Nailed It Workbench Birthday

Luckily, after a rather late night at my 2017 Catalog Launch Party on Friday, I did not have to work on Saturday. It gave me the day to create a birthday card for our neighbor, Rob.

I had recently viewed some masculine cards on Pinterest and was drawn to the cards using the retiring Nailed It Bundle. After finding a tutorial from Ink Responsibly I decided to create a workbench card. Please refer to her Youtube tutorial for the "ins and outs" of making this card. The card design itself can be adapted to making a dressing table, a kitchen or even a barbecue!

Though the card design was supposed to fold flat for mailing, after I finished the card, mine didn't want to fold! Luckily, my card was able to be "walked" over to my neighbor so I wasn't too concerned!

The basic construction of the card was done with Chocolate Chip card stock and then I cut pieces of the new Wood Textures DSP to adhere over the card stock. Each piece of the DSP was edged with a Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker to cover up the white cut edges as well as being sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.

For the back board of the workbench, I used a Paper Piercer to punch holes in the DSP and then made the holes stand out more by touching up each of them with the Chocolate Chip Marker.

The sign was stamped with Basic Black ink using the Crazy About You stamp set and then punched using the retired Washi Label Punch. Retired Gold Brads were used to attach a piece of the retired Halloween Night Baker's Twine and to hang it on the wall.

The tools were stamped with Stazon ink on both the Silver Foil and Wood Textures DSP and then die cut using the Build It Framelits. The handles were adhered on top of the Silver Foil. The tools were adhered to the workbench using Glue Dots.

To make the drawers, Wood Textures DSP was adhered to pieces of card stock and adhered to the bench using Dimensionals. The gold brads were used for the drawer pulls.

A piece of the retired Going Places DSP that featured blueprints was rolled up and adhered to the bench using Glue Dots. I got the idea of using blueprints from Pauline Barnfather who created another workbench.

One other detail that I added was a book about decks. To create this, I found a book on Amazon and copied the photo into Photoshop where I resized it properly for printing. I glued it to a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock and cut another piece for the back cover. I then cut several "pages" from Thick Whisper White and glued them between the two covers, ensuring that the pages and covers were flush on the left side to create a "spine." I used the Chocolate Chip Marker to color the spine.

For the back of the bench I stamped the sentiment and saw on Very Vanilla with Basic Black and then sponged the edges with both Soft Suede and Chocolate Chip.

This card was a labor of love and I know that Rob loved and appreciated it!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this card. I'd love for you to leave a comment for me below to let me know you've stopped by to have a look!

Just A Note Botanicals

Have you ever designed a card and then after it's done you can't decide if you like it or not? That's where I'm at with this card!

I started with the idea of placing the flowers from the Botanical Builder Framelits in a tea cup. I chose a lovely paper from the Birthday Bouquet DSP and die cut my tea cup as well as one from self adhesive fun foam. I stuck the two together. I inked up the cup and the edges of the fun foam with Soft Suede. I used Wink of Stella to give the cup a nice shimmer.

On the flip side of the DSP was a lovely coordinating pattern that I chose for the upper two-thirds of my card. I decided on Mossy Meadow for the bottom and I embossed the lower third of a 4 x 5 1/4" matte using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. I then adhered the DSP to the top two-thirds and adhered a strip of the 3/8" Stitched Mossy Meadow Ribbon across the join. I adhered this piece to a Soft Suede card base using Dimensionals.

Picking colors from the cup for the flowers–Watermelon Wonder, Pool Party and Mint Macaron as well as Mossy Meadow and Old Olive for the greenery–I die cut them using the Botanical Builder Framelits.

I tried a few designs until I settled on the one that I used. After snapping a photo, I inked the edges of the flowers with their matching inks (except for the Pool Party one where I used Lost Lagoon) and both ferns with Mossy Meadow. I also used my McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit to shape the flowers and ferns.

I adhered the cup to the card front using Fast Fuse Adhesive, sandwiching the darker fern in place beneath it. I then adhered the remaining flowers and greenery with a combination of Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue Pen and Glue Dots. I added rhinestones to the flower centres.

Using Soft Suede, I stamped the sentiment from the Picture Perfect Stamp Set on Old Olive card stock. I used the Washi Label Punch on it and inked the edges with Mossy Meadow. I adhered it to the bottom of the card front using Dimensionals to complete the card.

I did not create an inner matte for the card yet because I still haven't decided if this card is a keeper! Can you help me decide by leaving me a comment below?

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Today, after preparing my projects for next week's stamp class, I was able to finish coloring the stamp I had started last Friday.

I absolutely love my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers! They are like no other markers I have ever used! It's almost effortless to blend colors with them, either on their own or by adding water with an aqua pen.

In preparation for coloring, I actually stamped a number of images on watercolor paper. I chose the little boy in the snowsuit from Christmas Cuties because there were a lot of large areas that I thought would work well for blending with water.

I couldn't have been happier with the way he turned out!

After fussy cutting him, I stroked around all the edges with a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to hide any white edges.

I cut a Thick Whisper White matte and embossed it with the Softly Falling embossing folder. To create a couple of snowbanks, I used the Sleigh Ride Edgelits Dies to cut some Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper. I snipped off the houses and trees with scissors.

Besides snowbanks, I wanted a tree for my little scene. I chose a stamp from the Peaceful Pines stamp set. Using Mossy Meadow, I stamped it on Garden Green card stock and then die cut it with the Perfect Pines Framelits.

I played with the placement of the snowbanks, tree, and the little boy until I was satisfied with my plan. Next, I glued one snowbank onto the embossed matte and then applied Dimensionals to the top of the other snowbank and Fast Fuse Adhesive to the bottom.

The tree die cut also received Dimensionals and was put in place behind the second snowbank. The little boy was popped up with Dimensionals and added to the scene giving depth to the scene.

The sentiment, also from Christmas Cuties, was stamped with Basic Black Archival ink and then punched with the Washi Label Punch. I used a sponge dauber to ink the edges with Real Red. It was adhered to the matte with Dimensionals.

I cut a matte from a striped Tempting Turquoise paper from the Brights DSP stack and inked the edges with Basic Black Archival ink. It was adhered to a Real Red card base using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

Finally, the embossed matte was adhered on top using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

What do you think? Drop me a comment below!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Blossom Shaker

At long last, my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers arrived in the mail from Japan! I have been drooling over these markers for a long time and finally bit the bullet and ordered the 48 pack.

These markers are SWEET! They are unlike any other marker I've used. They feel like a paintbrush (thus the real brush) but in a marker form. The colors blend wonderfully well, wet or dry as long as you use watercolor paper.

My first task was to create my swatch list to show each marker in both dry and wet states on watercolor paper. Once this was done, I stamped a slew of images on watercolor paper using Ranger Archival Ink.

I spent the day coloring; such fun to try blending colors together to create new ones and to add depth and dimension to colored images! Coloring with these markers really is a breeze!

For the image on my shaker card, I used a stamp from Indescribable Gift. I used Light Carmine, Carmine, Pale Green, May Green, Brown and Dark Brown.

I would scribble a little with a marker and then blend the rest using my Aqua Pen. If needed, I would go back over a section to give darker shading.

I die cut my image using the Squares Collection Framelits and also cut a polaroid-type frame from Early Espresso card stock as well as a square of Window Sheet.

I adhered the colored image to a Watermelon Wonder card base using Fuse Fast Adhesive and put strips of foam tape around the image.

On the under side of the Early Espresso frame, I put a strip of Sticky Strip and pleated a length of Cucumber Crush Dotted Lace Trim. I also used Fuse Fast Adhesive to secure the window sheet.

I placed a selection of sequins on top of the colored image, inside the foam tape. I then removed the protective strip from the tape and adhered the frame over the sequins to form the shaker.

I stamped the sentiment from the Watercolor Wings stamp set on Cucumber Crush card stock using Archival Ink and then punched it using the Washi Label Punch.

The sentiment was adhered with Dimensionals at the bottom of the frame.

What have you colored with the Zig Clean Real Brush Markers? Leave me a comment below!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog