Not my usual style

One of the projects I worked on during my recent crat weekend was designing cards using a set of blueprint-style Tim Holtz stamps and a pack of 6" x 6" patterned paper that I bought ages ago as part of a kit from a paper-crafting store. The kit came with instructions for three small cards, so I started with those designs and transformed them into full-size A2 cards. It was a bit of a struggle because they aren't my usual style, but I think they turned out pretty well.

Here are the supplies I used for all of the cards (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Blueprint stamps - clock, gears, bulb (Tim Holtz), Secretary Pool (Artistic Outpost), Stylized Birthday, Party with Cake
Paper: Seasons - Summer 6" x 6" paper (Authentique Paper); Basic Black, Island Indigo, Tip Top Taupe card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker, Stardust Gelly Roll pen (Sakura)
Accessories: Silver 3mm nail head stickers (Mark Richards), metallic glitter tape, burlap ribbon, vintage newsprint washi tape (unknown), screw brads (Making Memories), Corner Chomper (We Are Memory Keepers), Dimensionals

For the focal images on the first two cards, I stamped the clock image twice: once on a piece of blue paper from the pack and once on a piece with a very small newsprint. I cut out the clock face from the newsprint clock and glued it to the center of the first clock. I added a silver nail head in the center and colored in the rest of the image with a Stardust Gelly Roll pen to add sparkle.

I wanted to focus on making birthday cards, so I tried to think of sentiments that worked with the images. For these two cards, I decided on the word "time." For the first card I cut out individual letters to spell out "party time," and for the second card I used just part of sentiment stamp ("It's time to celebrate with cake").

For both cards I used a marker to doodle a border around the background paper and added a few scattered nail head stickers.

On the second card I used the Gelly Roll pen to color in the letters in the first part of the sentiment. I love the extra sparkle (see the close-up photo below).

The light bulb image for the next two cards was also stamped twice and paper pieced, in this case with the small newsprint for the whole image and a yellow paper for the top part of the bulb. I used the Gelly Roll pen to trace the filament part of the image and the base of the bulb.

The sentiment was a lot more challenging for these cards. I finally decided to use a set of small alphabet stamps to spell out a sentiment: "Have a brilliant day" for the first card and "Have a brilliant birthday" for the second. I used black ink for all of the words except "brilliant," which I stamped in yellow to play off the yellow light bulb.

For the third stamp, the gears, I used the image for the background instead of the focal piece. I stamped the gears several times on a piece of patterned paper, turning the stamp to vary the orientation of the image. Then I randomly colored in some of the gears with the Gelly Roll pen.

I used the stamped paper on the bottom half of the card and then added a strip of yellow paper and a piece of washi tape. I stamped a "Happy Birthday" greeting on a piece of the small newsprint paper, rounded two of the corners, drew a border with the Gelly Roll pen (see the close-up photo below) and matted it with a piece of blue paper. I attached the focal image to the card base with Dimensionals and added a screw brad in the lower right corner.

I liked this card design so much that I made two of the same layout. The only change I made on the second card was that I used the Gelly Roll pen to trace over the sentiment instead of drawing a border.

All in all, I think these are fun, out-of-the-ordinary masculine cards that made me stretch my creativity. Thanks for stopping by!