Another blokey birthday

It's been a month since I've updated this - I've only made one other card apart from this one. That's due to life and work issues, blah, blah, blah!

This card was for my husband's good friend. I was running out of card ideas for guys and looked for some inspiration. I found it through a card at Art with Heart by Claire Daly. If you scroll down, it's the second card - the shapes and style are simple but lovely. I changed it up a lot to make a not-as-lovely card (unfortunately, not deliberately!)

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White.
Ink: Stazon black, So Saffron (marker), Always Artichoke (marker), Crumb Cake (marker), Chocolate Chip (marker and ink pad), Versamark.
Stamps: So Happy For You.
Other: Hemp twine, sponge, dimensionals.
Non-Stampin' Up: Green jewel brads, paper from American Crafts: Merrymint - Peanut Brittle, Fudge, Birthday clear stamps - brand unknown, black embossing powder, heat gun, Fiskars corner punch.

Tips and Tricks:
1.  The 'birthday wishes' sentiment is stamped on a strip of Whisper White cardstock and adhered to the patterned paper.
2. The edges of the base card and the sentiment layer are roughly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.

Stuff Ups:
1. The twine is a bit too loose for my liking.
2. The cross hatch layer is not centred.
3. My black embossing powder started to clump due to moisture and was difficult to work with. It was good quality stuff but both my black and white have become clumpy. None of the other brands do this. I wish I could remember the brand but I put my embossing powders in plastic containers and throw out the little jars.
4. My Stampin' Up corner puncher is crap I'm sorry to say. Apart from the cover popping off and it being difficult to unlock, it kept biting into my corners too far. My new Fiskars punch only cost me $8 and is a breeze to use. That's 3 strikes so far Stampin' Up - my Crystal Effects, Corner Punch and SNAIL dispenser.

Hubby's Birthday

Well it's two male birthday cards in a row! It's my husband's birthday in two days time and we will be in Bali celebrating it! This is hot off the press, just finished. I'm giving Jason his presents tomorrow so I don't have to take them on the plane. This is a pure Kate creation:

I'm thrilled with the result because it was looking decidedly dodgy for a while. It all came together in the end.

Materials:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Going Grey, Whisper White.
Stamps: So Happy For You, Cheers to You.
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip ink pad, More Mustard marker.
Other: Circle punch, big shot machine, dimensionals.
Non Stampin' Up: Paper by Kaiser craft, Glitter and white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Ranger Perfect Medium Pens, Cuttlebug diamond plate embossing folder, Coke Zero can.

Tips and Tricks:
1. To get the metal how you want it:

• Do be very careful! Jagged or not, this metal can cut you easily.
• Wash out your aluminium can. With sharp scissors, cut off the top and bottom of the can, then cut the cylinder up one side so you end up with a long rectangular piece.
• Dry off any water with a tea towel and cut a piece to fit inside your diamond plate embossing folder. Run it through the big shot machine.
• Trim the metal to the size and shape you want. I couldn't cut it straight with my scissors so I ended up using a circle punch to make the round discs. The punch cut the metal quickly and efficiently.
• I used double sided tape to secure the discs.

2. To heat emboss the beer mugs I first inked the stamp with Versamark then inked the stamp with Chocolate Chip ink before stamping on Whisper White card. Next I used clear embossing powder and the heat tool. After that I used a Perfect Pearls Medium pen (a Versamarker would be great too) to colour the beer foam and then used the white/glitter embossing powder to make the foam pop and shine. I used a More Mustard marker to colour in the beer mug.
3. The same beer mug is stamped in Versamark on the grey card to give interest to the background.

Stuff Ups:
1. I originally used a cactus stamp and green ink for the background but it looked terrible. The beer mug image works so much better.
2. As I said before, I couldn't cut the metal straight so I used the circle punch in desperation and it worked.