Early Birthday for My Guy!

Here is a card I whipped up for the hubby...  I used the design layout from MojoMonday257, but won't be giving this to him till his birthday in October!  (ok, so I'm a tad early!)  The design comes from one of the design team members, Julee Tilman.  So much fun!

In any case, I got a little creative with my Artiste Cricut cartridge (available through Close To My Heart) and cut a gear (pg 39) out of some sparkly silver card stock.  It was a little thick, so I used a harder pressure and slower speed to accomplish this.  I just followed the 'helpful hints' Cricut settings guide to determine how to get it cut.

I added a few details like sponging the lace first with grey wool Exclusive Inks, and then with cocoa Exclusive Inks (both CTMH).  I also used my National Scrapping Month stamp set Its Your Day, 'enjoy the ride' stamp with the small star (also CTMH).  I had this paper hanging around for my guys All-Harley racing album so it already had gears and stars on to match.  I just stayed with the theme and used a border from that paper for the flag.  I also daubed some more cocoa on the message tag to distress and make it look old.  I didn't just do the edges, I included it all over in first and second versions to make it a little lighter over the letters.

I love the design and it worked perfectly on this 'guy' kind of card!  I also added some Tim Holtz designed gears I picked up since my guy is a Harley rider! They fit him perfectly!!  I will have to wait (im)patiently to give it to him!

Here are some pics of the card and some of the details... I hope you love it as much as I do!!  I clearly had to swap out the flowers for gears, but I know you'll love it too!!  :)