A Pair of Father's Day Cards

The Father's Day deadline for Operation Write Home is looming large--April 30. So I'm working in that mode. I've heard several card makers say that masculine cards are hard to make. I personally like doing them, and don't seem to have any problem with them. I've had Stampers Anonymous' "Remnants" stamp set for a long time, and have never used it. I decided the balloon image would make a nice masculine card.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to 4.25x5.5", then stamped the balloon with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, using my MISTI tool. Then I colored the image with colored pencils. I decided not to use Gamsol to blend the colors this time. I wanted them to remain vibrant on the kraft, & I was afraid the Gamsol would take away that vibrancy.

After inking around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink, I scanned the card front into my computer. I opened that in Photoshop, and placed one of the greetings from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto the digitized image. Finally, I printed the greeting directly onto the panel. I felt the stamping on the balloon had gotten a bit undefined with the colored pencil on top. So, since my stamp was still on the MISTI cover, I was able to restamp it exactly over the original image, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. (I LOVE my MISTI!) That restored the definition and detail to the balloon. Finally, I adhered my card front to an A2-size card base, and rounded the top right corner. I did touch up the inking on that corner, and this card was done!

Operation Write Home's Sketch #13 inspired the design for my second card:

I'll admit, my interpretation is pretty loosey-goosey. The main thing that drew me to this sketch was the large focal panel. I used the globe from Stampers Anonymous' "Travel Blueprint" stamp set. I stamped it in Versamark, then heat embossed it with Ranger Gold embossing powder. I felt it was a bit lost on the brown cardstock I'd used, so I stamped it again with Versafine Onyx Black. Thanks to MISTI, I was able to get perfect placement. (Did I mention I love my MISTI?) I wasn't sure the Versafine would stay put over the gold embossing, so I sprinkled Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder over the wet ink, and melted that with my heat tool.

For the background, I used Hero Arts' "Tweed Pattern" stencil. I taped it over a cream cardstock panel, and inked through it with Distress inks in Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, and Mowed Lawn. I felt it was a little too "clean," though, and didn't exactly go with the focal panel. So I went over it lightly with Frayed Burlap Distress ink. That gave me the more aged & worn look I was after.

I used an alphabet stamp set by The Paper Studio (name unknown) to spell out "DAD." I stamped each letter on the same cardstock as I'd used for the background, using Versafine, clear heat embossed the letters, and then cut them into tiles. After rounding all the corners with my 1/8" Corner Chomper, I blended more Frayed Burlap over each tile. Finally, I adhered the focal panel & letter tiles to the background, and mounted that to an A2 card base.

I'm entering my second card in the following challenges:

Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers & Dimensions"
Operation Write Home/Our Daily Bread Designs April Challenge: "Masculine Cards"