Masculine Birthday Card

I made this card for one of my grandsons who turned 19 recently. I really need to increase my collection of masculine stamps, not to mention, birthday sayings! I keep reusing them and it's kind of embarrassing!

But one thing I didn't reuse for the umpteenth time is the Tim Holtz Steampunk embossing folder. Why I don't use it more, I don't know.

I feel like so much of what I use is obsolete now. So many stampers with blogs work for stamp companies, so they're always getting new stuff. I imagine new stuff is a lot more interesting than old stuff, but I refuse to go into debt just to always be using "the latest thing". And I have no interest in being a salesman for stamp companies. This is a hobby after all. For pleasure only, in my case.

Regardless of how old and obsolete my stuff is (Basic Grey paper, anyone?), it's all still useful to me. So even if I'm only posting obsolete stuff here and talking to myself because I fell out of the stamping loop, so be it. I do like having a place to say what I want about each card I make.

I used some of the new Papertrey Ink cardstock I bought to prop up my poor old cardstock collection. When I took all of my stamping stuff out of storage, I realized that cardstock does not do well with temperature fluctuations. The Papertrey Ink cardstock is pretty decent, but it's easily damaged, despite being pretty thick. I'm hoping to find an even better quality paper in the future.

The color I used was Scarlett Jewel. It reminds me of the old Stampin' Up! color, Cranberry Crisp. In fact, I used some Cranberry Crisp ink on the Happy Birthday background with the old SU! background stamp, Canvas.

I had not pulled out my SU! Artifacts set in a long time and figured it was a good masculine set to work with. I only used the clock image, but I like how it turned out. Makes me think of a Tim Holtz design and kind of mimics the cog shapes in the embossing folder. The designer paper came from the Basic Grey Recess 6x6 pad.

I used the SU! Spiral punch along the edge of the decorator paper for extra interest. And I still keep trying to use brads and eyelets despite my inability to set them in a straight line. I just used some black brads along the bottom of the main piece to oomph it up a bit more.

The Happy Birthday saying is from CTMH's Spunky Greetings. The "19" was from Purple Onion Design's Girls Are Weird numerals.

Well, that's it! Take care.

Stamps: SU! Canvas, SU! Artifacts, CTMH Spunky Greetings, Purple Onion Designs Girls Are Weird numerals

CS: Black, Papertrey Ink Scarlett Jewel, Basic Grey Recess designer paper, White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Cranberry Crisp

Other: Tim Holtz Steampunk embossing folder, SU! Spiral punch, Black hemp twine, Foam tape, Black mini brads

Scout camp cards

This week is scout camp for my hubby and son, so I wanted to send them a little love in the form of a card. I was up waaaay too late last night making these, but I want them to get to camp before the end of the week!

The first one is for my hubby. I just got some new Cuttlebug embossing folders in (Crop Stop rocks, btw! I put in my order on Thursday and got my stuff on Monday!) and used one of them on both cards ("Distressed Stripes").

I wanted a "camp"ish theme, but I have few stamps that would fit. So since they're in the great outdoors and since my son will be horseback riding, I figured a tree and a horse would work.

For the tree from SU Lovely As a Tree I stamped in Basic Black dye ink on white CS and colored it with Prismacolor pencils. I stamped the sentiment underneath it using my Stamp-a-ma-jig and black ink. The saying is from Savvy Stamps. I mounted it all on black CS.

I used a piece of *swoon* Basic Grey designer paper for the distressed background. I cuttlebugged it and then sponged various earthy-colored inks on it. I punched 3-1/16" holes for the black mini-brads and mounted them as well as the zigzag ribbon after mounting the designer paper to the black CS.

For the back-most piece I stamped SU Canvas in Baroque Burgundy ink on Baroque Burgundy CS (or was it Bravo Burgundy? I can't remember and the cards are in the mail) and mounted the designer paper piece to it.

I adhered the tree image to the designer paper with Dimensionals to pop it out.

Stamps: SU Canvas, SU Lovely As a Tree, "Thinking of You" by Savvy Stamps

CS: Baroque/Bravo Burgundy, Black, Basic Grey designer paper, White

Inks: Baroque Burgundy, Basic Black, Various earthy colors

Other: Cuttlebug "Distressed Stripes" embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils, Zigzag ribbon, black mini-brads, Dimensionals, Sponges, Stamp-a-ma-jig

This card is for my son. Hopefully, the horse theme will remind him of the fun he had riding at camp.

I used Really Rust CS as the base. I stamped the star from SU Artifacts on the Basic Grey designer paper and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Distressed Stripes" folder. I then sponged it to "antique" it and stamped another star on Really Rust in black ink, cut it out, put an antique brass mini-brad in the center of the star and mounted it over the other star with Dimensionals. I adhered all of this to black CS and then to the rust CS.

I stamped the horse in black ink on white CS and sponged black, Summer Sun, and Really Rust inks over it, blocking parts as I worked with a piece of paper to give a vague background feel. I colored the horse with a few Prismacolor pencils in the browns and yellows to pick up the colors from the distressed piece. I punched 3-1/16" holes for the antique brass mini-brads. They're so perfect for an "old west" look. I then adhered the horse on black CS and then on the distressed paper with Dimensionals.

I stamped the "Miss You" sentiment from SU Year Round Cheer on Really Rust CS using the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I moved the words side by side rather than one on top of the other as it is on the stamp and then punched it out using a square punch because I can't cut a straight line to save my life! I sponged it with a little black ink.

The ribbon was the coolest part, I think. I took orangey-orange, like REALLY orange, grosgrain ribbon with blue stitches running along the edges and sponged black ink over it. It came out a cool rusty, oldish looking color. I sponged both sides for the bow thingy.
I'm so tired. I hope I didn't forget anything!

Stamps: SU Artifacts, Horse by PSX, Word saying from SU Year Round Cheer

CS: Really Rust, Black, Basic Grey designer paper, White

Inks: Basic Black, Really Rust, Summer Sun, Only Orange

Other: Cuttlebug "distressed Stripes" embossing folder, Sponges, Dimensionals, Antique brass mini-brads, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Orange grosgrain ribbon