Masculine Card in Weathered Kraft, Red, White, and Blue

I'm celebrating and praising God that my son-in-law is getting a long-awaited promotion. God continually shows that He is working in his life, challenging, blessing, maturing. Phuilippians 1:8 is the perfect verse to share with him. Here's a card I made for him today that definitely has a masculine look. I used the sketch from Viva La Verve for February week 2 and the colors suggested bythe "Weathered" Ribbon Reel Challenge #22 - create a card /project that is WEATHERED/DISTRESSED using the colours KRAFT, WHITE, BLUE with touch of RED, NATURAL TWINE/TWILL and this inspiration photo

The different-sized blocks of paper in this sketch remind me of the beach houses in the inspiration photo. I used some blue patterned papers that I had from the Basic Grey "Boxer" collection, definitely masculine. I weathered the kraft and patterned papers by scissor distressing the edges then painting with white paint. 

I also used the challenge from The Kraft Journal Make it Monday to tell what your fabulous find is. Mine is the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge I used to make the white sentiment shape. I chose "Shape 7" and cut off one of the sides to make it fit the block of paper. I love using that cartridge because of the variety of shapes - over 700. Mine sits on a cabinet in my kitchen and I leave the cartridge in the machine, ready to go. I frequently turn it on, put in a scrap of paper, cut my shape, turn it off and go on to finish my card. I love how handy it is.

I stamped the bird with Desert Sand ink that is pretty close to the Kraft color. Then I lightly colored it and retraced some of the lines with the Desert Sand watercolor pencil. The directions from the ribbon reel were to use a touch of red, so I mounted the twill on Cranberry cardstock and colored 3 chipboard circles with Cranberry ink. Ordinarily I would have put brads or buttons there, but I thought this had a more masculine feel today.

6.5" x 5" Card recipe:

Paper - Basic Grey "Boxer;" Close To My Heart Cranberry, White Daisy CS, Kraft CS

Stamps - Verve "Philippians 1:6 Plain Jane; CTMH "Harmony" (bird and twig)

Other - twill from my stash, CTMH white paint, chipboard, Cricut Art Philosophy

ColourQ Sympathy Card

One of my best friends since age 12 just lost her husband to a long battle with cancer. I know that she's one of the most cheerful and encouraging people I know. But more than that I know she's been trusting God through this long ordeal. I made this card for her with the message from Verve. The entire verse is stamped inside (God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble), hopefully to giver her strength for the days ahead.

When I stamped the sentiment, I put tape over the bottom portion of the verse and only inked the first few lines. If you try this, be sure to pull off the tape after inking, before stamping.

I used the ColourQ palette for this week and the February Week 1 sketch from Viva La Verve. The challenge from Little Red Wagon this week gave me the idea of using the chipboard oval frame and butterfly, which really added dimension.

5" x 6.5" Card:
Paper - Basic Grey "Periphery" (and the orange); Close To My Heart Crystal Blue, White Daisy; Bazzill gray
Stamps - Verve scripture
Ink - Close to my Heart Black
Other - Close to my heart Cricut Art Philosophy (scalloped circle), gray Licorice Opaques pearls, gray flower, white grosgrain ribbon; Basic Grey chipboard butterfly and frame

Shabby Bears for Boys

With five grandsons, I think about making more masculine cards, but usually make them for my female friends instead. Here's one I made using the sketch challenge this week from Sugar Creek Hollow. In addition to the sketch, they want you to use a "cute" stamp and make it vintage/shabby chic. I don't have many "cute" stamps, but I knew I had three bears (from a very old CTMH stamp) that might work. Here's the sketch:

I used a paper pack called "Lucky" from Close to my Heart to have both the vintage and masculine look. I used lots of scissor distressing and some sponging in two colors to distress the oval and the cut-out bear image. I used watercolor pencils (but no waterbrush) on the cross-hatched portions of the bear image for more shading. Vintage cards often have pearls so on this masculine version I used CTMH mocha adhesive gems in the darkest brown color.

I'm also posting this card on Creative Card Crew's Challenge #4 for a masculine card and on Here Come the Boys Challenge #21 - a masculine card with "Vintage Feel." I'm also combining these challenges with the DYSU Challenge #60 - Distressing - since I used two kinds of edge distressing.

6" x 6" card recipe:
Paper - Close To My Heart "Lucky"
Stamps - CTMH retired
Ink - Ranger "Vintage Photo" (image); CTMH - Outdoor Denim (sentiment, sponging), Cocoa (sponging)
Other - Spellbinders die (oval); Martha Stewart border punch; CTMH mocha adhesive gems, jute; pop-dots

Sweet n Sassy Sketch 146 - Singing Cardinal

I discovered that you can buy digital stamps, including Scripture sentiments, at Sweet n Sassy Stamps. Here's a card I made using one of their beautifully scripted sentiments.  I immediately thought of birds when I read this verse. I used their sketch for this week at their blog, The Sweet Stop, and the lovely color palette from Cards And Things Challenge #108.

The Sweet Stop challenge includes using punches or dies. I used a 2" scalloped circle punch for the sentiment, a 3" circle punch for the pink ladybug paper, and a Martha Stewart border punch. I didn't have the colors of paper with the same names as they used at Cards & Things, but I used what I thought they looked like on my computer screen. The green I used has three different tints of that color on the patterned paper, from the dark green to almost yellow. I hope that's OK.

6.5" x 5" Card Recipe:

Paper - Basic Grey "Lemonade;" Close To My Heart Baby Pink, White Daisy, Hollyhock Cardstock

Stamp - CTMH "Harmony" (cardinal); Sweet n Sassy Stamps "Sing unto the Lord" (digital)

Ink - CTMH Hollyhock

Other - Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" and "Allegro" embossing folders; CTMH black and yellow watercolor pencils; Offray ribbon, pop dots

CPS 253 Paisley Christmas

Here's another Christmas card for today. I wasn't sure what I'd use at first when I saw the paisley challenge at Christmas Card Challenges Week 12, but a piece of dark green Basic Grey paper from the Boxer collection was the starting point. The sketch from CPS #253 provided the rest. Their sponsor, The Twinery, provided the finishing touches.

I used the Cuttlebug "Paisley" embossing folder to add paisley to the top half of the card, using CTMH Tulip cardstock for more contrast. The Wilton doily is topped by a 3" circle of a Kiwi paisley that's harder to distinguish. Since the star overlaps the darker paisley paper, my sentiment is lower than the sketch. The star was cut on my CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. The star stamp came from the CTMH "Holiday Wishes" set that shows what size to cut each image on the Cricut. After cutting, the star was stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with CTMH Olive embossing powder.  The design isn't paisley, but it coordinates well with paisley. I sponged edges of some of the papers with CTMH Cranberry, Olive, and New England Ivy inks.

Tuesday Morning Sketch #134 Christmas Angel

It's exciting to have motivation to make Christmas cards early. The 52 Christmas Theme Challenge #2 for this year is "Angels." Since I only have one angel stamp I like to revert to digital images taken from vintage art. I love the angel I chose for today. I know my oldest daughter would, too. With the vintage look of the image I chose to distress my papers so the challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge this week, D for Distressing, was just right. I wanted to use some Christmas carol paper, so I chose the Tuesday Morning Sketch #134 for this week with its large corners - just right for some papers from Graphic45 and Close To My Heart. Here's the sketch:

My card is a rectangle rather than a square to accomodate the shape of the angel. I distressed the edges of the corner papers and red cardstock using scissor distressing. The angel graphic and green music papers were ink distressed using Ranger Vintage Photo. My angel came from Free Vintage Angels and cherubs Clip Art at Vintage Holiday Crafts.

Lovin' from the Oven

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #107 is called "Let's Get Cooking." That's something I loved to do when I was young but lost interest in when food allergies and arthritis took over. But my family knows that when it comes to desserts for birthdays and holidays I'm more like to bake a pie than a cake. So here's a card I made with a sketch I borrowed from My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club.

I used watercolor pencils and a waterbrush to color Flopsey but I stamped the piecrust on colored cardstock and cut it out. Next time I think I'll reverse that and stamp Flopsey on colored cardstock.

5" x 6.5" card:
Paper - DCWV "The Sweet Stack;" CTMH White Daisy and Crystal Blue CS; (red strip with hearts from my scraps)
Stamp - My Favorite Things "Sweet as Pie Flopsey"
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Vintage Photo
Other - Cuttlebug "Mary Ann" embossing folder, Bazzill button, CTMH white ricrac, pink ribbon unknown scrap from stash