Dude Time Doodles May New Release Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Charlene's fabulous blog. Your next stop is all things Anne-made.

The Design Team is featuring three fantastic new DTD images, and one of the Dudettes - or Dude - will be named our MYSTERY HOST at the end of the hop and one lucky person who comments on that blog will win a free Dude Time Doodles image of their choice; So be sure to comment on each blog. You have a whole week to hop (through next Tuesday).

I used Sagremor the Foolhardy by Dude Time Doodles/Bonibleaux Designs, along with a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, to make this royally nerdy card:

I have a very special place in my heart for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as it's one of the movies my husband introduced me to when he was "courting" me way back when. This is the kind of class-specific joke that I love, and after conferring with the Dude Time Hollow brain trust we decided that it's not really cursing, it's just an archaic use of a word!

I used several techniques for this card, so here's a little tutorial-ish list:

1. Crenelated Castle Wall Top: Cut the dotted strip from the Sizzix Sizzlits Dots & Scallops Decorative Strip Die with your die cut machine. Using your paper trimmer (or scissors, depending how straight you can cut!), cut the strip in half horizontally. Ta-da, easy crenellation!





Castle Wall embossing plate

2. Castle Wall embossing plate: I followed the tutorial by Carolina Girl. (I totally get a kick out of the fact that I made this with cardboard from a Tsingtao beer six-pack box!)


3. Small banners: Fold a strip in half, keeping it in place with a binder clip (don't crease the fold!), and cut a triangular notch in the bottom. Glue it together, leaving about a quarter of an inch at the top unglued. Cut small notches on the top to make hanging strips. Outline the banner with a gold pen (I used a Sakura gel pen for the main part and a thin Elmer's pen for the tops). String the banners; here I used a gold thread-covered elastic ribbon that came with a box of chocolates my husband bought me for Mother's Day ... he's a pretty awesome guy, isn't he?!) 
• I adhered the ribbon to the card with a thin line of ZipDry silicon glue, plus a gold brad on each end for extra support.


4. Message banner with faux gold stitching: Gold-embossed using the Cross Stitch stamp from SP Stamps Stitchery Doo set. See my tips for making such a banner in my tutorial.  


5. Paper choices:
• 12x6 blue cardstock, folded twice at 4 inches. I used my papercutter to cut the slight incline before folding.
• Textured gray cardstock for wall top
• Flat gray cardstock for walls: After embossing the pieces, I sprayed it with a matte coating to bring out the dimension. Then, I gently ran a silver ink pad over it, and then used a damp wet-wipe to blend it. Easy, and the result looks like I knew what I was doing, ha!
• 100lb Bright White cardstock (Hammermill): This prints beautifully in my little HP inkjet, but I know that a lot of people get it stuck in their printers. I like it best for Copic coloring, and it prints & stamps so well that it's my all-around favorite white too. Be sure to dry it with your heat tool after printing though; it definitely needs extra setting before coloring.


6. Lacey "grass": Wrights seam binding, adhered with a strip of double-sided tape and a touch of ZipDry on each end.

Hope this inspires you in some small way! Your next stop on the Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Hop is Anne. Have fun with the rest of the hop, and be sure to check out this week's "Heroes" challenge at Stampin with the Dragon, sponsored by Dude Time Doodles.

Thank you for visiting!