June STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Masculine Colours

Summer is here!! Hope you are enjoying good weather and summer fun wherever you are. This will also be the last STAMPlorations CAS challenge before we go off on a break over summer. This month we challenge you to create something with masculine colours. But fear not, there will be plenty of exciting stuff going on over at the STAMPlorations blog. And don't forget that you can get a 20% discount if you want to go on a shopping spree in the STAMPlorations store by using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA.

For my card I chose to create a one layer card using the gorgeous Born to Roam stamps. I stamped the globe, masked it and stamped the luggage. Then I coloured the images with Copics. Last, I stamped one of the sentiments from the stamp set using Vintage Photo Distress ink. Last, I masked the image and stamped some splatters from the Art Marks stamp set.

I'm linking up my card with this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes.

Card: 250 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Born to Roam, Art Marks

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Distress Ink Vintage Photo

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

CBG stands for Clean But Grunge-y

This morning I woke up to a white world! We went out for dinner last night, and when we were driving back home to our remote little village in the middle of nowhere snowflakes started falling from the sky. This morning it felt like the whole world was clean and new. Well, as it's already 11 o'clock as I write this, most of that lovely white fluffy stuff has disappeared and it looks a bit grey and dreadful again, but it was nice while it lasted. As long as it's gone by tomorrow morning as I'm not looking forward to slipping and sliding in to work. Back home we had a proper winter, so the cars have separate winter and summer tires. Over here we only have snow one or two days a year so everyone just goes along with one set of tires and boy does it get slippy-slidey when there is snow.

Oh well, on to more crafty things. Things like the dreaded male birthday card. Your brain freezes and you feel like you will never overcome this impossible mountain. You start over and over again, never getting anywhere. And then from time to time, you realised you actually created one by accident, without even thinking about it! This time a card that was going to be something completely different happened to end up a male birthday card instead. Oh well, who am I to argue.

I started by inking through a STAMPlorations stencil I have never used before, despite having it for a while. I got out three shades of green Tim Holtz distress inks, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss for this. Then I used some stamps from STAMPlorations Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds and the same inks to create a bit of a grungy look around the area where I was planning to add the panel with my sentiment. I stamped the frame from STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and the sentiment from STAMPlorations Celebrate Artsy in Versamark and heat embossed in silver onto black cardstock. I attached the front panel onto a mint green mat and then onto white card and that my friends in how you make a CBG (clean but grunge-y) male birthday card. Also, don't forget if you are a CAS (or CBG, hehe...) card crafter, STAMPlorations challenges you to join our first ever CAS card challenge, where the theme this month is anything goes, with an optional colour twist of silver.

I was inspired by, and linking up with, the following challenges:
ColourQ - colour inspiration
Time Out - Birthday with optional twist of sponging
Shopping Our Stash - Something New (never before used stencil)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stencil It
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Ombre
Fantasy Stampers - All About the Boy

Card: White 300 gsm textured card, Vanguard VA012, coloured 240gsm crafting card black
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Cracked Pistachio, Forest Moss and Twisted Citron
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture, Celebrate Artsy, Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds
Stencils: STAMPlorations Shutters Stencil
Other: Papermania Silver Embossing Powder

My Snarky Valentine

I'm enjoying a lazy day off. I had to stay at home, we are finally getting hooked up with high speed broadband. The engineer better get here today as agreed, I don't have the best track record with broadband service providers and they better not make me take another day off. I can't wait to have fast internet though, we have been getting by on 2 Mb and it means from time to time I have to even wait for webpages to load, not to mention streaming. But soon we can stream as much as we want!! We have been waiting for this for ages. I'm also notorious for leaving a gazillion web pages open at any one time, and sometimes everything just freezes because of the slow internet. I can't imagine what it will be like living with a civilised internet speed. The joys of living in the countryside, waiting for years and years for technology to catch up.

Onto today's card. It should be evident by now that I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day. I guess I was alone for so long I developed quite a distaste for the whole thing. And we aren't very romantic in this house. But I do feel like a small acknowledgement of the V day is in order now that I seem to be in what can be called a stable relationship.

I think Gus got it right on the spot in this Bugaboo digi. I thought it would make a great Valentine's card for my Culinary Consultant. Neutral colours, snarky sentiment. The card was quick to put together, I just coloured Gus and the frame around him and stamped the Hardwood and Gorgeous Grunge stamps onto kraft card. That's it, all done. I added adhesive gems in the corners which I coloured with a brown Sharpie. I'm sure the Culinary Consultant will find this funny. And I'm giving him the best Valentine's day present - a DVD box of Game of Thrones season 4 which in fact I want myself. I know he likes it too, but more than that, I'm giving him something we can actually watch together without me being bored or falling asleep. How smart am I, lol!! No, seriously he does like it too. 

I already linked up with the current Snarky Sister's one year anniversary Snarker's choice challenge with my Stella tag. However there were so many great choices I thought I would link up Gus as well for the A is for Anti-Valentine challenge. I'm also linking up at 4 Crafty Chicks where the theme is "use a hand coloured image", Crafting for all seasons "have a heart" (here, the heart being in the sentiment, not a physical heart on the card), The Male Room "Valentine", Cuttin' And Stampin' "Masculine" and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "H is for..." (hardwood in this case). 

Card: kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamp: Bugaboo Gus - her nagging, Stampin' Up Hardwood, Gorgeous Grunge, Just Sayin', Good Greetings
Colouring: Copics YR00, R20, E34, E39, brown Sharpie
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede
Other: Stampin' Up adhesive gems

Another male card - birthday

I'm on a roll with the male cards! I won the bid for this great Tim Holtz The Journey stamp set on eBay, and it is perfect for easy male cards. This is a birthday card for someone in the family who loves old cars, so I thought it would be perfect. I picked a neutral colour scheme and my favourite Tim Holtz ink - Vintage Photo. It is just the most perfect brown.

I am entering the card in two male themed challenges: The Pink Elephant challenge, Papertake weekly, and the Cardmaking and Papercraft challenge.

I stamped the car and sentiment in Vintage Photo onto beige cardstock. I distressed the cardstock edges using scissors and inked with Vintage Photo. I matted onto darker brown cardstock from my stash, and distressed the edges with Walnut Stain. I created the background by randomly stamping the other stamps in Stampin' Up Sahara Sand and added a bit of Gorgeous Grunge for that added aged feel. I created the banners using the Stampin' Up set Banner Blast in Vintage Photo and punched them with the matching punch. I also stamped the banners on the envelope  and punched some more banners for the inside of the card. To finish off, I die cut the numbers and added them to the card.

Inside of the card and the envelope.

Card: A4 coloured craft card in beige, brown cardstock from my stash
Stamps: Tim Holtz stampers anonymous The Journey, Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge, Banner Blast
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain, Stampin' Up Sahara Sand
Other: Stampin' Up Banner punch, Tim Holtz Alterations inside out alphabet die

Come fly away with me

When I won the Ebay bid for the Tim Holtz Remnants stamp set I was delighted because I knew it would solve my problem of making the second male graduation card for my Sis' graduating Doctor friends (you can see the other one here). I love Tim Holtz stamps, they are so detailed and beautiful. From this stamp set I particularly love the hot air balloon, it is just dreamy. So I wanted to hold on to that slightly dreamy feeling by the colour scheme and the white edge around the balloon. 

I was sitting with the balloon stamp in front of me thinking about the best way to make it into a card. This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is themed "Paint" so I decided to watercolour the image. I am also entering this into the current Addicted to CAS challenge which is themed "Transport". I know the card might not be very CAS in the eyes of purists, but it's much more CAS than I usually do. I am also entering the card in this week's Addicted to stamps challenge, which is also themed CAS. Last but not least I'm also entering it into The Pink Elephant challenge which is themed "Father's day/Masculine".

I heat embossed the image with ultra fine, clear, embossing powder onto beige cardstock and painted with Stampin' Up inks and a Aqua-Flo brush. I then sponged the edges with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink. The die cut letters were also sponged with Vintage Photo, and are the same Teal card as the matting.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Coloured 240 gsm Craft Card in Beige and Teal
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Remnants CMS130
Inks: Hobbycraft black pigment ink, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Marina Mist, Pacific Point and Wild Wasabi, Whisper White Pigment Ink
Other: Tim Holtz Alterations Inside out alphabet die, Ranger ultra fine clear embossing powder

The elusive male card

The elusive creature we call the male card... We build Pinterest boards for it, have courses and challenges to help us make one. And yet every time it's so hard to get going every single time. Thankfully I sorted out my only UK Father's day card a while ago (Finnish Father's day isn't until November). But I am still faced with the dilemma of male cards as I've promised to make a few cards for my Sis' friends when they graduate Medical School in little over a month's time. There are two male cards on that list, and I thought now is the time to tackle at least one of them. Off I went to the Interwebs to find some inspiration. I was inspired by this card I found on Pinterest, as well as the wonderful DT creations on Stampin' Royalty and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge as both blogs are running male themed challenges this week.

I have to admit it, I went for every single male card cliché out there. Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, neutral colours, banners... But if it works, it works. I wasn't sure whether it would really work or not, but I think it turned out to be a decent card after all despite it's apparent simplicity. The photo doesn't quite do it justice as it doesn't show the dark grey and chocolate chip brown quite as vibrant as they are in real life.

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray and Chocolate Chip
Paper: Stampin' Up Tea For Two DSP
Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge and Hardwood, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Inks: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Smoky Slate and Early Espresso, Tim Holtz Distress embossing ink
Other: Tim Holtz alterations inside out alphabet die, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing powder

Distressed cogs

I have no idea where the idea for this card came from. I was cleaning up my craft room and had the computer sitting next to me with the CAS(E) this Sketch page open. I wasn't going to do a card for this sketch challenge as the sketch didn't do anything for me at first. But all of a sudden I had this card. I'm not quite sure what happened in between, all I can recall is a lot of distressing, which is always fun.

I die cut the cogs and used the range of neutrals from Tim Holtz to distress them.  I then stamped using the same inks and the ever so versatile Gorgeous Grunge stamp set in the same colours across the cogs and some kraft card. The smallest cogs are stamped directly onto the cardstock using stamps from a Chronology stamp set as the smallest die cut cog was too big to fit everything onto a card. Last I distressed the panel for the sentiment and stamped a sentiment from the Paper smooches Sentiment Sampler onto the panel and attached everything onto the kraft card. I have to say this is definitely one of the rare cards that ended up looking better than the idea in my head, which is always a nice change.


Card: Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Ribbed 300 gsm Rustic Craft Card, Craft UK kraft card
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge, Chronology stamp set with gears and globe (I think this was free with a Docrafts magazine sometime last year, I got them on Ebay)
Inks: Tim Holtz distress ink in Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
Other: Tim Holtz Alterations Gadget Gears die