WWC213 - Karen's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I bought a new stamp from Impression Obsession and I believe I'm obsessed.  In the course of a week I've made three cards with it.  Each time I've made one, I've thought of a different way I could have used it.  Oh yes, it is definitely obsession.  Luckily it works perfectly for our challenge this week which is a Masculine "Anything Goes", hosted by Karen.

For my first card I had the idea of giving it a wood-burning sort of style.  I used a light coloured pattern from the gorgeous Wood Textures Designer Series Paper and stamped the image using Soft Suede.  I heat dried that to really set the ink and then used my AquaPainter to lightly add some Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso to the image to add to the wood-burned style of it.  Once I was satisfied, I ripped around the perimeter and proceeded to sponge the raw edges as well as distress them.  I love the aged look it gave the paper, don't you?

For my base I used Early Espresso and used the retired Wood Grain embossing folder on the front.  I added a layer of the Wood Textures DSP in a slightly darker shade, but which coordinated with the stamped piece.  I'm really happy with the rustic, vintage style of it.

A couple of days later I just had to try it again on another piece of the Wood textures DSP, but this time I chose a white birch look.  The shabby white-washed piece was perfect to stamp on with my Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  It had the same tone as the distressed part of the patterned paper, but slightly lighter.  After stamping, I didn't add any colours but instead, used my distressing tools on the edges to make the stamped piece look old and shabby.

I used the retired White Naturals cardstock as my base and a piece of Soft Suede as the matte.  In the top left corner I added a stamped and die-cut fly-fishing hook from the Best Catch bundle and, after colouring it in neutrals, attached it over a piece of linen thread.

I like the look of that hook in the corner, don't you?  It finishes the card off quite nicely.

And then I got the bright idea to stamp the image on Whisper White cardstock using my Black Memento ink.  After that had dried nicely, I got to work colouring the image using my Faber-Castell coloured pencils and Gamsol.  For this one, I used a base of Heavy Whisper White and then double-matted with Gray Granite and Basic Black.

So you can see what's kept me busy this past week.  I had to satisfy my obsession so that I could begin thinking about other stamps.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - For the Men and Boys

Dare 2 B Artzy March Challenge - Anything Goes