Bookmarks

I was asked to create some bookmarks...

the usual...

water colored.....embossed...

florals..botanicals...butterflies...flourishes

but...

I was also asked to create some bookmarks that weren't so feminine

Now that's a challenge!'

First of all..

the width of the bookmark space is only 1 3/4 inches wide..

secondly..

it's hard enough to find really great masculine stamp sets to create full sized cards for guys...and boys..

but finding images/stamps that are about an inch and a half??

YIKES!

Before my hunt for great images (possibly) goes digital...

I thought that I'd methodically go through all of my stamp sets...

Well...ALL of them that I have access to...

which excludes the hundreds upon hundreds that have been packed up and stored away

since the hurricane passed through here

As it turned out...

the success of my hunt was minimal..

(and this makes me acutely aware of the fact that 

I need to build my collection of masculine and little boy stamps.

I did manage to pull out a few stamp sets...and thought I'd put them to work...

(I also need to create a number of "feminine" bookmarks...so I snuck one of those in tonight as well.)

Tomorrow is the girly bookmark day...

(Yay!!...I get to use some new gorgeous floral stamps..

and some new butterfly stamps that I had ordered...and that arrived today!!)

Anyway...

these are as guy-ish as I was able to get...

for now.

After I complete this blog post...

I'll be on line searching for some great guy-style stamps 

I made a list of categories/themes that Id like to have 

so I will do what I do best...

search around on line...

hopefully... I'll find exactly what I have in mind

(Wish me luck!)

Okay...back to the bookmarks...

(I cannot tell you what a challenge this was...primarily because the bookmark bases are narrow.)

By the way....photos of the stamp sets that I used are posted at the end of the blog post

(except for the fish...they are all loose,cling mounted...

no packaging...all purchased individually

at a stamp show....years ago...

Okay..enough about that..

let's get on with the show!

So...here's the guy-ish bookmark lineup...

followed by one girly-ish bookmark design 

 First up....

some fish...

stamped...embossed.

(one in black..one in white)

and then colored with Spectrum Glitter Markers

and yes...that's a green shark that you see ...

A close-up of the white embossed version...

I like the turquoise color of the fish 

and how it looks against the white embossing.

The green object to the right is a fishing lure

The fish on both bookmarks are very sparkly

and they glisten nicely when  moved in the light.

The background of both fish bookmarks are water colored.

and...

the blue-green version...embossed in black.

Also with a water colored background

The dark blue metallic card stock worked well with both fish bookmarks.

and...

this one...

I credit Shadow Ink and my MISTI with allowing me to stamp a completed image

no white spots..no light spots...

That Shadow Ink is fantastic for solid  inked images...

It fills in and dries beautifully.

I'd like to add...

if this stamp was created and manufactured without the necktie..I'd have loved to give each bookmark a different color bow tie...

in place of the neck tie.

I think that would have been a fun look

But..alas.

it didn't 

so I kept my thoughts to myself...

(until now...haha)

and carried on with the bookmark making

and...

a close-up.

The distressed linen-like background is a Stampin Up...

and...

Look at the suits jackets!

Look at the great ink coverage that the Shadow Ink gives..

it's amazing..and fantastic.

(having a MISTI helped as well.)

The red suit is matted on a deep red metallic card stock...

and the black jacket...is on metallic ebony card stock.

I like nature scenes...

so I like these.

And again I ask...

Do you know how difficult it is to stamps something significant on a narrow strip of card stock?

I actually think that the teeny tiny red cardinal that I stamped in the tree brings this little scene to life..

It needed some color

and that little dot of red did the job!

(The red metallic mat worked great with all 3 bookmarks shown...thanks to that cardinal)

I like these little VW Beetles...

this is a single image stamp...

I chose to stamp the image 3x's ...lining them up in a row...

Then, I water colored each car in a different color.

This  =  cuteness

and finally...

this funky girly bookmark...

This stamp is soooo... far far farrrrrrr away from my stamping and card making style..

emphasis on SOOOO FAR AWAY

But it caught my eye...

so I ordered it...

and had fun using it on a few bookmarks.

(Did I mention that this is SOOOO N O T my style?)

I colored  both of the images with Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers

If you like Wink of Stella...

you'll like the Spectrum Glitter Markers.

(Different product...same look)

and..

 a close up that captures the sparkle in the color

So this is the start of the guy-ish bookmarks...

I've got a few more stamps on hand that will be good for guy-bookmarks...

I'll use them tomorrow.

But I'll also start searching for masculine stamps

so that I can have a larger collection 

for the times when I create masculine cards

(or future bookmarks)

Card making friends...I'll post a few pics of key products below...

As an added note...I mention Metallic card stock often here at my blog...as I did in this blog post...

My Metallic card stock of choice is from LCI.

Also...missing from the photos below is the Stampin Up set used for one of the deer/trees bookmark...

the one with the little red cardinal...

sorry...I forgot the name of that stamp set...and forgot to take a photo.

Thanks for visiting....

Have a great day

Michelle