Steampunk Birthday - stenciling, embossing, die cutting

"Just put some gears on it..." This dapper fellow is wishing a happy Steampunk birthday on a hexagon card festooned with gears in stencilling, die cuts, Distress Oxides, Distress ink, Perfect Pearls, and embossing.

Putting It Together

Last Friday I stopped by a couple local scrapbooking stores (crazy thing is that they're nearly across the street from one another) to take advantage of sales and pick up some more Distress Oxides. I got to chatting a bit with the gal in one of the stores after making my purchase. And then my eye caught sight of some new dies and stamps they had in from a new (to us) company, Studio Light, out of the Netherlands. Their Industrial 2.0 line has some amazing items! I splurged and bought a die and a stamp, and they weren't even on sale! I love industrial and steampunk so much and the die set ticked both of those boxes as well as being a hexagon with 2 nested hexes, too.

I decided to pair the die with a gears stencil I have from Southern Ridge Trading Company and a long retired Kraftin' Kimmie stamp set. The die is 6 1.4 inches by nearly 10 1/2 inches but fits through the Big Shot with no problems. I was thinking about making an oversized card with this trio as the 'base' for the idea.

I decided I wanted to do a background colour for the stencilling to give the gears colour. I started with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide smushed on some plastic packaging and wet it down with a sprayer.

I smushed it on to a large panel of watercolour cardstock.

I used a heat tool to dry between layers to allow the Oxides to stack. I added more smushing with Antique Linen.

I used the blender to add in additional Oxide colour. I also added spritzes and drips of water.

The background colouring used Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, and Spiced Marmalade for a distressed metallic look.

I sprayed my stencil with repositionable adhesive so it wouldn't move when placed on the panel. I used the blender to add in additional colours of Oxides, Fired Brick and Walnut Stain, as well as adding more Spiced Marmalade.

I took the stencil off and used Perfect Pearls, gold and bronze, with a mister and in powder to add metallic highlights to finish off the panel.

I ran it through my Big Shot with the die but not all of the gears cut cleanly on the pass. I decided to try them with the Precision Plate and the die shifted making a double cut in spots :( So, I used the smallest of the hexagons to cut a hexagon panel to set on a new panel with the gears.

I used the same colours as for the stencilled panel but used a couple different techniques. I used a very wet piece of plastic to scrunch the wet ink for a visual texturing.

I brushed on copper Perfect Pearls when it was still wet in patches.

When I die cut the panel, I kept it together (without lifting it to check) when I transferred from a normal cut plate on a first pass (which included the hexagon) to the Precision plate to get a deeper cut in just the gear area. Running the hexagon area through with the Precision plate will bend it slightly, moreso as time goes on, so I tried to avoid that. This is the only downside of this really cool die set.

To add more gears, I decided to rust up some gold mercury paper scrap using the same Oxides and then die cut it with Tim Holtz gear dies. I also cut some of those gears with un-rusted gold mercury paper scrap when I needed a few more.

I stamped the dapper gentleman in a dark brown that dries water safe. I used a scrap of Bristol paper.

I used Distress ink to watercolour him and added touches of metallic Gelly Roll to his buttons. I kept him to a similar palette as the card: Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge, Tye Dye, Pine Needles, and Tattered Rose.

I dry fit the card front with some of the extra gears, the gentleman, and a sentiment.

To make a card base, I used the largest of the hexagon dies without gears. I cut a strip 11" x 6", scored and folded it in the middle, and made sure one of the hexagon edges was above the fold. I should have made the panel 11" x 6" 1/4", the tips of the haxagon's edges are missing.

To attach the decorated panel to the card base, I used double-sided tape. When I have a heavier panel or one which isn't entirely flat, I often use double-sided tape for more hold.

To make it easier to position, I put the release paper perpendicular to the tape strips. This keeps the double-sided tape from instantly adhering. Once I have it in position, I press down lightly, remove the release strips, and then press firmly. I lined up the bottom of the hexagon with the bottom of the card base.

I used the new Baked Texture, Patina, from Emerald Creek to emboss the sentiment with a bit of industrial-look mottling.

Inside the card, I added a few more gears for a visual detail (and to cover the missing tips).

Supplies

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: For the Boys

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Stencil It

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Saturday: Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes

Final Note

As for the opening quote, that's from a song I rather like about making Steampunk themed items. The song runs through my mind and it always amuses me.