Steaming ahead

Just to show it's not all Christmas on here I've made a card for my Dad. He's getting better slowly and I think this will cheer him up a bit as he's very much a steam fanatic.  I would also like to enter it in a couple of challenges, Make My Monday and Cards For Men, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
   I began with a sketchy steam engine stamp from Creative Expression - Vintage Illusion and used Perfect Medium and Cosmic Shimmer Mica Powders. This has been sealed using a well known supermarket's value hairspray. I cut the image out using Spellbinders Labels Twenty One as this shape makes me think of railway signs. I had to use the largest size die for the image so then I drew around the outside of the die on gold satin card to get that extra layer and cut it out by hand.
  The background is copper mirri card run through my Bigshot with a mask to get the checker plate pattern. Masks give a softer impression than folders which sometimes can be better. The card was a bit too shiny so I have gone over it with an acrylic paint dauber from Ranger to grunge it up a bit. The base card was cream before being dabbed with Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy on my trusty shaving brush and stamped with a crackle stamp in the same colour.
  The ticket is a Creative Expressions stamp and says Just For You so it's useful for any occasion. I have stamped the envelope and inside the card with cogs just to bring it all together. The cog is cut with a Sizzix die Tim Holtz Cogs in greyboard. Then I've embossed it with Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo and once cold rubbed off the excess crystals that do not melt and coloured it with Distress Ink Vintage Photo to complete the rusty look. There is a screw head brad in the centre of the cog and it's stuck on with thin foam pads.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Make My Monday - One For The Boys

Cards For Men - Transport