This morning when I sat down to create today’s project my mind was a complete blank.  As I waited for some kind of inspiration I decided I’d make a birthday card.  Still nothing came to me, so I started looking through some papercraft challenge e-mails that had come through over the past couple of days, and I settled on one from Just Add Ink.  The sketch kickstarted my creative process, and as I pulled out the Happy Birthday Gorgeous Stamp Set I spotted Country Livin’.  It was settled, my project would feature cowboy boots and I was making a masculine card.

COWBOY BOOTS

The cowboy boots from the Country Livin’ Stamp Set were stamped on Watercolor Paper with StazOn Jet Black Ink.  Once I’d waited a minute for the ink to be thoroughly dry I set to work colouring the image.

I decided to pull out the new limited availability Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2.  From the choice of ten pencils I chose Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler.  Crushed Curry came first, over the whole image and then blended using an Aqua Painter.  When that layer was dry I added a layer of Cajun Craze over the whole piece and blended again.  Next came the Cherry Cobbler pencil to add some accents to the creases in the boots.  Once that was dry I added a little more Cajun Craze, finished off with the Aqua Painter and set it aside to dry.

IT’S YOUR DAY!

The ‘It’s your day’ sentiment comes from the Happy Birthday Gorgeous Stamp Set and was stamped onto a strip of Watercolor Paper with StazOn Jet Black Ink.  I tore the end of the strip into a rough banner ready to add to the cowboy boots.

Keeping with the rustic country theme I chose a piece from the Wood Textures 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack.  Following the Just Add Ink sketch I wanted a border for my layer, and settled on a piece from the Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty DSP.  The border strips were trimmed and fixed to the back of the wood DSP with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

A CHANGE OF MIND

Starting with the now dry cowboy boots I cut them out using Paper Snips.  The sentiment banner was then attached to the back with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  To add a little more of a rustic feel, loops of Linen Thread were fixed behind the boots with Mini Glue Dots.  With that done I could add the assembled focal point to the background layer with more Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Now normally I’d attach the background layer to a card base before adding the details, but for some reason today I didn’t.  I was really glad of that too.

You see when I placed the piece onto my planned Very Vanilla card base it seemed ‘lost’.  It should have worked, but it just didn’t excite me.  So I decided to find another colour that I liked more.

This time I used my Stampin’ Trimmer to cut and score a piece of Cajun Craze Card.  I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder, then laid the assembled piece on top.  Eureka!  Suddenly the design seemed to make more sense, so I fixed it into place with liquid glue.

FINISHING TOUCHES

Despite changing the colour of the card base it still made sense to use Very Vanilla Card to line the inside.  It picks up on the warm tones on the rest of the card, rather than have a stark white liner.

So with the cowboy boots image I stamped the bottom corner on a layer of Very Vanilla Card with StazOn Jet Black ink.  I decided not to colour the boots, but just fixed the layer inside the card base with liquid glue.

All that was left was the Very Vanilla Medium Envelope and with the boots stamped onto the front, I was done.

CHALLENGE

From a vacant mind to a masculine birthday card that I love, and all because of a sketch challenge e-mail.

There are lots of different challenges that you can follow.  I don’t join in a whole lot but when I do I always seem to come up with something special.  Do you have any favourite challenge blogs that inspire you?

This is the challenge I joined today, Just Add Ink #421 – Sketch Challenge.

Hopefully you can see this simple sketch reflected in my finished project.

WATERCOLOR PENCIL ASSORTMENT 2

The Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2 is only available from Stampin’ Up! during August, and only while stocks last.  The colours in the set are: Cherry Cobbler, Flirty Flamingo, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, Coastal Cabana, Balmy Blue, Night of Navy and Gorgeous Grape.

The colours really compliment the Watercolor Pencils in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue, and I’m so glad I have them.

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