A Two-fer...

Today I kind of cheated in a couple of ways.  First of all, my card uses a bunch of retired product...sorry...but I love the images and they were perfect for what I wanted to do.  Secondly, I combined two challenges in this one card!  Stamping 411 has a sketch challenge this week and Friday Mashup is all about monochromatic manly cards so....I convered 'em both in one card!  As most of you know, I'm taking an online course for work and as a result, my stamping time is pretty limited these days.  I need to economize and make the most of the few minutes I have, hence the two-for one card.  Now...enough justifying!  Here are the challenges:

Here is my card for both of these challenges:

Card for MU6 and SSC203 using Pedaling Past set and Motorcycle a la carte stamp (both are retired but the motorcycle is available as an MDS digital download!)

Close up of all the elements in the card!

Inside of card...sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes set (if you don't have this set yet, you NEED it!)

 Here is how I put this one together.  Starting with a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of the grid patterned Presto Patterns specialty paper, I spritzed it using my basic gray and basic black markers and my spritzer tool.  I set it aside to dry and then took a 3" x 3 1/4" piece of whisper white and stamped the various bicycle images from the Pedaling Past set in going gray (retired), basic gray and basic black ink.  Some images I stamped off once to get variety in the shades of gray.  I then sponged the whole thing lightly with going gray (I miss that colour!) and the edges only in basic gray.  I then stamped the motorcycle in Versamark ink and then heat embossed it using black embossing powder.  I stamped the sentiment in the lower right corner using basic gray ink and then adhered the stamped piece to a mat in brushed silver cut 1/8" larger in size.  That was then adhered to a second mat (the layer queen strikes again!) in basic black cut 1/8" larger than the silver piece.  Turning my attention back to the background piece, I sponged the entire thing lightly in going gray ink to bring out the grid pattern and then sponged the edges in basic black.  I then wrapped a length of black hemp twine (also retired) around it lengthwise several times, tying it in a knot.  I added a trinket key, also securing it with a knot. I adhered the stamped image using dimensionals.  The final element is the three silver brads in the upper right corner, as per the sketch.  I glued the whole cardfront to a basic gray card base.  The inside is pretty self-evident...I think you can likely figure it out...nothing fancy there!
Can you see why I just had to use so much retired product for this card?  I know it can be frustrating to go blog surfing and see something great that uses product you can't get anymore...so I apologize...and I'm willing to share!  If you live close-by you are more than welcome to borrow my stamps!