Cricket Card

I've been needing ideas for manly cards and luckily I had this stamp set. This card was inspired by a card in an old Stampin Up catalogue and since cricket season is here again, I thought it would be the perfect time to make it.

The green cap features special Gel-a-tins Jelly scented embossing powder in 'Pine Fresh' so it smells like a pine forest. The fragrance is supposed to last for three weeks. You can check out Gel-a-tins here and their blog is here.

Materials:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Versamark.
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Just Cricket.
Other: Modern label punch, Early Espresso striped grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, mat pack, paper piercer.
Non Stampin' Up: Gel-a-tin's Jelly Scented embossing powder in Pine Fresh, Bo Bunny Cambridge icandy brads.

Tips and Tricks:
1. This card is really straight forward. As I said, the cap is embossed with green pine scented embossing powder.
2. The grass is cut with my paper snips.
3. The cricket ball is on a dimensional as is the sentiment.

Stuff Ups:
1. The brad placement. I even used my paper piercing guide and still didn't get it right.
2. The ribbon looks a little bit loose and wonky on the right hand side but it seemed fine in real life.
3. Maybe I should have lightly coloured the cricket bat.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. My layering proportions are getting much more accurate.
2. I'm pleased with the way the grass turned out.

A Venture in Layering

I've been wanted to try a few new techniques lately and I'm always looking for the opportunity to use them. For this card I wanted to try a bit of layering. Not sure what the official term is, but I'm using layering to describe the building of ink, stamps and/or embossing on cardstock. This first attempt turned out to be a bit light handed but I'm happy with what I have done none the less.

I did break out my brand new and desperate to try product - scented embossing powder! I bought it (and many others) from gel-a-tins. It smells just like a vanilla latte. Apparently the scent will last for 3 weeks. The colour is white with brown specks. You can't really see it in the photo, I probably should have used a darker embossing powder (such as Chocolate Bliss or Can't Catch Me Gingerbread).

Grandad's birthday - hope he enjoyed it and liked my card. Here's the recipe:

Materials:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Newsprint DSP.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark.
Stamps: Bliss, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Wonderful Favourite.
Other: Early Espresso striped grosgrain ribbon, oval punch, scallop oval punch, dimensionals.
Non Stampin' Up: Perfect Pearls mist in Heirloom Gold, Gelly powder - Extra Foam Vanilla Latte scented embossing powder from gel-a-tins. (The website is a little bit buggy at the moment but I'm sure it will be fixed soon.)

Tips and Tricks:
1. The layering - I've seen a lot of cards out there with a lot going on with the DSP - inking, embossing, distressing, etc, so I had a go at it myself:

• First I misted my DSP with water and then crinkled and screwed it up.
• Next I sprayed it with Perfect Pearls mist in Heirloom Gold and let it dry.
• Then I stamped an image from the Bliss stamp set in Versamark and applied the scented embossing powder. I heat embossed it.
• After that I stamped the bird from Bliss in Chocolate Chip ink randomly over the DSP.

2.  I stamped another bird in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla cardstock, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals in the bottom right hand corner.

Stuff Ups:
1. As I've said already, I should have chosen a darker embossing powder - I was too cautious.
2. Same with the Perfect Pearls mist - I should have used more.
3. The sentiments aren't aligned properly. They are three separate stamps and you can tell. The happy birthday one is also too high and nearly cut off by the punch.