Masculine BD CArd

Well, as you can see, it's been some time since I posted. Had some minor surgery a couple weeks ago, have been recuperating from that, so have not done much crafting until this week. Saw this sketch over at The Sweet Shop for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, which I really liked, so thought I'd work with it a bit.

 I am in need of 3 masculine B-day cards for this coming week. I just received this Close to My Heart stamp set, and knew I wanted to use it for at least one of the cards.

I used SU Naturals-Ivory for the card base, as well as the mats for the 2 middle squares, and the stamped image. I stamped the Lighthouse and water from the CTMH Summer Breeze stamp set in SU Chocolate Chip craft ink. I used the SU corner punch on the 3 focal panels and the mats for them. The background panel is Bazzil Bitter Chocolate-such a rich dark brown. The back DP is Jillibean Soup-Chopped Onion, the middle DP is from the My Mind's Eye 'Lost & Found-Union Square' 6 x 6 pad. The sentiment is from the Hero Arts clear set 'Birthday Messages', stamped in SU Choc Chip on SU Natural. I cut it out with Spellbinders Labels 7 (#2), and distressed around the inside of the die with Time Holtz Tea Dye Distress ink, then ran the SU CC ink pad around the outside edge. The star I cut using Spellbinders Stars (#1) to cut the red paper, then traced around the die on SU natural and hand cut, then inked the edges. I thought about adding some color the the lighthouse, but really liked it just as is. I always struggle with masculine cards, but this one came together quite easily. I'd love to know what you think of it-leave a comment :)

Now I'm off to get ready for Craft night, and to work on the other 2 cards I need this week, and 3 more for next week (thankfully only one more masculine). Have a wonderful day!