feminine but not girlie

 I was asked to make an 18th Birthday card for a girl who is going to study naval engineering. At first I raked my brains trying to think what I could do to make a feminine card that wasn't girlie and to also represent engineering in some way.

Then I remembered Creative stamper magazine and the free stamps that came with it. The front cover card by Rae Fairefoxes Dalal was my inspiration. I started by splodging distress inks on the matt side of centura pearl card. I used rusty hinge, mustard seed and peacock feathers. Then using a damp piece of sponge I dabbed cosmic shimmer misters onto the card. This makes for a blotchy, shimmery look. Using same inks I stamped cogs all around
 edge of card. I inked around all edges with vintage photo. I matted it on black and added lace from Sweet lilac flowers.

Next it was time to make topper. I stamped the corset in potting soil and clear embossed it twice on taupe card. I inked corset with broken china leaving lace taupe. I cut corset out of second image and decoupaged it on the first. Then i mounted it on a piece of paper that came from an old book (this is the very first time I have ever defaced a book and it was really hard for me to do it. i kind of closed my eyes and ripped the page as I couldn't really look.), which i distressed around edges and inked to age. This was matted onto black card and mounted on the first piece of card with foam tape. 

Then out came my trusty letterbox kit from Clarity stamp. It was time to prepare base card. I got an 8x8 card and inked edges to age it and to blend it in with the rest. I stamped sentiment using the alphabet stamps in potting soil archival ink.

And finally it was time to add embellishments. I think I went to town with Sweet lilac flowers, but they matched in beautifully according to me. The ones that didn't look 'right' I inked and spritzed till I was happy with them. I assembled them in corner and added some cogs and a key. The pearl pins are actually needle craft pins but they matched so I used them.

I stamped 18th from the number kit again from Clarity stamp and cut it with an oval die from fancy tags 2 from spellbinders and tucked it as shown. I finished card off with an ideology flower from Tim Holtz.

sorry that this is a bit long winded but it involved a lot of steps. As usual i do hope you like what I have made and i enjoy reading all your comments, Theresa xx

I would like to enter this card into the fussyandfancy challenge 109 - birthdays