Tour de Craft 2016!

Yesterday the 103rd edition of the Tour de France got underway with beautiful Mont Saint Michel and the Normandy coast as the backdrop. I've been a big fan (fanatic?) of the Tour for many years now, and every summer it inspires me to bust out my many, many bicycle stamps and get creative! I suppose I officially "collect" bicycle stamps, I can never resist them!

For my first card of this summer's Tour de Craft, I inked up the fun bicycle in the Hero Arts set Hipster at Heart. The word "epic" is also from the same set - rather fitting for the most epic bike race in the world! I pulled out my favorite road washi tape from my stash, and also spelled out "vive le tour" in stickers. The large heart is a leftover from what I created with the June My Monthly Hero kit.

Yesterday I subjected my family to my Tour de France craziness. We had a delicious European-style charcuterie board for lunch and I spent most of the day hiding in my craft room watching cycling.

It was a long day of cycling watching cycling, but my efforts were so worth it - one of my favorites, Mark Cavendish, won the stage (something he's done many many times) but since it was the first stage, he earned his first yellow jersey.

(Photos from Official Mark Cavendish Facebook page)

He has a look of pure joy, doesn't he? From now on when I'm really super happy and excited, I'll be as giddy as a Cavendish in yellow.

Vive le Tour!

Time for a TTT!

Today is Stage 9 in the Tour de France - the TTT!! TTT = Team Time Trial. During the individual time trial, it's each cyclist alone against the clock. This time, each team starts together. In the TTT, individual performances aren't the key - you're only as good as you're fifth teammate across the line!

I pulled out more older Hero Arts from my collection. These are from the Hero Arts + Studio Calico collaboration. I love the Ferris Bueller quote - just like a group of cyclists on their bikes, life moves pretty fast.

I made my bikes red on this card, because today I'm cheering for Team BMC, who races in red & black. My favorite American cyclist in this year's Tour, Tejay van Garderen, rides for BMC. (I told you about Tejay last weekend!) If they do well, he could be wearing yellow tomorrow. Will it happen? Fingers crossed!

Such a cruel and beautiful sport...

Yesterday's Tour de France stage really tugged at my heart, so... a heart ended up on my card!

This card was actually a happy mish-mash of things sitting on my desk! I've been cleaning my craft room lately, in prep for a huge stampy garage sale next weekend. I found this bit of red polka dot fabric, which I had sewn the felt heart to ages ago. I thought it was super fun for a card! It's a bit puckered due to my lousy sewing abilities (or lack there of...), but I still like it! And the bike is one of my wood veneer bikes I've had for ages, that I coated with Stickles a few days ago thanks to a fab suggestion from Lysa Rohrer! And finally, a little message from Avery Elle to finish it all off.

So yesterday... ugh. Remember how happy I was on Wednesday about Tony Martin finally fulfilling his dreams of yellow? Absolute heartbreak yesterday as he hit the deck in the final kilometer, breaking his collarbone in multiple places. Because he respects the yellow jersey so much, he got back on his bike and finished the stage, with his teammates helping him along, despite the pain. Loved this tweet, it says it all.

So glorious and miserable at the same time but this is one of the things that makes it such a beautiful sport pic.twitter.com/ugOaEVBoLO

— Laura Meseguer (@Laura_Meseguer) July 9, 2015

Tomorrow there will be no heartbreak on my blog, as I have another fabby special guest joining me! YAY!! See you then.

Gorilla in Green

Today's post is my little ode to Andre Greipel, the big German cyclists also known as The Gorilla. He's one of the top sprinters at the Tour de France, and was the winner of Stage 2 yesterday. At the Tour, the leader of the points competition (aka sprint competition!) gets to wear the green jersey. While Greipel has won plenty of sprints over the years, yesterday was the first time The Gorilla has ever put on TDF green!

I really wanted a cool gorilla image to use for this card, but alas, I own exactly zero gorilla stamps. I did a little internet search and found this super cool image by Ant Creations. I didn't want a cutesy gorilla, I needed a FIERCE gorilla for Greipel! So I emailed Nathan over at Ant Creations, and he kindly let me use his image for this card. (Go give them lots of Facebook likes for being so nice!!) I printed out the gorilla and colored him in with my Copics. The little Hero Arts bicycle was a necessary addition to his shirt. And the "life is good" message is an old A Muse woodblock stamp from my stash.

Doesn't the actual Gorilla look awesome in green?

So just before the Tour I learned something...um.. interesting... about Andre Greipel. He likes to rap. “Pain is the weakness leaving the body. Pain in the legs is something you don’t know, because you’re just setting up the big show." I swear, these cyclists - never a dull moment...

I don't know what's happened yet in today's stage, I'm watching it on delay. Is Greipel still in green? I'll find out soon enough. Either way I know he'll continue to add excitement to this year's Tour.

And Sonya, this post is for you. :-)

Take care,

4th of July at the Tour

Today is a great day x 2! It marks the start of the 102nd edition of the Tour de France. And of course, it's Independence Day here in the USA. Happy Birthday, America!

I pulled out some of my favorite older Hero Arts stamps for my first card inspired by this year's Tour de France. The Skyline stamp has been one of my favorites since it came out, and it's especially fun combined with fireworks from Happy 4th. It's hard to tell in the photos, but I trimmed all of the buildings and popped them up, so the card has quite a bit of dimension. I added a little wood veneer bicycle which I tried to make red with a marker. The road is a fun roll of washi tape from my stash.

There are only three Americans starting at the Tour today - the fewest amount of Americans since 1996! Boo! (Read a VeloNews article about it HERE!) One of them is Tyler Farrar, a sprinter. He's riding for MTN-Qhubeka, the first African-based team to ever ride at the tour. "Qhubeka projects aim to help rural communities move forward and progress by giving bicycles to children in return for work done to improve their environment and their community." I absolutely love this. The Qhubeka project site says that since 2005, they've distributed 40,000 bikes to African villagers, and reduced commute time to school by 75%. I'm not a huge Tyler Farrar fan, but I absolutely love what this team stands for, and I'll be rooting for them! Follow the hashtag #BicyclesChangeLives on Twitter for more information about this project.

Another American rider is Andrew Talansky. He's the current US Time Trial Champion, and he'll be riding a pretty sweet stars & stripes painted bike at today's stage, which happens to be a time trial.

But my favorite American at the Tour this year is Tejay van Garderen!! Some of you have seen me tweet it during races - GOOOOOOO TEEEEEEEEEEEJAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!! And that's what I'll be yelling at my TV this summer, too. Tejay is one of the overall contenders. He's not a favorite by any stretch, but I'm crossing my fingers and toes that maybe this is the summer he surprises everyone. GO TEJAY!! Here's a cool article that he recently wrote, explaining this year's race. And how cool is this t-shirt? I think I need one.

Proceeds from this t-shirt benefit the Davis Phinney Foundation. Davis Phinney is a great American cyclist from years past, who was diagnosed with Parkinsons at age 40. His foundation supports those living with Parkinsons. So, a cool shirt to support Tejay, for a good cause.

Alrighty then! Now you know about the Americans at this year's Tour. Yay America! Yay France! Yay bikes!!

Au Revoir

Well, the sun has set on another Tour de France. Le sigh. It's always my saddest day of the summer.

I made my little Paris at night scene using a piece I had watercolored quite a while ago and never used! I thought the purples and grays would make a nice evening sky. The stars were added in silver ink from the Hero Arts Shoot for the Moon set. And the Paris skyline is a cut file from the Silhouette store!

I had a ton of fun creating all of these TdF-inspired cards this month, and I hope you had fun tuning in to see them. You can find all of the bike-inspired cards I've made over the years on my Pinterest board!

Now the big question - will I keep stamping regularly now that the Tour is over? Tune in and find out. ;-)

Danke

After today's stage of the Tour de France, one of my very favorite cyclists, Jens Voigt, is retiring after 17 years of making his fans smile. He's the biggest character in the peloton, and I will miss him so very much!

All stamps for this one are Hero Arts - I was very happy to see I had a "danke" stamp for this card celebrating my favorite German!

Jensie is known as one of the most aggressive riders - he never gives up! And he's famous for this "shut up legs" quote.

There's so many things I love about Jens - his attitude, his humor, his tweets, the fact that he geocaches all over the world, the way he talks about his kids, the years of going solo and completely kicking butt... Man I'm going to miss him!

Stamps: Hero Arts (CL699 Sketchbook Letters, LP202 Three Bikes, 331479 Love This)
Paper: Neenah (solar white)
Ink: Encore silver, Archival black, Hero Arts Red Royal

More than just a haircut...

Today is the final stage of the Tour de France. THE FINAL STAGE! Say it isn't so! What will I do with my mornings?? Actually ride MY bike??? :-) The overall winner of this year's Tour has already been decided through the cobbles, the mountains and the time trial - the final stage into Paris is always just a formality in that respect. But, there's always (or usually, anyway?) an exciting, all-out sprint on the Champs-Élysées to win the day's stage! And today's card is inspired by my pick to win today's stage - Marcel Kittel!

This is an old digi image from The Greeting Farm, it's been on my computer for a while but I thought it was perfect for today's card - I'll explain why in a moment. After coloring him with Copics, I masked off and stamped a little bicycle on his tshirt. The black, white and blue color scheme is inspired by Kittel's team, Giant-Shimano. The bicycle brads are from Eyelet Outlet - aren't they the cutest??

I used the Sunburst shape from Hero Arts on my Silhouette for the background before adding the brads. I was inspired by the new retrosketches challenge:

As for Marcel Kittel... he's an amazing sprinter. But, he's also REALLY into his hair. It's pretty funny. They call it the Kittel-cut.

He even tweeted this as the Tour left England for France...

It just cracks me up. But as they said on NBC during coverage, "Marcel Kittel is more than just a haircut." Indeed! He's already won three stages so far this year. And here he is winning on the Champs last year:

Will he do it today?? We'll see. GO MARCEL!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm (Edward digi image), Hero Arts/Studio Calico (331479 Love This - message), cute little bicycle stamp Lisa Spangler bought in Japan on his tshirt
Paper: Neenah (solar white), black, blue
Ink: computer printer ink, Copic markers, Archival ink
Other: "Sunburst" cut file by Hero Arts in the Silhouette store, Eyelet Outlet bicycle brads

Flora the Cyclist

Today's post doesn't really have anything to do with the Tour de France, except that it includes a bicycle. And it makes me happy.

This sweet stamps is from Stamping Bella called Flora the Cyclist. And it's uncanny, she looks JUST like me, when I go out for a bike ride in my pumps. ;-) I colored her with my Copics, and added a bit of Distress Stickles on her trim. The message is half of "hello there" in Hero Arts' Enjoy Today set. I really love the font of these greetings! I went with my rule that clouds always make a card cuter, and I broke out my sewing machine for the first time in ages.

The Tour is almost over. Only two more stages - a time trial tomorrow, then a sprint into Paris on Sunday. Say it isn't so!!!

Stamps: Stamping Bella (EB120 Uptown Girl Flora the Cyclist), Hero Arts (CL759 Enjoy Today)
Paper: Neenah (Solar White), MFT (Blu Raspberry), Stampin' Up (Pink Pirouette)
Ink: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Copic markers
Other: Lil' Inker Designs (cloud die), Ranger Distress Stickles (Rock Candy), machine stitching

Kandinsky + Bikes = fun card!

Sorry I've been MIA with the Tour de France-inspired cards the past couple days!! Life got busy - I completed a large custom card order for a friend, and I also hosted a little two day "art camp" for my daughter and three of her friends. The first day we did projects that incorporated circles. While I was searching Pinterest for kid project ideas, I came across this Kandinsky-inspired tree. I didn't use it for art camp, but I thought the idea would make a really fun card!

I had a ton of fun with this card! I wanted to still work a bit of TdF-inspiration into it, so I started with a old French book page that my friend Anna gave me! I sponged on some Broken China ink, then spritzed with water. The tree was free-cut from some burlap paper (LOVE this stuff!!). And then I just took my scrap bin and went to town cutting circles! The message is from an old MFT set (Enjoy the Ride), and I added a little Studio Calico wood veneer bike that I also colored with a bit more distress ink.

It was actually difficult to get a photo I liked of this card - the colors and textures are much nicer in person!

Today the Tour is suffering through the 3rd of three mountain stages in the Pyrenees. I love the mountains!! How those guys climb mountains on bikes, honestly, I just don't know. And then, the high speed descents on these narrow mountain roads. Ugh! They are AMAZING.

I'll actually be back today with an awesome guest designer card, and maybe even another card! I have some catching up to do. :-)

Au Revoir,

Tour de France Sympathy Card

Today was yet another rainy stage at the Tour de France. Is this one of the rainiest Tours ever? It sure seems like it. So... a sympathy card for those poor cyclists riding so many days in the rain... wishing them brighter days!

The message is from a Hero Arts sympathy set called Remember. I picked up the bike clips at Paper Source ages ago - I'm down to only one left! Eek! (But proud of myself for not hoarding them!) And the cloud is chipboard from Magenta that I picked up when they held a class at my LSS. I had fun with it! I painted it with gesso, then put down some embossing paste. I added the swirls with a toothpick. Happy clouds!

The sketch was inspired by this one from retrosketches:

With all the rain (uhhh, not to mention the daily body punishment of riding bikes over mountains...!), I keep hearing about different riders with sinus issues, chest infections and/or bronchitis. In a show of solidarity, I also wake up each day with a sneezing fit and massively runny nose. THAT'S just how much of a cycling fan I am... ;-)

Stamps: Hero Arts (CL577 Remember)
Paper: MFT (Blu Raspberry), Neenah (Solar White), Doodlebug Design (Kraft in Color 6x6)
Ink: Ranger (Archival Black)
Other: Magenta (cloud chipboard), Ranger (gesso), Dreamweaver (Wendy Vecchi embossing paste), circle punch, bicycle clip, sequins

Never Give Up.

Yesterday was a rough stage at the Tour de France for Andrew Talansky. He had started off the Tour as one of the favorites, with hopes of ending up on a podium in Paris. But then the crashes happened. And yesterday it all caught up to him. The television cameras stayed on him as he suffered to keep up, then drifted off the back of the peloton. And they remained on him as he pulled off on the side of the road and a team manager had a talk with him. Many thought that was it, he was getting in the car and calling it a day. But to everyone's surprise, he got back on his bike AND KEPT GOING!! He was obviously in tremendous pain,  wiping away tears as he rode. But he kept going. Thirty two or so minutes after the winner of the stage crossed the line, Talansky rode in to the sound of cheers. And it was heartbreaking and amazing all at the same time. So, today's card is inspired by The Pitbull, who I will think of every time I'm out of my bike and I think it's too hard to continue...

I played with my Hero Arts ink daubers for this one. I pounded them hard on my paper to get the awesome splotches. I love doing that - it's like taking out some aggression in the stamp room. I added some additional flecks of ink with a wet paintbrush, and stamped my favorite tiny little Hero Arts bicycle. The message is spelled out with Amy Tangerine stickers.

Talansky didn't start today's stage, his injuries were just too much. But the fact that he kept going yesterday, I will not soon forget.

Pedal to the Metal

The Tour is back today and the boys are putting their pedals to the metal!

I've been wanting to play with this stamp from The Cat's Pajamas which combines two of my very favorite things - bikes and bunnies! It's called Wheel Love. I think I have a bad case of wheel love!! I combined it with some scraps that had been gathering on my desk - the stitched woodgrain block was made ages ago and never used, and I always seem to have stray die cut clouds hanging around.

That adorable pink bicycle washi tape was sent to me all the way from the UK by Keren Baker! Love it so much!! (Thanks again, Keren!)

Thanks for stopping by today,

Stamps: Wheel Love from The Cat's Pajamas
Paper: MFT (Kraft), Doodlebug Design (Kraft in Color 6x6 pad), Neenah (Solar White)
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic markers, journaling pen
Other: Spellbinders die, MFT cloud dies, washi tape

Bonjour

Today is Bastille Day in France. It seemed like a good day to play with this cute stamp! His name is Pierre, and since he has the day off from school for the holiday, he has picked up a baguette and will be enjoying it while he puts his feet up and watches the Tour de France...

The stamp is actually called Pierre from Paris, and it's part of the World Kids Collection from Your Next Stamp. I paired him with this fun sketch from retrosketches:

Thanks for stopping by,

Stamps: Your Next Stamp (Pierre from Paris), Avery Elle (Bonjour), Hero Arts (On the Go Bike)
Paper: Neenah (Solar White), MFT (red)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Other: Spellbinders oval dies, embossing folder, washi tape

Watercolored Cyclists

Today I'm getting slightly more artistic on the ol' blog. I've been following artist Greig Leach on Twitter (@artofcycling) - every day he shares wonderful watercolored images of the highlights of that day's Tour de France stage. (He even has a Kickstarter for publishing his paintings into a book!) I was inspired by Mr. Leach's art to give it a go myself, in card form!

I cannot draw. At all. So I had a little idea that I was hoping might work! I did a Google search for Tour de France images, and printed out a couple. Then I pulled out my trusty lightbox!! I absolutely love this thing, I've used it for other coloring techniques, and even though it's cheap and simple, it makes me very happy!

As I was hoping, it worked like a charm! With the lightbox turned on, I just traced the image really quickly with a journaling pen, leaving out a lot of the detail of the photograph. Then I used another one of my old, trusty friends - my ancient Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons! I've had these for years and I don't think they even sell them anymore, but whenever I pull them out they never fail to make me happy. But of course any watercoloring medium would work.

Here's another image I used. If you watch the Tour de France, you'll recognize this superfan Didi Senft, or El Diablo! Seeing him along the road during tv coverage also makes me smile. He's part of the tour! He's typically on a mountain stage if he's there (he's had health issues in recent years) - the boys are starting to go uphill today, so maybe we'll see my favorite devil soon? Fingers crossed!

I stayed up too late last night making these, I was having way too much fun to stop. :-)

Thanks for stopping by,

Supplies: Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons, MFT's WTG Enjoy the Ride (sentiment), Karen Foster Snap Stamps (sentiment), journaling pen, Neenah solar white paper (watercolor paper would be a better choice!)