Steampunk and Distress!!!

Sooo...the craziness of my daughter's baby shower is finally past, and I think I have managed to catch up on all the sleep I lost while preparing for the festivities. I wanted to take a minute (or two) and share a couple of cards with you, because I am so proud of them! Recently, I made a similar card to thank a friend, and remembered to take a picture of it (as you do!) so that I could post it here...well....as it turned out, something went wrong with my camera, and the pics that I took all mysteriously vanished into cyberspace. I was VERY upset, but, things have a way of working out, and I made the card again (with a few changes and tweaks) and I love this card even more than the first. 

I kinda went Tim Holtz crazy here...I used the "Gadget Gears" die (cut them out of thin cork and distressed the edges) I tore a piece of vintage text paper and layered it over a piece of cardstock that I sprayed with Moonshadow Mist from Lindys Stamp Gang ( Burnished Brass first and then daubed over with Cattail Copper brown. I LOVE the way these two colors look together...you almost get a greenish cast to the finished product! I ran this sprayed piece through my Distressed lines Cuttlebug Embossing folder before I stuck it on the card.)  Of course, with a Steampunk card you HAVE to use guys in top hats, right? This is a favorite Tim Holtz stamp - and if you look closely, I put a very, very small rosebud in the lapel of the guy in the middle! The sentiment stamps are also Tim Holtz, and the brass colored metal embellishments are pieces that I have had sitting around here for a long, LONG time!! But....I have found lately that a card isn't really finished until you make the inside as cool as the front...

So...here is the inside. More layering, more distressing...more Tim Holtz stamps.  My family laughs at me, because I told my dad that if you took all of my artistry, squashed it up into a small ball and shoved me into a guy....I would be Tim Holtz! And I hope that he would find this a compliment...(hope...hope....hope)
Before I'm done here, let me share one more card that I made at the same time - (I was on a Tim Holtz roll)

I used another Tim Holtz die on this one, the "Weathered Clock" (got this one for Christmas...thanks Dad!!)
I also used another die that I LOVE to make the flowers, the Spellbinders Floral Die 1 - (and the foliage die as well) You can do so much with these dies. Hopefully, tomorrow, (got my fingers crossed) I will attempt to do a tutorial (pictoral, NOT video - I can only take one baby step at a time!). I want to show you how to make these beautiful roses out of distress kraft glassine paper - they look so gorgeous!
Well, I hope that you have enjoyed these cards...if you have any questions about how to do any of the techniques, please comment and I will be glad to help. This whole "blog thing" is becoming so much fun...I just hope that others will enjoy it as much as I am! God Bless, and have a wonderful night!!