Thinking of U

I recently saw this tutorial on a "faux stamped leather" technique, and decided to give it a try. I wanted to make a specifically masculine card to send in my package to Darlene at Live Love Cards, to go to a Meals on Wheels recipient.

I didn't have any really suitable stamps in my collection, so I went through my dies. I came across the "Foliage 2" set from Paper Smooches, which I had yet to use. I decided one of those would be perfect to make a stamp. So I die cut it from 3mm thick craft foam, and stuck that on an acrylic block.

First, I die cut a piece of kraft cardstock with the largest of Spellbinders' "Labels Eight" dies. I stamped the leaf image multiple times around the panel with Hero Arts Cup o' Joe ink. I tried to keep it looking random by turning the stamp in different directions as I worked. Once I finished stamping, I put my panel on a mouse pad, rubbed over it with wax paper to make debossing a little easier, and traced loosely around each image with my stylus.

Next, I placed the "Labels Eight" die over the panel, with the cutting line face down, and traced around the inside of the die lightly with a pencil. I used my paper piercer to poke holes along my pencil line, then erased the line. This created stitching holes.

To ink the panel, I began with Fossilized Amber Distress ink, blending it over the entire piece. Then I blended Rusty Hinge, followed by Vintage Photo & a touch of Ground Espresso (all Distress inks). As I got darker, I added ink over smaller areas of the cardstock, finally blending the Ground Espresso only around the perimeter. After I had the "leather" look, I chose a light tan embroidery floss, and did a back stitch around the perimeter, using the holes I'd pierced before inking.

I used Hero Arts' "Year Round Sentiments" for the first part of my greeting. I masked off the "you" on the stamp, inked it with Cup o' Joe, removed the mask, and stamped the "Thinking of" on a strip of kraft cardstock. I die cut the "U" from more kraft with one of Simon Says Stamp's "Big U" dies, and inked it with Cup o' Joe to make it stand out more. Then I glued the banner to the "U," weaving it into the letter, and cut off the excess banner so it stopped behind the "U," before gluing everything to my card front panel.

For my card base, I cut 2 pieces of white cardstock with the same "Labels Eight" die. I scored one at 1/2" from the end for the back of my card, to create a hinge. I applied ATG adhesive above the score line, and adhered my other white panel to that. Finally, I glued my main panel to the front of my card base.

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.