WWC294 - Marsha's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

 

And we're back with the House-Mouse Designs.  I fell in love with this beauty and can see how easy it would be to use it for masculine cards, feminine cards and everything in between.  I'll bet I could even use it for Christmas.  Yes, I'm in love!

Ellen Jareckie has brought these three little musical mice to life, hasn't she?  I love their various poses and the way they're handling their instruments.  To give the card a masculine "flavour", I went with deeper, more neutral colours for my background.  I began with a base of Soft Suede and a matte of Basic Black.  The musical patterned paper is from a retired Stampin' Up! collection and is a lovely deep shade of Mossy Meadow (green).  I added another matte, this time in Soft Suede, around the die-cut image piece and added a bit of black by sponging the edge of the die-cut with my black ink.

In the close-up you can see the colours I've used for my mice and their instruments.  Each mouse is slightly different.  Muzzy, the violinist, is coloured a soft charcoal and grey; Mudpie, the Banjo player, is coloured a sable brown; and, finally, Amanda, the guitarist, is coloured an auburn brown.  I love the way the Derwent watercolours offer such a nice variation in colours.  They're a pleasure to use along with my Aqua Painter.

While it's difficult to see, I added a touch of silver to the plate at the lower end of the banjo as well as a bit to the guitar.  Finishing up with the simple sentiment and a couple of hand-drawn musical notes is all this card needs.  I'm so happy with it and hope you love it, too. 

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, October 26th.   

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

HMFMC #326 - Always Anything Goes (Optional twist FALL)

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #131 - Anything Goes

WWC285 - Karen's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

I fell in love with this adorable set of "Frenchie" pups enjoying all sorts of summer activities.  The only problem was choosing which image to use for Karen's fun masculine challenge this week.  In the end I couldn't resist the one of the pup enjoying a swim.  I suspect our hot weather made me decide to live vicariously through him.

I used the Heavy Whisper White as my base and added a matte of Granny Apple Green.  Then I embossed a piece of Pineapple Punch using the Darice Pawprint embossing folder.  I love the vibrant colours together, don't you?

I stamped the image on a piece of Mixed Media paper using my black Versafine ink.  I fit the fancy stitched die over the image to get the placement of the "Just Chillin" right and then cut it out.  As a matte backing, I used the next size up die to cut a piece of the Granny Apple Green.  I love how the watercoloured image just "pops" against the bright colours, don't you?

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday,  August 24th.

I've also linked my card to the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #126 - Always Anything Goes

Make My Monday Challenge #129 - On the Beach

AAA Birthday: Fame #16 - Tic Tac Toe  (I used "bright, embossing, masculine")

WWC272 - Helen's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

It's been a while since I pulled out my Brusho Crystals.  Since I recently bought a really different little die which I have been dying to use, a Brusho background seemed like an excellent idea.

As you can see, the die actually gives a silhouette reflection of a man walking his dog.  Of course I cut that out of a piece of Basic Black cardstock.  I also decided to use a Basic Black matte so that the edges of the die-cut would blend right in.  For the background, I chose to use a piece of Watercolour paper.  It holds up much better to the amount of water one usually uses with Brusho than does the Whisper White cardstock.

I decided to use only two of my Brusho colours:  Gamboge and Ultramarine.  The Gamboge has a lot of the yellows, oranges and reds which one sees in some spectacular sunsets.  Well, I was aiming for a rather spectacular sunset for this background.  I had marked in pencil where I intended the die-cut to be placed and I created an "explosion" of the Gamboge so that it would look like a fiery sunset behind the man and dog as well as a fiery reflection of that same sunset across a pond. 

After that was well dried, thanks to my heat tool, I used a brush to wet the remaining white areas and carefully shook some Ultramarine crystals onto those areas. 

I love the final effects and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, May 25th.

I've also entered this card into the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #120 - Anything Goes

Artsystamper Challenge #12 - It's a Guy Thing

WWC259 - Dawn's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

Oh my goodness!  We have a masculine challenge at our Watercooler Wednesday and it's perfect timing since it's also my grandson's birthday.  It's a very special birthday since he's entering the TEENS!  So, what kind of card will I make for my awesome almost 13-year-old grandson?  I'll give you a hint.  It has a house-mouse on the front.

The backstory to this is, of course, Xavian's obsession with Chinese fortune cookies.  He has loved them from the first time he was given one.  He likes the cute fortunes but he loves the flavour.

You can see why I bought this stamp, under the circumstances.  What could be more cute than a darling house-mouse surrounded by new and broken fortune cookies?  None of the little papers had any writing on them.  I added that myself.  The one being held up is, again, perfect for our talented showman.

 I invite you to check out the awesome samples by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've linked this card up to the following challenges:

House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge #310 - Anything Goes

Make My Monday #116 - Critters

Animal Friends Challenge #83 - Februar Mause

Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #377 - Make Your Mark