60th Birthday Card

.... Hello again! This is a very special card - it's for my wonderful husband, Jonathan. He'll be 60 years young on 30 April. Jonathan is a huge Dr Who fan, so I decided to make a postage stamp style card with Dr Who style 'stamps'. Here's his card:

Stamps: Viva Las Vegas - Plate 925 (Dr Who); Kindred Stamps - Dr Who; Gina K - Birthday Sparkle, Post Cards and More; Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Fall; MFT - Vanity License Plate

Inks: Gina K - Key Lime, Blue Raspberry, Soft Stone; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Waffle Flower - A7 Postage Stamp Collage; Gina K - Birthday Sparkle

Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Pear Pizzazz; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Markers; Primacolor Pencils; Visible Image Stencils - Ripples, Off the Grid; Waffle Flower - A7 Postage Collage Block Stencil; Stampendous - Tim Holtz THS115 (stars)

I'm submitting this card to Seize the Birthday - STB#281 - I gone with 'any colour and green', Addicted to Stamps and More - ATSM#466, and The Male Room - TMR#185 where they want to see embossing.

I think if you've seen my blog recently, you'll be aware that I just love the postage collage style cards. Waffle Flower have produced dies for all size cards - this card is 5" x 7" and uses the A7 die and stencil. It's great because I can use larger images in the 'stamps'. I die cut the stamp collage from white card, placed the block stencil over the top and used grey, blue and green brush to lightly ink the stamps. I then used three different stencil to create background patterns and inking with a heavier hand. I didn't reink any of the brushes - it was just what was left on the brush. I have two stamp sets that have a Dr Who theme. I used my MISTI to stamp the images. The Statue of Liberty and fish fingers and custard images were stamped with Versafine ink, embossed with clear powder, coloured with Prismacolour pencils and then fussy cut out and adhered to the stamps. The Tardis, Dalek, and Adipose babies were stamped in the MISTI, removed and coloured with Copic markers, restamped with Versafine ink, embossed with clear powder and fussy cut out. I then used various postage stamps to add detail stamping. I found a 60c stamp in Gina's Post Card & More set - so appropriate! I finished the front with a happy birthday sentiment stamped in black ink, die cut and adhered to the card.

Inside the card, I cut a mat layer of green card. On the white panel I stamped a greeting using words from the Kindred Stamps set, and added a cute (!!) Weeping Angel in the corner.

For those who don't know (and why not?) the Weeping Angels are statues that, if they catch you, transport you back in time. There is a catch with them, they can't move if you're looking at them - so 'don't blink'. The Statue of Liberty angel appears in The Angels take Manhattan. This episode always makes me cry. The Daleks have been the Doctor's adversaries since the series started in the 1960s. Google Daleks and you'll find loads of clips. The Adipose babies appear in Partners in Crime (David Tennant and Catherine Tate), one of my favourite episodes. Finally, the bowl of fish fingers and custard come from The Eleventh Hour where the newly regenerated Doctor (Matt Smith) meets Amy for the first time - it's a wonderful scene.

That really is all for today - I had so much fun making this card and I know that Jonathan will love it. See you soon.

Happy Birthday Darling ....

... Good morning! Today is Jonathan's birthday. My toy boy is 56 years young today and I've made him a very special birthday card:

Stamps: Viva Las Vegas - Plate 925 (Dr Who)
Inks: Gina K - Black Amalgam
Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Night of Navy; Copic Markers

I'm submitting this card to AAA Cards - AAA#164 where they want one image with the option of being inspired by a TV show, The Paper Players - PP#488 - sketch, and Seize the Birthday - STB#189 where Anything Birthday goes.

You're either wondering what the heck I'm playing at, or you're falling about laughing! If you're a Dr Who fan, I guess you get the reference. For those who don't know what this picture means, I've added a video clip at the end of the post. Watch and enjoy. I stamped the bowl of fish fingers and custard on white card, coloured it with Copic markers and fussy cut it out. I cut a panel of navy card onto which I adhered a smaller white panel. I stamped the sentiment and used dimensional pads to attach the image. On the inside, I simply stamped the image again in black and added another greetings.

Jonathan will LOVE this card - he has a huge and varied Dr Who collection. This picture references when Matt Smith took over the role of Dr Who, and we all really enjoyed Matt's portrayal of the Doctor. However, Jonathan's Doctor was played by Tom Baker and my Doctor was played by Jon Pertwee. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for David Tennant too 😉. That's it from me today - here's the video clip I was telling you about:

TMR - Theme - Spots 'n' Stripes .....

....  Good morning all!  It's time for our new challenge over at The Male Room.  For the next couple of weeks we'd like your masculine projects to have SPOTS AND STRIPES.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Viva Las Vegas - Dr Who Plate 925
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up DP - Melon Mambo, Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay, Kraft; Clear Embossing Powder

I've used the colours from CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#133 and the layout is from Clean&Simple - FTL#21.  This card is completely different to the one I had planned to make.  I was checking the main blog yesterday morning and saw Louise's wonderful card with the spots and stripes ties, and realised that I'd have to come up with something different.  And yesterday evening (about 9.00pm) I suddenly had an idea.  I've mentioned that I like Dr Who, and when Matt Smith played Dr Who, bow ties were very cool!  So this is the result.  I stamped the bow tie three times, embossed them with clear powder and cut them out.  I cut a strip of striped paper adhered it to the card and added some burlap paper - love this texture.  I then used dimensional tape to attach the bow ties.  I haven't added a sentiment as yet because I'm not sure whether this will be for a birthday or just because!  And, as I was running out of time, I haven't done the inside - but will add a photo when it's completed.

Do visit our blog and check out the inspiration projects from the rest of the team and from our Guest Designer, Monika.  You've got plenty of time to join in with the fun.  Enjoy!!!

Bowties are cool ....

.....  Hello again!  I managed to get a bit more time in my craft room this afternoon and I played along with a few challenges and made this quirky masculine card:

Stamps: Viva Las Vegas Stamps - Plate 925 (Dr Who); Stampin' Up! - Perfectly Penned
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; SU - Bermuda Bay
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler; SU DP - Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Bermuda Bay; Black Marker

I've used a few challenges in the making of this card.  The colours are from Colour Throwdown - CTD#332, the layout and theme of bowties are from Fusion - FUSION#29 and the word challenge at Just Us Girls - JUGS#283 is MASCULINE, and I do like making guy cards.

As soon as I saw the challenge at Fusion, I knew I wanted to make a bowtie card, but it's taken me ages!!  I used this wonderful bowtie stamp which is from a Dr Who themed set and stamped it on card and design paper, cut them out, edged them with black marker and then adhered them directly to the card.  Very clean and simple.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of design paper, and on the white panel added a birthday sentiment and another bowtie!  Well, why not?

I think I've mentioned that we are all big Dr Who fans in this family.  When Matt Smith played The Doctor he wore a bowtie and always insisted that "bowties are cool!"  I tend to agree with him.  And if you want to see The Doctor, here's a link to him repeating this several times:

Twins birthday cards ....

.....  Good morning!  I hope you're all enjoying a good weekend.  Kathryn is away at her friends for a sleepover.  Her friends are twins and are celebrating their birthday this weekend.  Kathryn asked me to make special cards for them both - one likes Dr Who (doesn't everyone?) and the other likes Batman.  So I had lots of fun making them these cards.

The first is the Batman themed card.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Perfectly Penned, Endless Birthday Wishes
Inks: Distress - Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Black, Daffodil Delight; Wink of Stella - Black; Cameo - Batman Logo

When Kathryn asked for a Batman card, I had to really think about it.  I have lots of Halloween type bats, but I knew that she wanted the "proper" Batman logo.  Then I remembered that I had the logo in my selection of cut files for the Silhouette Cameo.  This is only the fourth time I've actually used my Cameo (a situation which I'm going to fix).  It was so easy to find the image, set it to the appropriate size and then send it to cut!  I cut some yellow card, adhered it to the card base and distressed the edges with black ink.  Then it was simply a case of adhering the logo and a bold birthday greetings - which I over stamped several times to give a slight offset shadow.  On the inside of the card I cut a mat of yellow and used the negative space of the cut file and stamped a greeting inside.

The next card has a Dr Who theme - in this family we are big Dr Who fans, so this wasn't difficult at all!

Stamps: Viva Las Vegas Stamps - Plate 925; Dare 2B Artzy - Live Life; Craft's Meow - Typically Teen; SU - Endless Birthday Wishes
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; SU - Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, So Saffron; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Night of Navy; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Blue

I had so much fun colouring in the Tardis.  I used lots of the tips that I picked up while doing the Online Card Class - Copic Markers for Cardmakers.   I coloured the whole Tardis in light blue, then added some darker blue shading.  I used a grey marker on the shadow side - I love the effect that this gives.  I stamped another Tardis, coloured the windows and cut them out.  I used a white marker to add the writing around the top of the Tardis.  I added a touch of sparkle to the Tardis using a blue Wink of Stella brush.  I stamped the background to look a bit like Gallifrian symbols (see below).  I finished the front with a simple greeting.  On the inside I cut a panel of white card and adhered a big bow tie (from Matt Smith's incarnation of The Doctor) and a birthday greeting.

I hope that Kathryn's friends like their very individual birthday cards!!  Below is a photo of some Gallifrian symbols from inside the Tardis (the new version).

Photo credit

I have most of the day to myself - so I think I'm going to be playing in my craft room!  Jonathan is off out to a photo shoot and I'm not expecting Kathryn home for ages yet!!  That's all for now.  See you soon.