OH! how i love steampunk!! (2S4Y style)

hey everyone! happy thursday :D (note: i seem to be a little 'talky' today, so if you want to skip that, go to the end.)

i had the pleasure of using Kazan's sketch #56 for this card, and oh boy! was it ever PERFECT for EVERYTHING... the details just shine through with this awesome layout :D

and believe it or not, although i've been behind on the challenge side of things... haven't been creating much for sketches/ color combos/ etc, i actually made this card for the 365 Cards Day #129 - Aged Look. it's simply a match made in heaven :D

on to my card. i actually made this to giveaway in a contest... i was given some idea about what the contest was, but i was given artistic freedom in the execution. i think i've mentioned before that i LOVE it when that happens... i love that freedom to create what i think will fit :D

so, the contest is called SteamBoyz, and it's hosted by Velvet over at vvb32 reads--she's got a great book blog going on over there, and i know she's fabulous herself! now, you may be wondering how i got connected with a book blogger to create a card for a contest. the answer is simple. i'm a nerd. YES. a NERD.

you see, i have a sister, Cecelia, who is awesome, funny, but equally (if not more! [agreed Cece?]) nerdy as me. she loves to read. which isn't to say i DON'T, because i'm actually an English teacher, but she LOVES to read. like--she went to the American Library Association Conference a few weeks ago, even though she's not a librarian. well, you say, that's not all bad... and NO! it's not. but that's how nerdy WE are. :D

so--last year she began a blog shortly after i did, and started featuring recipes, anecdotes from her life, and of course, she shared her love of books, or shall i say OBSESSION with them? she introduced me to some books, and i read them, and they were awesome! really, they were, and i can recommend some to you based on your movie preferences... really. it's what i do for my students at school. anyway, she fell pretty hard into the book blogger stratosphere, and i have to say, if i'm being honest, that i'm a little jealous at her instant popularity. i mean, there has to be a little rivalry for us to be normal siblings, eh?

at any rate, she's wildly famous and funny, while i just make cards and occasionally tag along to book events like author signings. the one author signing i went to was for a book called Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. and it was a steampunk book. and i got to see what all the fuss was about.

i had a TON of fun. AND, i got a signed copy of the book to go in the bookshelves at school too! win WIN!

and after reading some books from the steampunk genre (Soulless by Gail Carriger as well, and probably more), i knew what my sister kept raving about. yes, she may have looked foolish to her roommates or our mother, but i at least, finally, understood.

and here i am, to present you with a card made specifically with steampunk in mind, and my sister, and Velvet, who asked me to do it :D thanks a ton girlies!

i used a lot of vintage stuff... tried to make it fit with the genre. so, there's some Graphic 45 papers on there (from the Le'romantique line) and a page torn out of an old book covering a chipboard piece. i then stamped the chipboard with a wrought iron fence stamp that i bought at a stamp convention who knows where :D and let's not forget how i shabbied everything up with either distressing with scissors, inking with Tim Holtz antique linen pad, or even using some black ink from a SU! cube. and can you see those Kaiser black pearls in the top left corner? so many details.

i also grabbed a bookplate and some brads from my stash and roughed them up with my file, and then inked them with some black Staz-on ink to give it a more 'aged' look. the crown brad comes from Queen & Co, and the buttons are vintage from my stash as well. i even layered a Hambly frame transparency to the hat/ cane panel to give some more depth.

i've seen some crafters use the 'pull back' approach with double sided paper, but i've never really given it much thought until this creation... i think it's a fabulous way to showcase both sides of the paper, and to show a little of the fanciness underneath, don't you?

now, check out the inside. because i used a clear card stock to create the card base, you can add some awesome details all over and have them show through to the front or back. in my case, i covered the OTHER side of the chipboard piece with a steampunk clock image that i got HERE before i adhered it to the front of the card. that way, when you open it up, you get more for your money :D

also, you can see from above and below, that i used some October Afternoon papers from the Thrift Store line... i know just about everyone and their mother is in love with this stuff, and i'm no exception. i mean, seriously--with so much in the steampunk genre originating from London, what other choice could i have than to use it on the inside of my card? it's PERFECT!

and also, after you're done checking out my card... if you've missed the tons of tags i've been creating, then you'd better take a look HERE, and HERE, and at yesterday's HERE. plus, i finished the rest of the tags and have a few pictures to show you...

these yellow ones were INTENSE. PTI's polka dot basics II again, some October Afternoon stamping, a flourish is there as well, along with Sassafras papers, Recollections rosebuds on top of Prima flowers inked to the perfect color. there's some 'orange peel' stickles there, a vintage orange button on all of them, and some citrine glitter from DeNami Designs. oh, and green ribbon from M's.

now these red-orange tags feature some Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers, more Recollections rosebuds, clothespins, random buttons from my stash, 'so happy!' ribbon from SEI, and then some chipboard from DCWV that i glittered and shabbied up. oh, and some MM blooms as well.

now, for the ULTRA FUNKY orange tags. these are crazy. but, they're good crazy! more Sassy goodies, stickles, buttons, KI memories ribbon, and even those green foil stars you usually put on chore charts... hehe!

and here's one from each of the colors all grouped together. i realized that i used my Cricut to cut out 11 different colors, and they're all completely different. i LOVE that. what do you think? don't they look awesome together? :D

so all in all, i've been quite busy this week, and plan to be even more so next week. i'll be the storyteller for my church's VBA (Vacation Bible Adventure... just like VBS), and i'm head of the skit crew (and in it as well). so mornings/ afternoons will switch schedules for me a bit.

thanks so much for visiting... i'd LOVE to hear what you like most in today's post > the card? the tags? the sister envy? ha!

have a great day, and stop by later to see what i've been doing on the scrapbooking end of things! :D XOXO