Monday, August 25, 2014

You're a Winner Masculine Card


This is my final card for the "Cutting Edge" Blog Hop, hosted by Paulina at Pretty Pink Posh this weekend.


I decided to do a definitely masculine card this time. I would call it "clean & simple," but I don't know if all the inking & spatters make it especially clean! LOL My design is (somewhat loosely) based on Operation Write Home's Sketch #180:


I stamped the Hero Arts "Designer Woodgrain" background on kraft cardstock using Walnut Stain Distress ink. I had initially tried using Gold and then Espresso Adirondack acrylic paint daubers on the stamp, but neither one provided the clear image with enough contrast that I wanted. So finally my third try with Walnut Stain proved successful.

For the greeting, I used one of the stamps from this set, & again stamped it in Walnut Stain, this time on a lighter tan cardstock. I "separated" the stamp, by masking off the "winner!" with a piece of tape and inking up only the "you're a" part. I removed the tape, stamped, and then repeated the process to stamp the "winner!" portion. I used a paintbrush and clean water to flick water droplets on the stamped words. Distress inks react with water, so that caused some bleeding and a bit of very subtle fading in some of the letters. I also applied a little ink to an acrylic block, thinned it with water, and used the same brush to spatter the ink onto the cardstock. Finally, I cut the words into banner shapes and inked the edges with more Walnut Stain.

Instead of a vertical strip of cardstock, as in the sketch, I decided to use a row of hexagons. So I used one of the dies from the Lifestyle Crafts "Nesting Hexagons" set to cut 5 hexagons out of scraps of various patterned papers I had left on my desk from other projects. I glued the green one in the horizontal center of the card, 1/8" in from the left edge, and then glued the rest above and below that. I did have to trim off a little from the top & bottom ones. These provided a bit of color to an otherwise monochromatic card.

After gluing down the hexagons, I glued the greeting banners to the panel. Finally, I adhered the front to a card base, which I'd inked with--yep, you guessed it--Walnut Stain, to create a dark brown mat. A simple card, but one that took a lot of thought on my part. I will be sending this one also to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking Blog's August "Encouragement"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Witch Kraft"

7 comments:

  1. Oooh, I really like the woodgrain background! And the hexagons! Those are two of my favorite things, haha. Awesome job! :)

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  2. Great card--I like your row of hexagons.

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  3. Love this masculine card! The hexagons are a perfect touch paired with the woodgrain background!
    <3 Emily L.

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  4. You are on a roll with all the wonderful cards you have been creating both for challenges and for OWH! It's nice to see the wonderful vareity and also that you continue to be such a great supporter and player over at the a2z Challenge Blog! Keep up the great work and good luck with all of your challenges! I can hardly belkive that August is almost over -- where did Summer go!!

    Happy Crafting,
    Lisa (ThePurplePlace)
    a2z Design Team

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  5. Handsome card! The woodgrain is lovely and the touch of splatter perfect. Thanks for playing along with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

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