colours on a piece of Whisper White paper:  Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Tangelo Twist,
• The stamps are from Stampscape.  They were stamped with Archival Ink (Black to create the scene).  The entire piece was embossed using clear embossing powder.
• The fish on the right side are from "By the Tide" stamp set.  They were coloured with alcohol markers, cut out and embossed  using clear embossing powder.  A tiny hole was pierced near the tip of the mouth (I used a piercing tool) and a piece of linen thread was inserted through them to anchor the fish together.  The fish were mounted on a piece of blue cardstock using dimensionals.
• The sentiment is from another fishing stamp set I have.  It is stamped in Archival ink on crumb cake cardstock and  punched with the word window punch and matted with a piece of  Modern Word label punch.

Supplies Used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Happy Birthday - Masculine Card from The Friday Mashup #213

The challenge at the Friday Mashup this week is to create a Father's Day theme using the following colours :  Island Indigo, Garden Green, Cajun Craze.  I didn't need any more Father's Day cards, so I made a birthday card.

• The base cardstock is Island Indigo, matted with Whisper White cardstock.
•  The "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp was used to stamp lines using Island Indigo,imitating a road
• Then I added a strip of Garden Green cardstock punched with the Scallop border punch.  At the right side 3 small banners, punched  with the small banner punch werre attached just under the green scalloped strip.
• A splotch of Island Indigo was stamped in the upper middle.
• On a separate piece of Whisper White cardstock, the image of the card was stamped with Cajun Craze.  It was die cut using the circles framelits.  The edge of this circle was sponged with the same colour of ink as the car.  Dimensionals were used to adhere this circle to the card.
• I found a piece of retired DSP that had a chevron pattern on it in Island Indigo.  It reminded me of the chevrons painted on the 401 Highway so that you can monitor your own speed.  I cut a 3/4" piece and adhered it to the left side.  A 1/8" strip of Cajun Craze cardstock was attached to this DSP.
• Using the 1/4" hand held punch, 3 circles in the 3 colours were punched and glued to the upper right.
• The sentiment, stamped in Cajun Craze is from "Guy Greetings".
• Crystal Effects was applied to the 1/8" strip, the 1/4" dots, and a small dot was placed on each of the banners.  Crystal Effects was also applied to the car, but it did made the ink "run" a bit looking like I colour washed the car.

Supplied Used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A Wetlands Masculine Card - The Paper Players #248

Yes, Father's Day is approaching quickly, so it's time to make some special cards for that special man in your life. But even if you don't have a special man, it's always good to have masculine cards on hand. This week with The Paper Players  the theme is to make a masculine card.  I immediately thought of the stamp set "Wetlands".  I can remember breathing a sigh of relief that this stamp set was not retired when the new catalogue came out.

• The base card is Soft Suede cardstock, layered with Whisper White.  On top of that are 2 layers of cardstock.  The top half is Whisper white which was coloured using theSoft Sky ink pad directly on the block and stamping it on the cardstock.  The bottom of this top piece was die cut with the Large Scallop edgelit die.  Using the Four Feather's stamp set, feathers were randomly stamped over it using Soft Sky ink.

If you look closely you can see the feathers that were stamped in the background.

• The bottom piece is Soft Suede cardstock, the top of which was die cut with the same large Scallop edgelit, but the edgelit was placed so that it was upsidedown.  The image of the sea grass was stamped all over this surface using Soft Suede ink.

• All edges were sponged with Soft Suede ink prior to them being adhered to the cardstock base.
• The smaller image panel was coloured in the same manner.  The top part with Soft Sky ink directly on the stamping block and the bottom with Crumb Cake ink.
• The clouds in the sky were made by adhering 3 pieces of 1 3/4" scallop punchies together and sponging the edges with Soft Sky ink in a random pattern.
• The sand pipers were stamped with Soft Suede ink at the water line.
• The image of the goose was stamped on a separate piece of Whisper white paper and coloured with markers.  It was then cut out and adhered to the panel with dimensionals in such a way that the goose was in front of the sandpipers. The grass was stamped separately using Old Olive ink, cut out and sponged with Soft Suede ink.  It was adhered to the bottom of the image panel beneath the goose.
• The sentiment is from "A Dozen Thoughts", made into a banner, sponged and adhered to the card by the goose.

Supplies Used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

• A natural buttom, with a Black Baker's Twine bow on top was adhered to the upper right of the image panel.
• The image panel was adhered to the card front using dimensionals.

My Hero

Today is Remembrance Day, and for this occasion I wanted to make a very special card to pay tribute to all the veterans of all our wars, those who have fought and still continue to fight. 
This is not a traditional Remembrance Day card with red poppies etc, but one done in military browns and beiges with stars instead of the popular flower.
It is a masculine card, but that in no way negates my thoughts of all the females who have served in our armed forces. I seem to be on a masculine card kick.

This top folding card uses Early Espresso and Crumb cake sponged with Early Espresso as its main base. The Star die was then used to create the stars from retired designer paper. The stars were adhered to 1" crumb cake squares punched with the 1" punch and then attached to an Early Espresso mat. These were then adhered to the crumb cake layer using dimensionals.

Stamp: Petite Pairs
Ink: Early Espresso
Papers: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Designer Paper (retired)
Accessories: Star die, Small star punch, 1 3/4 by 7/8" oval punch, Scallop oval punch, 1" square punch, dimensionals

Need for Speed - Challenge 174 LNS

The challenge this week with the LNS group is Masculine Cards.

This card features a jet plane taking off.  Can't you almost hear the whine of the engines? The motion effect was made by repeatedly stamping the same image backwards from the main image.

This card reminds me of my father and of my hometown.
Not that my father was a pilot, but he worked as a civilian at an Air Force Base where planes like this were constantly taking off and landing. The stories he would tell!!
And, in the town where I grew up, our house was directly underneath the flight path of these jets.
Sometimes the noise was deafening!  But after a while you didn't hear it anymore- your ears somehow adjusted. Visitors would comment on the noise "How can you stand this?", but like I said, we didn't hear it anymore.

My Dad has been gone for quite a while.  Nevertheless,  Dad, this card is for you.

Stamps: Need for Speed, Best Dad
Inks: Basic Gray, Basic Black, SU Markers (Basic Gray, Cajun Craze), Not Quite Navy
Papers: Not Quite Navy. Crumb Cake, Well Worn designer paper, Whisper White
Accessories: Blender pen, Harlequin texturz plate, stampin dimensionals

In Wildness - Thinking of You - Technostamper #220

I'm so excited spring is here, but not excited that some of my favourite stamp sets are retiring.  I made today's card for the Monday Sketch Challenge with Technostamper #220 here using a retiring stamp set and retiring designer paper.

Stamps: In Wildness, For Father

Inks: Early Espresso

Papers: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Mocha Morning specialty paper

Accessories: Houndtooth embossing folder, 2 1/2" circle punch, Modern Word Label Punch, Word Label Punch

I have used this stamp set for making masculine cards on many occasions - and that is one of the reasons I like it so much.

All the edges were sponged with Early Espresso ink to provide some distressing.