Best Dad Ever!

Even though the Father's Day deadline for Operation Write Home is today (meaning, cards must have been sent in already), I figure they always have a use for general "dad" cards. So I decided to make this one.

I wanted to make my main panel look like burned leather. (Decoratively burned, that is!) I began by cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to 4x5.25". After taping it to my cutting board, I wet the middle area with clean water. I smooshed some Distress inks in Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, & Gathered Twigs onto an acrylic block, then used my wet paintbrush to pick up each color, one at a time. I daubed the color into the wet area, letting the water blend the colors (with some help from my brush, of course). When it looked like I wanted it, I dried it with my heat tool. Then I took Hero Arts' "Tweed Pattern" stencil, and taped it down over the panel. I blended some more Gathered Twigs through the stencil, concentrating it more in the center, and letting it fade out at the edges. After removing the panel from my cutting board, I blended some more Tea Dye around the perimeter. Then I tore around all 4 sides, and inked the torn edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink, to give it that aged, "burned" look. I matted it with a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash, cut to 4-1/8x5-3/8".

For the greeting, I cut a piece of tan cardstock to a strip, and trimmed all 4 corners at an angle. I distressed the edges, and inked them with more Walnut Stain. After scanning it into my computer, I used one of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Father's Day Sentiments," digitally placing it on the label "canvas," and sized it to fit. Finally, I printed it directly onto my label. I adhered that to my card front, and punched a hole in either end with my Crop a Dile II. I set a black eyelet in each hole, and threaded some jute twine from The Paper Studio through those, tying each end in a knot. I attached a brad through the upper center of my card front, and ran the twine behind it, so it looks like the label/sign is hanging from that. I squirted a little Ranger Multi Medium Matte behind the twine on each side, just to make sure it stays in place. Finally, I matted the whole thing with black paper, and adhered it to a cream A2-size card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's "Stencil"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers & Dimension"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes"