It's a Sketch for Challenge #245 at Cardz 4 Guyz

The new challenge for the next two weeks at Cardz 4 Guyz is #245 - A Sketch, chosen by Julie with the winner picked by Julie.

Please check out the blog for details and also to see the awesome samples by our Design Team.

I used a base of Heavy Whisper White for this card and then added a matte in Basic Black and then a  piece of grey toned patterned paper with a lovely wood grain pattern.  I thought the wood looked weather beaten much in the same way that an old fence would or, perhaps, an old barn.  Using my circle dies, I cut out one circle in Basic Black and then another in Whisper White.  I stamped the horse images on the Whisper White and used watercolours to colour the scene.  Then, before adhering the image circle to the card, I  went around the perimeter of the circle with my distressing tools and then sponged the edges with a soft grey.

 For the additional shape, I decided on a die-cut cowboy hat.  With a bit of watercolouring I think it wound up looking nice and worn.   After stamping my sentiment, I cut it out using a stitched rectangle die.

I hope you enjoy my card as much as I enjoyed making it. Have fun with our challenge.

WWC255 - Marsha's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

One of my favourites from the Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue is the Parisian Beauty bundle.  I can think of so many ways to use this lovely set.  With our Watercooler Wednesday Masculine Challenge this week, I decided to use the stamps in conjunction with the retired Traveler stamp set.  I have to say, that's one set I am very glad to have kept.

I decided to create a vintage-look sepia card this time.  The old-fashioned images just seemed to ask for that and I think it worked out very well, don't you?  I used the Heavy Very Vanilla for my base.  Then I cut a slightly smaller panel in Early Espresso and another slightly smaller than that from the retired Share What You Love Specialty DSP.  Before attaching either piece, I used my distressing tool to distress all four sides of each piece.

I cut a narrower piece of Soft Suede and ran that through the Big Shot with the Hammered Metal 3-D embossing folder.  Rummaging through some of my pieces of older, retired DSP, I found some Newsprint and cut three narrow strips, adding those randomly across the layered card.

Finally it was time to begin stamping and, on a piece of Very Vanilla, I first stamped the suitcase from the Traveler set using Soft Suede.  I masked that image and then stamped the globe (also from that set) and the postmark from the Parisian Beauty set.  To finish up, I stamped the sentiment (also from that set) diagonally above the images.

After splattering some Soft Suede ink on the stamped piece, I tore the edges and then used a sponge to add more Soft Suede around the perimeter.

I love the way it turned out and hope you do, too.

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

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

Brown Sugar Challenge #297 - January 2020 Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Challenge #405 - Anything Goes

WWC162 - Charlotte's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

It's Charlotte's week to host our challenge!  Woo Hoo!  And it's a Masculine "Anything Goes" challenge, too!  I'm stoked.  I have lots of men of many ages in my life and it's great to get a few cards made and put aside so that I don't have to frantically rush when an Occasion comes around.

The first thing that popped into my head was that I wanted to use the Memory Box Virtuoso Music die which I had bought years ago.  The next thing that popped into my head was that I wanted to mix the Woodgrain stamp with the Country Livin' set.  So I got to work.

I had a scrap of Heavy Whisper White and used that for stamping the guitar image.  I set that aside to dry thoroughly for colouring.  Then I took another piece of Heavy Whisper White, an 8 1/2" x 11" piece, and folded it to make it my base.  I tore the centre from a piece of copy paper and, through the ragged shape that remained, stamped the woodgrain using the retired Tip Top Taupe ink.  Then I thoroughly distressed the three edges of the front of the card before sponging the same ink around the perimeter.

Once all that had dried, I took the truck image from the Country Livin' set and stamped it onto the woodgrain using Smoky Slate ink.  Then I took the boots from that set and proceeded to stamp portions of that image on three corners.  I liked the "ghost" look of the boots but knew I needed more for the truck and so used my AquaPainter and the Soft Suede, Peekaboo Peach, and Crumb Cake inks to add some colour but still let the woodgrain show through.

You can see I sponged a bit of the Peekaboo Peach around the perimeter, too and also used it to warm up the guitar.  The music is die-cut using Soft Suede and the same colour is used for the sentiment.  The "Happy Birthday" is from the new Picture Perfect Birthday set while I pieced together the "Country Boy" using the handy "Labeler Alphabet".

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

I'm also entering this card for the Time Out Challenges #105 - It's their 4th Birthday Celebration