First Rule of the Garage

I stumbled across a masculine card I made some time ago and hadn't posted. It uses garage-themed papers and ephemera from Mintay which I knew would go wonderfully with some Tim Holtz hardware and a few metal charms I already had in my stash. Now, I've had these tool charms for literally years and years, so I have no idea of their brand or origin but it's great to finally use them!

The hanging tools - crescent and pliers - are real metal, as is the gauge frame just above the sign (the Hardie Mfg Co. one) and the 'screws' at the corners. The rest is paper/card! 

Here you can see the layering. I attached the tools to my 'corkboard' (die cut from cork-look paper) using jump rings and brads. 

I love the background paper that looks like rusted metal plate but it stole the limelight a bit, so I applied some gesso here and there using a brayer to tone it down. The brass pipe along the right side is fussy cut from a sheet of 12x12" paper. I love, love, love the sentiment on the sign - just makes me smile every time I read this play on the famous line from Fight Club. 

The downside to all this metallic goodness? The card ended up being pretty hefty which means when I try to stand it up, it just falls over from all the weight on the front!!! Roflol. Ah well, the recipient will just have to prop it up or lay it down.

Materials used:

• card - early espresso, basic black
• papers - Garage collection (Mintay), Golden Days collection (Mintay)
• dies - corkboard (Paper Rose)
• Tim Holtz ideaology - machinery heads, gauge dials, metal gauge frames, jump rings, brads
• other - gesso, brayer, mini glue dots, craft foam, Dimensionals, Big Shot

Maybe you've got something in your stash that needs to see the light of day too - go on and check it out! Remember, if you use up stuff it gives you an excuse to buy more to fill the gap left behind!!!!!! 😉

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #598 - Colour Combo

Hi, hi! It's time for another challenge with Just Add Ink and this week we've got a colour combo for you to play with:

Cherry cobbler is (as any frequent visitor will know) my all-time favourite SU colour and I love it paired with pretty much any other shades. This combo made me think 'bloke'; consequently, I've made a blokey card.

I made an ink smooshed background using misty moonlight and Sahara sand, adding in some neutral oxide inks for layering (you can't layer dye inks) and gold embossing the gorgeous cogs stamp from the set once it was all dry. More touches of gold in the 'button' on his collar and the star feature top left, while the banner punched adornment and his collar are cherry cobbler. The cogs stamp is repeated on the background piece of Sahara sand card. I think the sentiment sticker I picked suits this gent perfectly, don't you? He seems to have attitude in spades, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Observations (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
• card - basic black, watercolour, Sahara sand, cherry cobbler
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, aquapainter, gold embossing powder, heat tool, gold pearl, water spritzer, Small Talk sticker (Tim Holtz), Idea-ology star adornments (Tim Holtz), frayed burlap and antique linen distress oxide inks, Dimensionals, sponge daubers, antique gold gilding wax, small pennant punch

There's plenty more inspiration for you over on the Just Add Ink blog so do be sure to wander over and take a peek. As always, we'd love to see your own creation in our gallery.

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

Accept Who You Are - CAS on Friday challenge #224

Welcome! It's time for another clean and simple card challenge with CAS on Friday and this time around our theme is MALE cards.

I have kept my card incredibly simple, allowing my die-cut piece to take centre stage - even the few tiny paint splatters are localised to the sentiment.

Materials used:

• stamps - Theories (Tim Holtz)
• card - basic black, watercolour
• distress oxide inks - candied apple, carved pumpkin, mustard seed, mowed lawn, salvaged patina, wilted violet
• dies - Umbrella Man (Tim Holtz), stitched rectangle
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot Switch, Dimensionals, craft foam, black marker, MISTI, water spritzer, blending brushes, white paint

We'd love you to join us in creating a CAS card for a male someone in your life. More inspiration can be found at the CAS on Friday blog where my fellow team mates have plenty to get your creative juices flowing!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

How Old? - CAS on Friday Challenge #215

It's time for some clean and simple in our lives! Yep, the CAS on Friday challenge has rolled around again. 

This is challenge #215 and the theme is CIRCLES. I chose some cogs for a guy card. 

I absolutely LOVE the quirked brow on this gentleman that gives him such a skeptical look, especially paired with that sentiment (roflol), so I made my cogs very worn and grungy to tie in with the aged theme. To get them like that, once I had cut my die I used fingers to spread grit paste all over to give texture, then once dry I simply dabbed different coloured paints and a bit of archival ink too. I hope they look suitably decrepit!

Materials used:

• stamps - Inquisitive (Tim Holtz)
• card - basic black, basic white
• distress paints - frayed burlap, black soot, salvaged patina, rusty hinge
• other - Gearhead dies (Tim Holtz), craft foam, Dimensionals, Copic markers, MISTI, vintage photo distress archival ink, heat tool, Big Shot

My fellow team mates have some wonderful samples to inspire you, so do pop over to the CASOF blog to take a look, and of course we'd love you to join in the challenge with your own interpretation of circles.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

What's Up? You Good?

Giving my ladies a 'shades of blue' theme for a challenge this week gave me the perfect excuse to play for the first time with new distress colour, prize ribbon. 

I decided to see how it pairs with salvaged patina and peacock feathers and must say, I love it! Here's my card:

Materials used:

• stamps - Inquisitive (Tim Holtz)
• card - basic black, coastal cabana, watercolour, basic white
• distress inks/distress oxide inks - salvaged patina, prize ribbon, peacock feathers
• distress oxide spray - salvaged patina
• distress spray stain - picket fence
• other - splatter brush, mini Plus stencil (TH), heat tool, water spritzer, white embossing powder, Dimensionals, blending brush, Copic markers

Hope you're doing good, wherever you may be. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Best Laid Plans

I have got to stop leaving the making of my class cards until the last minute...and by last minute I mean less than the time it takes to order more materials from SU that I've just discovered I don't have enough of, especially in a short week. Ho hum. Ah well, that's what emergency substitutions are for, right? So you have to imagine the green in today's card is granny apple green (which I had planned to use but discovered I'd run out of) rather than cucumber crush (which I had to substitute for, despite it being retired, because I had plenty on hand and it was similar enough in tone). M'kay? Cool.

With many of my ladies needing cards suitable for the men in their lives, we're using another retiring set and semi, sort-of CASEing a card by Kimberly van Diepen. I know a couple of the hubbies/sons/sons-in-law are into motorbikes, so hopefully this will be right up their alley.

Materials used:

• stamps - One Wild Ride
• card - cucumber crush, whisper white, basic black, black glimmer, retired DSP
• other - layering circles dies, Big Shot, Stamparatus, Dimensionals, basic black marker

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

M is for Male

Like many of you, I often have trouble making male cards. It doesn't help that my own DH is not in to standard "male" colours - ie most of the Earth Elements colour family. He prefers bold colours so asking him for an opinion on a male card I've made is pretty much a waste of time! Basically I ignore him and keep going with my own instinct - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't!

This first card is one that for me, falls into the category of "it doesn't". I was inspired by a card made using the US in colours and adapted it to be more "male", but I'm not that happy with the result; it just doesn't "pop" IMHO. It'll probably end up in the box of cards the girls are allowed to give away!

Now this second card works for me and even has the added benefit of having an unintentional mistake turn into something good! Can't ask for better than that, LOL!

I used gloss card and discovered that StazOn ink slides around, creating the shadow effect I've got here. My first thought was "Oh oh!" but then I decided I kinda liked it and it may even look like I've made that effect on purpose, LOL! Ssshhhhh! Don't tell! (I dunno what's happened in my photo, though, it's made all the lines look jagged; they're not, honest!)

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2010 Stampin' Up! ®

I'll be back later in the week with a very special project I am working on, so stay tuned!

Cheers
Kez