My brother-in-law’s birthday is next week and I wanted to make a special card for him. The challenge is that he is the epitome of a "Man’s Man" . . . loves football and hunting (he claims to have wrestled a deer once, which had been struck and injured by a car. I don’t doubt this in the least). He’s a proud Viking fan in Packerland . . . yes, he’s courageous, too. Everything I pulled out of my supply drawer for his birthday project just didn’t seem masculine enough. Florals, ribbon and almost my entire designer series paper collection were absolutely out. Even color combinations posed a conundrum. I am confident he would see "Purely Pomegranate" as pink. Here’s what I came up with. I’m hoping that stems delivered in Old Olive and Chocolate Chip will keep his male ego in tact!
Stamp Old Olive cardstock in Chocolate Chip using the Sanded background stamp. Layer on Chocolate Chip cardstock. Adhere to Kraft cardbase. Next layer Au Chocolat Designer Series Paper on Chocolate Chip and apply horizontally. I inked up my image in Old Olive and used a Chocolate Chip marker on the leaf tips, directly on the stamp. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and used my Aqua Painter with a light touch to soften and create a watercolored effect. So easy! I then matted the image on Chocolate Chip.
The sentiment is simply layers of Kraft (Sincere Salutations stamp) punched with the designer label punch, followed by some Stampin’ Dimensionals, a Chocolate Chip 1 3/8" circle and an Old Olive rectangle "snipped" on the corners with my Ticket Corner Punch. The final touch was using the Crop-A-Dile (clearly a man’s man tool, right?) to add some Pewter Jumbo Eyelets (ahhhh, heavy metal, perfect).
Stamps: Stem Silhouettes (retired). I think the new "Embrace Life" stem would work even better but mine hasn’t arrived yet (111011), Sincere Salutations (105156)
Paper: Watercolor (105019), Chocolate Chip (102128), Old Olive (100702), Kraft (102125), Au Chocolate Designer Series Paper (retired)
Ink: Old Olive (102277), Chocolate Chip (100908), Chocolate Chip Marker (100071)
Cool Tools: Crop-A-Dile (108362), Designer Label Punch (107590), 1 3/8" Circle Punch (104401), Ticket Corner Punch (107214), Aqua Painter
Perfect Touches: Stampin’ Dimensionals, Jumbo Eyelets (Pewter, 108432)
That card is AWESOME!