A Distressed Harbour Village with a Steampunk Twist...

Good morning all! How are we all doing? Looking forward to class next week? Did you manage to watch Lisa on Hochanda? I saw some of it, but did not realise you could not watch it on catch-up TV (doh!). Just as well really, otherwise my purse would be burning I imagine... Speaking of which, anyone going to the Make It! show this weekend? I am, with a view to being very selective this time... I will let you know if I succeed!

This week I am looking at a card I created using the Hobby Art Harbour Village set again, but in a bit of a different way this time, creating a more 'steampunk' look. I wanted to make a men's card, with darker colours and a vintage feel. I did not want to spend ages on it, and in truth the planning and playing with different bits took the longest time; if I wanted to make it again it would not take long!

The first step was to decide on the size of my card and of the 'topper' panel that I wanted to create. I used a 6x6" card blank and cut a 7x10cm rectangle for my topper from Super Smooth Card.
Once I had my size of topper, I planned my scene on scrap paper using my stamps until I was happy with a layout (see last week's post for more detail re this process!). Next, taking Versamark Ink, I stamped the Harbour Village Stamps onto my panel and heat embossed with Bright White Wow Embossing Powder. The birds I used are from the Cardio Winter Walks Christmas Set, which seem to work well too! At this point there is nothing really visible on the card, so next is where the magic begins... Using a Blending Tool, I applied Distress Ink all over the topper. I started with the lightest colour (Tumbled Glass) and then  added Faded Jeans around the edges and in the areas where there would be some shade. To bring the colours in, I edged the topper with Black Soot and then added some Scattered Straw ink into the middle as though there was a light source ( hard to see from my photo I know).

 

I also wanted to create some layers on my card, so I used some more Super Smooth Card to cut a panel 12x12cm, coloured with the Distress Ink and then embossed through a die-cutting machine. Once embossed I went over again with the darker colours to make the emboss really pop. I layered this panel onto some brown card which I had distressed using an Edge Crimper Tool. To add a little more layering I also used a White Jelly Roll pen to 'dot-dash' around the edge.

 

On top of my embossed panel, I cut some more card, (5x10cm) coloured with inks and then stamped a nautical stamp randomly across it using the Scattered Straw ink. I used some garden string and a Steampunk Charm for some dimension and layered this on some more brown card, tearing along one edge.

 

My final touch was to use some brads that I had in my stash on the side of the topper panel...

 

I hope you like it: different I know, I am not sure what I was thinking at the time, but I quite like it after all!

Thank you for reading, will see you next week for a final Hobby Art post and then class on Friday!

Love

Martina

xx