Happy Canada Day!!

I hope my Canadian readers are enjoying today, celebrating this great country of ours with friends and family.  Today I have lots to show you, so let's get started!

It is time for a new challenge over at The Technique Twist Challenge!  This time it is a technique I had never tried before called Rolled Quartz.  For those of you who are like me and need a how-to, Anne Hayward has done a fantastic tutorial HERE...check it out and then get busy.  This is a really fun technique!  Here's a little inspiration to get you started:

Masculine card featuring the Rolled Quartz technique and the Daring Advanture and Need for Speed stamp sets (both retired)

Rather than explain in detail how I created that cool background, I'll refer you to the tutorial, as I followed that pretty much exactly.  The only difference was I used a piece of Whisper White card stock as my base, rather than a window sheet.  Now, it did get a wee bit saturated with the Crystal Effects, so if I were to do this again I would likely used some Naturals White card stock instead, as it is a bit sturdier.  To create the boat I stamped the image using Staz On on water colour paper and then coloured it using my markers and blender pen.  I fussy cut it out and adhered it to my rolled quartz background using dimensionals.  The sentiment panel is die but using the new Chalk Talk framelits...so falling in love with those great shapes!  I added a little manly detail with some silver mini brads along one side and some baker's twine to add to the nautical feel.  I hope you'll play along with us at the Technique Twist this week...what better way to spend Canada Day than with ink and stamps!

Now, I need to show you June's bonus project from Craft Project Central.  I was supposed to have posted this yesterday but was busy in the garden and forgot.  It is designed by Amanda Corbett..

Dress Up Wardrobe designed by Amanda Corbett

This fun wardrobe includes five different card designs and matching envelopes!  Each card has a different fun dress design that you can make in minutes!  You can build your own fashionable wardrobe! What a great project..Amanda is one very talented lady!

Colour Blocked Speed

I am certainly on a roll with the man cards these days!  I often have trouble coming up with simple designs for men...I usually end up distressing and sponging and layering like crazy when trying to design something masculine.  Today's project, I'm proud to say, is super simple!  It also is suitable for this week's Masculine challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  Check it out...

Quick and easy Man-card for HSS119 featuring the Need for Speed and Word Play stamp sets

I often forget what great stamps my clear mount blocks make.  For this card I created colour blocks using my A and B blocks.  I then stamped the car using my new basic black ink pad (love it!!)  This is a quick and easy way to add colour to a line-art image without actually having to colour it in.  Super fast!  The DSP is from the Big Top Birthday pack...going to miss that one come June 1st (but I'll get over it in a hurry...there are some GREAT new papers in the upcoming Catty).  I embossed the background with the houndstooth embossing folder and tore away a corner so that the sentiment (from the Word Play set) could peek through.  Fast, easy and cool enough for any teenaged boy.

...and finally...one for the boys!

The final card in my buffet line-up is one for the boys.  I always struggle to create simple masculine cards.  I tend to find myself sponging and distressing like crazy in an attempt "man-up" my designs.  For this one I think I finally managed to create something that doesn't take an hour to create!  Have a look...

Boy-card suitable for a masculine birthday or Father's Day.

Inside view.

No sponging in sight!  I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself with this one.  It is, by far, one of the the most CAS guy-cards I've ever done.  I also like how the boat pops out of the wave (yay dimensionals!).
So there you have it...the six design options for my Card Buffet.  If you haven't already done so, be sure to register by next Friday...hope to see you on the 25th!
Now, on an unrelated front, I have had a few people asking where in Austria I'll be travelling with my music kids.  We fly into Vienna, spending 3 days there, and then head to Salzburg for two.  We are performing in a little town just outside of Innsbruck called Zirl.  It is my dad's hometown and I am, quite literally, related to half the town!  We are performing with their community youth band, under the direction of my second cousin.  My kids are really pumped, as am I.  It will be a whirlwind tour, but one I have longed to do since first visiting Austria years ago.  There is so much music history in that country...every musician should visit there at least once!  I can't wait to show my students Beethoven's piano and Mozart's childhood violin, not to mention the homes where those legendary men lived and worked.  The fact that I'll get to see some of my family while we're there is an added bonus.  So, for now, auf wiedersehen...bis spater!

16-year-old Boy birthday for PPA105

Today's card is one I designed for this weeks colour challenge over at Pals Paper Arts.  The challenge is to create a card using daffodil delight, island indigo and lucky limeade.  I started out to design a masculine card, but then as I went started thinking it would be perfect for a 16-year-old boy's birthday.  You'll see why in a second...

Masculine birthday card for PPA105 using the Need for Speed stamp set and sentiment from Pennant parade.

Inside of card with sentiment from the new Delightful Dozen set.

Now what 16 year old boy doesn't wish for a shiny new sports car for his birthday??  I remember turning 16 (about a century ago!) and dreaming of getting a car for MY birthday!  (Didn't happen, but a girl can dream, right?)  Anyhow, this card was really fun to make because I got to use a bunch of new product as well as some retired stuff too.  Here is how I put it together:
 Starting with an island indigo card base, I stamped the textured background on both the front and inside the card using the retired Sanded background stamp and island indigo ink. ( I can't, for the life of me figure out why that one retired!  It is perfect for adding just a bit of texture...).  I also sponged the edges of the front of the card using the same coloured ink.  Setting that aside, I took a scrap of black cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot using the new houndstooth embossing folder.  LOVE that one!!  I tore the long edges and distressed the short ones and then sanded the raised areas with my sanding block.  The result, I think, looks like a tire tread (I actually asked my husband and HE agreed, so it must be good!).  Then, taking another scrap of lucky limeade cardstock, I randomly stamped the Good Grid mini background stamp (one I got FREE at convention!) all over.  I distressed and then sponged the edges in the same colour.  Then I spritzed both lucky limeade and basic black for even more textural interest.  I glued this piece to the back of the "tire tread".  Then I wrapped some retired black twine around the lucky limeade piece. securing it with glue dots.  Using my matpack and piercer, I pierced holes for five mini brads in the lower right corner of the lucky limeade piece and then adhered it to my cardfront.  Setting this aside, I stamped the car image in black Staz-On ink on a piece of whisper white cardstock.  Using my aquapainter and watercolour wonder crayons, I coloured the car.  I then adhered the stamped piece to a slightly larger piece of daffodil delight cardstock and adhered it to the cardfront using dimensionals.  The final touch on the front was to stamp the sentiment from the Pennant Parade set in island indigo ink on whisper white cardstock and punch it out with my jewelry tag punch.  I punched two more tags, layered them together with glue dots and added them to the knot in the twine.  On the inside of the card I stamped the sentiment in black Staz-on again on whisper white cardstock.  I coloured in some of the letters in lucky limeade.  I then stamped the image again in island indigo and daffodil delight, cutting out parts of the sentiment I wanted to highlight, and adhering them where appropriate.  I sponged the edges of the sentiment piece using lucky limeade and adhered it to the inside of the card. 
Now...I just need to find a 16-year-old boy to give this to...though I suppose a 40-year-old man would likely enjoy it too!