For this card, I used a wonderful new set by Winnie & Walter called A Tree for All Seasons. This is a larger set (6x8"), and it's filled with lots of sentiments and details you can use for the autumn season, or all year round. It also features a lovely silhouette tree trunk that I thought would look perfect on a masculine card.
I started by grabbing my BigShot and using Mama Elephant's Femme Frames dies to cut a scalloped rectangle out Fancy Pants Happy-Go-Lucky patterned paper and a stitched rectangle out of white cardstock.
The white looked too stark and contrasted against the patterned paper, so I grabbed two distress inks: Tea Dye and Vintage Photo, and used them around the edges of the paper. I mainly focused on the edges, not going too far into the middle of the panel.
I then stamped the tree trunk in brown ink. I wanted a subtle effect for the leaves, so I used second generation stamping to add yellow, orange and brown leaves using a leaf bunch stamp. Second generation stamping is where you ink up your stamp, stamp it once on a piece of scrap paper and then stamp it a second time onto your card. It gives a much more faded and subtle effect, which is perfect for the times you want a lighter and less defined color.
I made the colors more dark and intense near the middle of the trunk and left the outside lighter.
I stamped the sentiment underneath in the same brown ink as the trunk. I created the card base out of a piece of grout gray cardstock, by cutting and scoring it into a standard top-folding A2 card (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). I adhered the patterned paper to the base with my standard dot adhesive, then adhered the center panel with foam squares.
The card needed a little something extra, so I added 3 enamel dots near the sentiment.
Supplies:
Winnie & Walter A Tree for All Seasons stamp set
Stampin' Up Classic Inkpads in: Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie and Hello Honey
Ranger Distress Inkpads in Tea Dye and Vintage Photo
Fancy Pants Happy-Go-Lucky 6x6 patterned paper
Mama Elephant Femme Frames dies
MFT Heavyweight Cardstock in Grout Gray
Stampin' Up Dimensionals foam squares
Prima Everyday Vintage enamel dots
Masculine cards are also short in my stash too. I don't often think to make masculine cards. I think it is because I, in general, just make cards that I like. lol Your card is classic and clean. The warm, rich colours do make the perfect masculine card. The little enamel dots were a lovely finishing touch. The stamp set is gorgeous! All your cards should came with an enabling alert! :) Thanks for the burst of inspiration! :)
ReplyDeleteI know, I really should plaster a big "Enabler alert!" every time I grab a new stamp set. LOL!
DeleteI'm glad you like the card. I know masculine can sometimes be a hit-or-miss, but I really ought to have a solid stash of them. My family's got a lot of boys and men in it, so masculine cards really do come in handy.