Anything Goes Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

This week I'm back working on challenges. I needed to make a birthday card for a ten year old for tomorrow. The challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes so I am entering this card to that challenge:

I used my new Nuvo embellishment mousse over the embossing, to colour the card base and to colour in the number 10 on the inside:

I had to cut my acrylic stamp in half (#gasp) to stamp the words separately.  I also put a special, NZ designed and made, stamp on the back of the card for this sweet girl. The birthday girl has started to attend church with friends so I thought she would find it a special touch.

Again, this card is being entered at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Materials:
Stamps: Hero Arts, Rubbadubbadoo
Ink: Ranger
Embossing Powder: Ranger Antiquities
Mousse: Nuvo
Number Stickers: Basic Grey coloured with Nuvo Embellishment Mousse
Embossing Folder: Craft Connections
Bling: Kaisercraft
Pen: Stabilo (to write 'th' on the inside and draw lines on the front of the card)
Paper: SImple Stories (for the tiny blue hearts on the front)
Cardstock: Bazill, (base unknown)
Other: Tiny Heart Punch

You May Not Need That Latest Gadget

That's right, the shopaholic just said: you may not need that latest gadget!

A new gadget was just released by a well known male crafter, and a well known craft manufacturer.  When I saw it, I thought: that looks the same as my sidekick I bought many years ago only in a different colour.  (I choose red over brown any day). I ordered a new, and tiny die recently and I thought that it would be easier if I could cut the die with my old, trusty sidekick rather than pull out my regular die machine (Ebosser).

The first setback was realising that when I purchased my sidekick, thin metal dies were not on the market.  It only cut the steel dies embedded in the plastic frame.  Now is about the time you might point out that the new gadget would cut all of the current die sizes, thus rendering it useful.  I, of course, was not going to be beaten at the first hurdle.  I played around with different, self-made 'shims' to account for the lack of plastic frame on thin metal dies.  The final sandwich involved adding: a piece of chipboard covered on both sides with patterned paper from my scraps stash and a plain embossing folder sized to fit the sidekick.

The plain embossing folder may shear over time but I could cut new plastic shims out of product packaging or some other thick, solid material.

It's always good to look at older supplies and give them some love again.