Sweet Stampin' ~ Transport

Hey crafty friends, we kicked off a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' on Saturday and this week we have the fun theme Transport. I've actually got two cards to share for this theme and I'll be back to share the second one shortly. This make was for my Godson who celebrated his birthday last week and is about to go to Japan. So the bullet train on this, made it a great second card for this theme. I'm stretching our challenge rules a bit as the Japanese Kanji is printed not stamped, but as it's my second card, I'm hoping the rest of my teamies will forgive me. Besides the boss is overseas sipping cocktails, so fingers crossed it slips under the radar! Hehe. The Kanji featured means Happiness, which I thought was a rather lovely addition to this card.

I've used a retired QuicKutz die set for this creation. I've had it many moons and I think it's fun to 'shop our stash' occasionally and I remembered I had this set and exactly where it was in my storage, so that was a win! It diecut like a dream. The icons in this set are just lovely and were so perfect to celebrate the upcoming travel of our birthday boy.

I kept the palette for this card very simple, red white and black with a few grey and silvery accents here and there. Those silvery accents were added mostly with a Gelly Roll Glitter Pen. The torii depicted above is a traditional Japanese gate which is most commonly found at the entrance of, or within a Shinto shrine. It marks symbolically the transition from the mundane to the sacred and was a lovely icon to include in this set. I also really liked the pagoda image, which I placed on the opposing corner of the card as I felt these two images added a nice balance that way. The black cardstock I cut the pagoda and torii from has a lovely soft shimmer to it, which shows better in these detail shots.

I've used a gorgeous Spellbinders 3D Embossing Folder called All Wrapped Up to create texture for the background of this card. I cut the panel after embossing, with an A7 frame die, which did flatten the embossing a bit, but I wasn't too upset, because it retained all the design and texture. It just lowered the dimension of the embossing a bit, which actually made it easier to adhere the elements to. Easy enough to return the raised texture post die-cutting had I wished to, by simply running it back through the embossing folder. But I was happy with how it looked post die-cutting.

Now for the element that made it perfect for this Transport themed challenge. The Japanese Bullet Train, also known as the Shinkansen. This high speed Japanese train can travel up to 200mph or 320km/h. Now that's one fast train and our boyo is going to be on one very soon! Eek. I chose a dark grey cardstock for this icon, it's the Mushroom cardstock from Concord and 9th, which looks great with the silvery and red accents.

The central icon is of course the Japanese flag, no explanation necessary for that and I'm sure most of us have now tasted and enjoyed Japanese cuisine which of course is famously based around rice, so the rice bowls and chopsticks were a great additional icon for this make and considering I'd just been to lunch with the birthday boy to a Japanese restaurant, it was rather lovely to include this icon in the mix. I layered a black section over the red chopsticks for a bit of interest and added little silvery stripes to the neck of the chopsticks and one silvery stripe around each rice bowl with the Gelly Roll Glitter Pen.

 

I'm so glad I held onto this QuicKutz set. I'm running out of room in my craft storage, so really need a good clear out, but it's so lovely to rediscover classic sets that are just as good today as the day you bought them! The icons are quite timeless! I had already given Seb a card on Tuesday, so this card was made for my Mummy to give him in celebration of his birthday when we gathered as a wider family on the Saturday. We also celebrated my eldest niece getting capped. She's just finished her law degree, so I'll share her card soon too. 

Be sure to check out my talented teamies creations from Sweet Stampin' and come join our Transport challenge if you're able, we'd love to see what you're inspired to create! I will be back with the second of my travel inspired cards, which ironically is actually a card made for this same birthday boy a previous year. I didn't take a good photo of it at the time so have been working out if I could re-photograph it, but getting a card back to do so after gifting it, is a mission best aborted. So I've one pic only! But I'll share that quick post next. For now, have a wonderful day and happy crafting. Hugs, Wends xoxo

(I share thumbnails to the elements I design with in order to make your search for them easier, in case you like something I've used. I do use affiliate links where possible, which gives me a tiny commission but costs you no extra whatsoever. It helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice and track my contributions. I am deeply grateful if you use them for these reasons. I am proud to design for the companies I do and always feel happy to share where my inspiration and where my crafty stash comes from. I am occasionally gifted products to use, but I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own.)

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