John Wayne Birthday Card

Soon it will be my friend, George's birthday.  I find it difficult to make masculine cards, but this one wasn't too difficult.  I imagined it in my head with the stamp in brown and I wanted to do some faux leather, but that didn't work out.   I just kept putting pieces together until I felt it was finished.  I almost didn't put the cacti on it, but it was very bland and monotone.  I think they finished it off nicely. 

Here's how I made it:

This is a center step card which I found the directions on the internet.  Very easy to do.  These are the measurements I used:

The paper used was a mixture.  The base is SU natural which is what I used for the stamped image, wagon wheel and label.  And the brown is from a packet of handmade mulberry paper I've had for years.  The cacti were done in a green vellum paper that has "star bursts" printed on it.  It makes them look like they have needles. The John Wayne stamp I used I've had since April.  It's a Deep Red brand.  They make wonderful realistic stamps.  It's the 1st time using it and it stamped crisp and clean.  When I saw it in the store, I just knew I had to have it for a card like this.  The Happy Birthday stamp is a Stamps by Impression.  Both were inked with Memento Rich Cocoa.  The main image and frame were cut using Spellbinders dies, the brown side panels were run through an embossing folder for snake like texture, then distressed with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, the main image, wagon wheel and label were distressed using Distress Inks Antique Linen and Walnut Stain.  The cacti, wagon wheel and label were cut using my Slice Happy Trails cartridge. There's a gun brad which I just had to incorporate into this card.  Not sure I like it where it is placed, but it's there now.  I haven't finished the inside yet, but I have an extra cacti cut out that I'm going to try to incorporate.  LOL 

It was fun making this card.  Thanks for taking the time to look!

Cherie

Pink, Girly Card

A friend of mine asked me to make a pink or purple girly-frilly card for a his daughter's MIL.  I had about a week to come up with it.  So I started thinking right away.  These kind of cards are difficult for me because I don't have a lot of frilly Spellbinders and I don't do pink very well.  So during my Saturday ritual of doing things around the house, I came up with an idea and around 9pm I finally sat down to create.  Hope you like it.  I think it turned out good.

This is using the Asian Spellbinders.  The butterfly is an SU stamp that was just the right size.  I did chalk all the layers with a pink and orange chalk to go well with the DP.  Also the "happy birthday" stamp was chalked in the same colors.  And, of course, the bow was made with the Bow Easy.  I think everyone will be pleased with this card.

Western/Feminine Birthday Card

I made this card for a friend that wanted something a little western but feminine for his sister's birthday.  I tried to do a Zindorf technique.  This is the link of the card I cased http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1769614?&perpage=96&thumbsonly=0&si=zindorf .  I did the image sooooo long ago that I'm not sure what colors I used, but I know they are all SU and I think they are Black, So Saffron, Apricot Appeal, Rose Red, Ballet Blue, Brilliant Blue, and Night of Navy.  I sponged the sky first then stamped the horse image which is Inkadinkado filled in with Black, the trees are SU Lovely as a Tree and the ground is sponged with black.  The papers are generic, the brown was run through the Cuttlebug Moroccan folder, the yellow was punched with an EK punch.  The bolo tie is a piece of rawhide folded over.  I used a piece of jewelry wire to tie it tight together.  The lace bow was white, but I used Tim Holtz's Antique Linen Distress Ink to color it and an SU brad in the center.  The flower charm was made with Shrink It.  It's the Texas state flower, the bluebonnet, which is where his sister lives.  The label is SB covered in copper colored embossing powder and an SU Happy Birthday stamp in the center.  Thanks for stopping by to take a look.