Whimsy Stamps ~ Castle Ravenloft

Hey crafty friends, it was my little boy's birthday on Sunday May 14th, so I was busy for a bit wrapping parcels and creating his card. This lil' dude is our geek chic, table top game lovin' dude and he was off on school camp for his actual birthday on a Sunday! So we celebrated him all day the Saturday before so he didn't feel like he 'missed his birthday' celebration with the family. It was coincidentally, also Mother's Day, but not the same at all for me, without my littlest here! 

This card was such fun to make. I had a very clear idea in my head of what I wanted to create for our little dungeon master. Zac has been running a table top gaming club at his school for the past two years and has a really good crowd of kids thoroughly enjoying it! So of course his card had to have something to do with Dungeons and Dragons. I knew the moment I saw this fantastic Gothic Castle Die from Whimsy that it would be perfect to make this idea come together! I grabbed my brick wall stencil from Whimsy and set about inking up all the brickwork on the castle and the actual box base which I wanted to try and mimic the dice tower my hubby had made Zac a couple of years ago. You can spot the tower in the background of the pic below between the card and some of his pressies.

There are so many little details on this make that I am so pleased with. I found I had some perfect woodgrain paper to cut the portcullis and big heavy main door from, which close up are such lovely details. I also had the brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) of using yellow organza ribbon behind the windows to give a 'lit glow from inside' feel, but sheer, so you can see through them. Much better than my usual yellow paper option! The ribbon has a shimmer and sheen to it, so this detail really is lovely up close. 

This shot from the right of the design, shows the little dice I created, with a 1 and 3 showing to hat tip that he's now 13, as I would have needed more dice to actually add up to 13! I've stencilled all the sides of the box card base, including the back, which I've then created a little area to write the sentiment on the top half. I used Lost Shadow Distress Oxide on black cardstock for the box base bricks. I used two lighter shades of grey for the castle and again used the Lost Shadow Oxide for the stencilling. Piecing together all the little diecut elements for the castle was a labour of love. Some bits were a bit fiddly, but not difficult, with liquid glue and tweezers. I put foam behind the brick surround of the main door for a bit of dimension and interest. I coloured the white foam in a light grey pen, so it would tone in nicely. 

The dragons were cut from several different papers for a bit of interest as it was such a grey palette creation. So I chose a couple of iridescent dragons to feature at the front of the design and very back. Three of the dragons I cut from a lovely textured glittery cardstock, two of them flying on acetate tethers. The front dragon sitting atop the castle turret, I did in a dark grey cardstock with a lovely sheen to it. I wanted this one to sit in the scene without taking over, so chose a more muted look for him. The lovely night scene paper in the background is from a Whimsy Slimline paper pad, which I trimmed slightly to get the moon exactly where I wanted it to be. It's actually from the 'Lost in Space' paper pack, which is full of fabulous 'other wordly' scenes, but the portion that's visible of this paper in the box card design worked perfectly for the vision I had. I rounded all the corners of the design with my corner rounder, nothing fancy, had it for years, but works so well for this kind of detail. If you like the box design and would like to have a go creating one yourself, I encourage you to check out my lovely blogging friend Janine's templates. She has a version in inches and one in centremetres, so will suit most folks. They're fabulous templates and exactly what I used for this design. 

We've just had a wonderful Instagram Hop at Whimsy to celebrate the lovely owner Denise Lynn. She's such a sweetheart and never seeks the limelight, but so totally deserves it, so it was lovely to celebrate her this way. If you hopped along with us, I hope you enjoyed all the fun and fabulous creations our DT made. I shared mine in the post right before this, so do scroll back if you missed it. I'll be back again soon with another crafty creation. In the meantime, I wish you restful evenings and happy days! Hugs, Wends xoxo

(I use affiliate links where possible, to allow the companies I design for to track the effectiveness of my contributions. I receive a small commission, which costs you no extra, but helps these companies see where their marketing efforts are most effective. I only design for companies whose products I love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own. Please feel free to use the Whimsy Stamps 10% discount code in my sidebar if you're doing some shopping.)

Challenge Entries:

Craft Rocket Challenges: #103 ~ For the Boys

Crafty Calendar Challenge: Anything But Square

Papercraft Challenges: #94 ~ Things With Wings

As You Like It: Masculine or Feminine Projects? I like both, it's incredibly satisfying to make a 'good' masculine project, a pretty girlie card is my favourite, but I do love when a make for the boys comes together so well! 

Update: I was in the Top 3 at Crafty Calendar Challenge. Thank you so much ladies! xoxo