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Wednesday 2 July 2014

Guest Post - Steampunkery Fun by Debs Smith


Our guest blogger this week is Debs Smith and she is probably our most far flung contributor! Debs has been playing with  some of our steampunk themed stamps and designed this wonderful card.



Hello everyone, 
My name is Debs Smith and at the moment I live in Shanghai!! First let me thank Glenda for inviting me to do this post I feel so honoured. And secondly thanks to all of you for reading this post. I knew as soon as Glenda asked me to do this post which sets of stamps I was going to use. So here we are -  it's taken a while!

The stamps sets I have used are Punky Flowers and Steampunkery.  These sets are great for both male and femail cards, the designs are really edgy and a little bit different from other steampunk set!, I must admit I had a couple of cards made before I got to this design, they just seemed a bit ordinary!!

This one in the end was really simple just using two stamps, one of the flowers from Punky Flowers and the Beetle from Steampunkery. Firstly I stamped the beetle into roughly the centre of the card as I wanted it to look like it had found the clock in the flowers and was flying away with it. Then I stamped the biggest flower image on the left side of the card with Jet Black Archival, and then created a mask of that flower by stamping it onto a post it note (making sure that the sticky bit had the heads of the flowers once it was cut out). 

I placed the mask over the top of the first flower and stamped the second flower and then placed the mask over the second flower and stamped the third flower until the card was filled.  It doesn't matter where you stamp your first image as long as once you have stamped it you cover it whilst you do the second. If, for example, you wanted to stamp the first flower in the middle leave the mask on the first image until you have stamped both the second and third image otherwise you will have stamped over one of the images. 

Then I painted the flowers with Distress Paint using Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Broken China and Dusty Concord. After shaking the bottles I just dabbed a bit of paint onto my non-stick craft mat and then with a damp brush (I used a water brush but an ordinary brush will work just as well) I picked up the paint from the mat and painted the flowers.   

With the Beetle I wanted a bit of a metallic sheen to him so I mixed a little Shaded Lilac with Dusty Concord and some Brushed Pewter (again on the craft mat), painted the beetle and then once he was dry just added a little more Brushed Pewter to give him some highlights to make him sparkle.  Then I painted the clock with Brushed Pewter.

To create the background first I punched a 1” circle out of post it notes and stuck it in the top right hand corner of the card.  Then I took a piece of scrap paper and tore a strip off  to give it a nice rough edge.  Next I placed the piece of paper on the card and with Broken China distress ink I started to shade the background.  TIP: The piece of paper just gets moved  down each time you have finished the section above it, which gives you a nice sky effect (or it can create nice mountains and hills.) 

Once I had filled the background with the cloudy sky I removed the post-it note circle and voila there was my sun (or moon). The Time Flies stamp from the Steampunkery set was stamped onto a piece of card painted with Brushed Pewter and matted onto piece of card coloured with Shaded Lilac.

If you like would like to see more of my work it can be found on my blog (along with other cards using Chocolate Baroque stamps) Notations of a Crafter or I am on Pinterest as ShanghaiDebs.

Please join us in sending our thanks to Debs (all the way back to Shanghai) for this fun design by leaving a comment below.





31 comments:

  1. Wonderful card and great instructions too.

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  2. Love it, anything Steampunkish is a winner in my eyes :)

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  3. Wow, super card! Love the design, colours and ofcaurse the stamps!

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  4. I do like the sense of movement you created with the beetle flying out of the flowers with his prize clock! The soft colours of the whole design are very effective & give a lovely aged look to the whole. I'd not thought of painting images with Distress Paints. The masking of the flowers & your spacing to echo the actual shape of the flower itself is very effective too.
    Paula (PEP)

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  5. Truly beautiful! I know you said it was simple Debs but the effects are stunning. This set is one of my all time favorites. I love that little beetle. Really like the colors your have used. The combo of the two stamp sets works perfectly. Fab post. Thank you for adding a link to your blog. Will be over later for a visit so pop the kettle on!!
    Florence x

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  6. This is really lovely and the soft background with those wispy clouds doesn't overshadow the great punky flowers and beetle. I love the colour of the beetle and the sheen on the wings and the arrangement of the flowers works beautifully too. x

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  7. Thy hank you so much for all your lovely comments. It was fun to make and I was really pleased with the way it came out. Florence do pop over to my blog. You will be more than welcome anytime. ;-) xx

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  8. love the colours and the misty background - like this card, but still not converted to steampunk!

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    1. Sorry I couldn't convert you Veronica, thank you for your kind comments xx

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  9. This is a gorgeous card and I love how you put different styles together. They work really well!

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  10. This is gorgeous! Love the design and colours.
    Hugs
    Linda xxx

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  11. Lovely cards reflecting the lovely personality of their's designer.
    I have a little gorgeous collection of them - all creatives and surprising.
    Dear Debs I am very pleased that our paths crossed in Shanghai. It was a meeting with sensitive seoul, generous heart and creative personality. Your cards are like positive therapy for their owners...so please keep working on them because all of us need "positive chi " cards... Joanna

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  12. What a stunning creation, I love every detail!!! great image and colours!!

    Greetings
    Maria

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  13. That is lovely, the flowers look great.

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  14. Beautiful design Debbie, I love the repeat stamping & masking of the deco flower, they look great with the steampunk beetle. Shirleyx

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  15. this is wonderful Debs - a fabulous make - not seen some of these stamps before so thankyou xx

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    1. Thank you Rachel, glad I have managed to show you something you haven't seen before. They really are a fun set. Xx

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  16. Not a great steampunk fan, but like the soft colours. The beetle goes well with the caption time flies

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  17. Pretty...so pretty, Debs. Love the use delicate colours with the Steampunkery stamps...an elegant contrast.
    hugs, Asha

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment - it brings a little ray of sunshine into our day when we know our work is appreciated!