No Duh Sherlock!

I always hated when someone retorted that phrase when I was a child, but ever since I was a little girl I loved smarty pants Sherlock Holmes. I watched movies about him sleuthing, read books and comic books, and was glad to see him make a popular comeback with all the new block buster movies about him. I especially love the way the new movies depict the scenes and times of London from way back then...it's very SteamPunk-ish and grungy to me! Gotta love that! So I was thrilled to see Sherlock on an image from last month's new release stamps from Artistic Outpost. The London Elements stamp set has an image of Mr. Holmes, with his pipe of course, atop a plaid printed background, that I used here on this birthday card for my hubby, who is a smarty pants as well!

I used Pumice Stone Distress Ink to stamp background images from the London Elements set on the plaid paper.

I used an embossing pen on the image so the powder would stick then heat embossed. The plaid stripes where added with watercolor pencils, then the outlines heat embossed. The smoke is from a cotton ball.

I was not too happy about the bubbles in this from the glossy accents, but I did like the texture. The outer portion in Wendy Vecchi's pocket watch Art Part, and the handle is a popsicle stick.

This was an old poker chip that I heat embossed the AO image on.

 

I am submitting this card to the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge of "anything goes", and The Stamp Man's challenge of "vintage".

Supplies:
From My Stash: brown cardstock, plaid washi tape, ephemera (ticket, cigar wrapper, game card), poker chip, popsicle stick, cotton ball

My Mind′s Eye Life Stories Kraft Paper Stack	Idea-ology Journaling Tickets	Sepia Archival Ink	London Underground Stamp Set	Artistic Outpost Steampunk	Idea-ology Long Fasteners
Idea-ology Washers	Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder	Craft Paper Card	Watercolor Pencils	Pumice Stone Distress Ink	Fall 2011 Limited Edition Distress Ink Trio
Ink Blending Tool	Black Soot Distress Ink	Paint Dabber - Gold	Paper distresser	Paint Dabbers - Espresso	Glossy Accents
Mini Mister	Wendy Vecchi Art Parts Pocket Watches

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

12 Tags of 2012 - March

A new month equals a new Tim tag...YAY!!! It was so fun last month visiting blogs again, and this time so many I knew and blogger's I have befriended, because of last year's 12 Tags of Christmas. Again, many thanks to Tim and Inlinkz for that!!!

I grew up in the country...well forest mostly...so when I first saw Tim's tag it reminded me of times I spent running through the woods as a child and the old, wooden barns and rickety old houses along the way were of course my hide outs. I think growing up like this is what has given me a love for antiquities and all things vintage. I love old, patina laden things that have a story behind them. So naturally, I wanted my tag to look vintage like the side of a barn out in the country, but also colorful, like the findings on a glorious Spring day.
I changed a few things up as you can see. I didn't have the grey embossing powder so I used Black Soot. I added a larger butterfly (all three misted with Perfect Pearls), some bling, and paper roses. I heat embossed my sentiment on a metal embossed piece (I tried to make it look like that wavy old kind of tin). And, I cut strips of paper that already had a wood design, adhered them on Grunge Paper, stamped the wood image (definitely a fav) with Mahogany Distress Ink, then distressed them with crackle paint. I love how it all came out, especially the wood as it looks and feels real. 

I used black cardstock that I misted with Perfect Pearls first, then adhered the Wonder Tape to it, then stuck the scraps in. I was amazed that when you put the embossing powder on it, that it could really be embossed, and it worked. I love this technique. It was so easy and less clean up.

I love this paper. I stamped the wood image with Aged Mahogany, then cut them apart.  They really look like real planks of wood.

I adhered the strips to Grunge paper then added some White Picket Fence Crackle Paint to some of the edges. Then I used Glue-N-Seal to adhere the strips to a jumbo tag.

I used Worn Lipstick Distress Ink to stamp random images on the Steampunk ad stamp to the petals of the large roses. I used Aged Mahogany on the tips of the light pink rose buds. On the Prima Say It In Pearls bling stick on, I applied Pink Sherbet Alcohol Ink to the center of each bud. I wanted the bling to look like climbing roses.

I heat embossed the sentiment on a metal foil sheet, then used the Stripes mini texture fade to emboss the metal. I distress the edges of the sign and applied Rusty Hinge Distress Ink to make it look like rust.

I am submitting this tag to Hels Sheridan's The Sunday Stamper challenge for "mists", and Lisa Somerville's Blogger's Challenge for "3D", and Sarah's My Mojo Monthly challenge of "vintage".

Supplies:
From My Stash: butterfly charm, light pink and hot pink cardstock, rafia ribbon

Wallpaper and Wood Stamp Set	GCD Studios Antiquities Paper Pack	Alterations Easter Elements Bigz Die	Alterations Movers & Shapers Mini Butterlies Set	Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint
Idea-ology Game Spinners	Idea-ology Long Fasteners	Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder	Inkssentials Wonder Tape Sheets	Glossy Accents
Idea-ology Mini Fasteners	Metal Surfaces Foil Tape Sheets	Archival Ink - Coffee	Stuff To Say Stamp Set	Alterations Texture Fades in Americana Backgrounds & Borders
Prima Say It In Pearls With Roses	Pink Sherbet Alcohol Ink	Prima Medium Roses in Hot Pink and White	Prima Medium Rose Buds in Pink	Steampunk Stamp Set
Perfect Pearls Mist	Worn Lipstick Distress Ink	Aged Mahogany Distress Ink	Rusty Hinge Distress Ink	Idea-ology Baubles
Jump Rings - Idea-ology

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!