Masculine Happy Birthday

Today is the last day to enter the Fusion 4th Anniversary Card Challenge. I went with both the sketch & the inspiration photo for my card.

I need a few birthday cards for February, so I figured I'd get a head start. One that I need in particular is for a guy, so I decided to use a couple of images in the "Serene Silhouettes" stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps for my image. After I die cut an oval with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals LG" die from some Simon Says Stamp Fog cardstock, I stamped my image on that with Hero Arts Charcoal ink. I was going for a softer look to go with the weathered wood in the photo, so I didn't use black.

For the background, I stamped the My Favorite Things "Wood Plank Background" onto a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". I used Hero Arts Soft Granite ink to stamp, and then blended on some Hickory Smoke Distress ink. It didn't give quite the look I was after, though, so I went over the whole thing with Peacock Feathers Distress ink, using a very light hand. I like how it still has a weathered wood look, but contrasts with the other elements on my card.

To make my image stand out just a bit more, I inked around the edges a couple of times with Hickory Smoke. I adhered that to my card front, allowing room for a greeting and accent strips.

I stamped a greeting from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Happy Birthdays" onto a strip of teal cardstock. I again used Charcoal ink, but double-stamped this time to get a little darker impression. I trimmed the strip to be a bit longer than the greeting. I also cut a teal strip to 0.5x5.5", and a slightly narrower dark grey strip. I cut another strip of grey to go under the greeting. I adhered the teal to my cardstock, the shorter grey strip over that, then the longer grey strip, and finally the greeting. I'm not sure in the end that the overlapping order matters much, but I think it still adds a bit of texture. To finish, I adhered my card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering my card in 613 Avenue Create's Challenge #205: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist).