A BIG Truck for the Best Kid Ever

Our Daily Bread Design's current challenge at their blog is "Sponging or Stencils." I decided to make a really masculine kid's card for Operation Write Home. I see this particular card being perfect for a teen boy, but I suppose it could be used for a hard-core tomboy girl, too!

I used the following OWH sketch:

I did make the lower panel slightly taller, mostly to accommodate the larger tag I needed for the greeting I chose from this Hero Arts stamp set.

For the focal image, I used ODBD's "Truck" single stamp. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto white cardstock, then, after that dried, I sponged Frayed Burlap Distress ink over it, to give it a rough-&-ready look. To create the frame panel, I started with a piece of light tan cardstock. I traced around the outside of a Spellbinders Classic Ovals LG die, then went around that line with a Q-tip dipped in water to soften the fibers. I ended up by tearing where I'd wet the cardstock. Again, I was going for a rough look. I ran that panel through my Grand Calibur machine, using the "Diamond Plate" Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder from this set. Finally, I sponged Vintage Photo Distress ink over the whole panel, and went around the edges of the panel and the oval frame with Walnut Stain Distress ink. I glued that onto the cardstock piece I'd stamped the truck onto.

I cut the lower panel from a piece of "Texture Camo" paper by The Paper Studio, and glued that below the embossed panel. I stamped the greeting with Versafine on a piece of white cardstock, and heat embossed it with American Crafts Zing! Black embossing powder.

Oddly, the embossing powder didn't stick to the ink very well, so I tried going over the letters with a Versamarker, and sprinkled more embossing powder on that. Interestingly, the powder not only stuck to the letters, but stuck around the edges of each letter in a little more "scattered" way. I liked that effect, since it contributed to the rough look of the card, so I left it like that.

After cutting the greeting into a tag shape, I punched a piece of light tan cardstock with a 1/4" hole punch, and glued it to the top of the tag. Then I punched a hole through that with an 1/8" punch, to create the look of a hole re-inforcer. I further distressed the tag like I did the frame panel, by sponging on Vintage Photo and Walnut stain inks.

To finish the card front, I wrapped jute twine from The Paper Studio around the seam between the 2 panels. I threaded more twine through the hole in the tag, and tied it to what I'd wrapped around the card. Then I glued the tag down to hold it in place. Finally, I adhered the card front to an A2 base with foam adhesive.

I'm also entering this card in the following challlenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
a2z Scrapbooking Blog's "Encouragement"