A birthday card – using distress inks and perfect pearls.  Stamps used – happy birthday script, small Fleur-de-Lye and the scroll/flourish from the “Ebony and Ivory” set.

I made this card last week for my Father-in-law for Father’s Day.  I used stamps from the “Love and Cherish” set and the “Ebony and Ivory” set, along with the “Happy Father’s Day” greeting stamp.  I can’t remember the card I used as the base card and card for embossing the greeting – but obviously it comes from Kaszazz.  The distress ink background is “Faded Jeans” and “Vintage Photo”.  I followed one of Tim Holtz’s techniques for that.  Then the large Fleur-de-Lye design was stamped in “Walnut Stain” and then I applied “Perfect Pearls” – “Sunflower Sparkle” over the top.  The small Fleur-de-lyes are stamped in Walnut Stain.  “Happy Father’s Day” was stamped in Colourbox “Copper” and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Finishing touch was three copper eyelets.

This is actually one of the ATCs I made for Fiona’s ATC Club swap for August.  The stamp I used on the base card is from the “Ebony and Ivory Set” – I stamped it with.  The greeting is embossed with “Cocoa Bean” embossing powder.  The base card “Vanilla” Bazzil, and the layered cards are ”Olive” from card essentials and “Vanilla” Bazzil.  I embellished the card with brown rick rack ribbon and sponged the edges with “Gold” paint dabber or “Dark Brown” fluid chalk.

The base card is oatmeal and the other two layers of card are “olive” from the new Earth Tones card essentials and a shade of blue Bazzil.  I stamped the dragonfly from the “Springtime Set” randomly over the layered cards with Dark Brown Fluid chalk ink.  I then embossed the “Happy Father’s Day” greeting in gold and then stamped the dragonfly again in gold.  I then sponged the edges in Colourbox gold.  I felt it needed more glitz so I lightly sponged Colourbox gold over the ATC.

I made this ATC today after watching a couple Tim Holtz videos on You Tube and his website.  The base card is “Olive” from the new card essentials Earth Tones range.  The “Dare to Dream” greeting is stamped on a piece of white card I distressed using “Fired Brick”.  First step was to scrunch the card up tightly and then rub the inkpad directly over it.  Then I spritzed it with water and ironed it dry.  Another thing I learnt from the video was that you can emboss distress inks – so I embossed the greeting.  I attached the greeting to a piece of  “Coffee” card from the Earth Tones range.  I then embellished with a split pin and turn mount from the Aged Copper collection.  I stuck the turn mount down with some “Glossy Accents”.

I used two shades of blue Bazzil that Kaszazz sell – but I must admit I don’t know what the exact shades are.  I rounded the corners of the base card and attached two lengths of 1/2″ Denim twill ribbon.  I stamped the ribbon with the small flourish stamp.  I stamped the greeting and the roman clock also using Fluid Chalk “Charcoal”.  I sponged the edges of both cards with the same inkpad.  I embellished the cards with gold mini round fasteners, before magic mounting the smaller card onto the bigger one.

Base card is Pomegranate (From new card essentials “Earth Tones”.  A piece of “Stripes” from the “Spice” SB papers has been torn and edged with Espresso paint dabber.  “Happy Father’s Day” stamped in distress ink “Walnut Stain” and edge sponged in “Peeled Paint”.  Final touch is two mini aged copper safety pins.

There are 4 of us in the club so far, so that means I’ve had to make 4 identical 3 1/2″ by 2 1/2″ cards using Kaszazz products and stamps.  I’ll post these to Fiona on Monday as she is the club host.  When she receives the ATCs from the other two members she sorts the ATCs so that we get one of each, and then she posts them back to us.  I can’t wait to see what creative ideas Fiona and the other two members have come up with!

If you would like to join the club you can contact me (leave a comment here, contact me via Facebook or my email) or you can contact Fiona directly via her blog – the link is on the right hand side of my blog – “paper creations with fi”.

Your ATCs can be as simple or ornate as you would like them to be.  There are photos of ATCs in this blog just click on the ATCs links in the category and tags boxes on the right hand side of the blog.  Happy crafting!

Left – Amber Clay and Dark Brown with Brown/Cream Stitch ribbon

Middle – Olive Pastel and Deep Green with Evergreen/Cream Stitch ribbon

Right – Blue Lagoon and Dark Brown with Brown/Aqua Stitch ribbon

Techniques and stamps the same as day 1 this week – except instead of ice stickles on the “waves” on the bauble stamps I’ve coloured in the stars with gold gel pen.  I found the Blue Lagoon edging too much of a contrast with the oatmeal card, so I sponged some dark brown fluid chalk on those tags as well.

Don’t you just love the effect of the two-step stamps?  So quick and easy too!  And because the Fluid Chalk inks are quick drying they are the perfect partner for two step stamping.