Man Style - Crashing Fancy Friday Like a Boss!!

Hello there!  Welcome to my domain!  Earlier this week I was working on my card for this week's CYCI when my I suddenly found myself sharing my crafting space with wifey.  She was in a panic about having to make something masculine for one of her hops, so I let her borrow my new Adventure Awaits stamp set and use my Maritime DSP and we had something of a stamp off.  I know what you're all thinking...she's so lucky to be able to glean off of my talent.  LMBO!  I kid, I kid... 

So after I finished my card (which will post this Sunday 3/29/15; but I'm sure that you already have it on your calendar, right?) she asked me if I wanted to make a man card and play along with the Fancy Friday Artisan Team Hop.  What an honor!  So I made two!  Lol!  P.S.  Unfortunately I am not officially associated with the team :-(  I'm just related by marriage.  Maybe someday I can grow up and put my Artisan pants on... But in the meantime, here's what I put together:

 

For this first card I went with a simple design, but a complicated process!  Aside from the card base, all of the paper that you see started as Whisper White. I started by embossing my new favorite stamp, then sponged Night of Navy and Blackberry Bliss all around.  Then I masked the image and used the sunburst stencil to create the rays. After that, I painstakingly cut out the negative space of the rays to create the main image on the forefront.  BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!  I created the background layer by sponging Crushed Curry and Real red to create a sunsety color scheme.  Connected the two, trimmed to a 4"x4", added the layers and base, and voila! Oh, yeah...I finished it off with a broad coating of glittery shine,  but its hard to capture that in the pic.  I know that you may be thinking, "Hey, Stampin' Stud; this is supposed to be a man card but you used glitter!"  Well let me tell you something...a real man knows how to appreciate some well placed glitter.

 

My second offering:

 

 

I wanted to go with a traditional masculine card so of course I grabbed the manly and versatile Guy Greetings set and some black, white, and gray CS.  But I couldn't keep it boring so I had to give it some good ol' Stampin' Stud silliness.  After all, who doesn't want a card that brings a grin?  So I crafted the party hat out of a scrap of Maritime DSP (the banner is the perfect size and also comes in Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana), lightly colored the pants with the blender pen and Basic Gray, and chose a sentiment that you could give to your party hat wearing mentor (Lol!).  As I was playing with the layout, I realized that it needed something else...after looking around and asking Mercedes for a Man-Doily, I realized that there is no such thing and I would need to improvise. I drew inspiration from the talented Holly Stene and die cut a vellum star to finish it off.

 

Well thanks for hanging out in my man-cave today! If you're new to me, please visit my last post; it features my favorite card to date as well as a little Q&A/TMI for you.  Hope you enjoy(ed) and I look forward to spending more quality time with you in the days, weeks, months, and years to come!

 

 

OSAT Showers Bring Spring Flowers...or something like that...

Hello, again!  Today we have a very special treat for you...a Blog Hop!  In fact, it's my very first!  This has been brought to you by a group of creative stampers that was formed on Facebook known as "One Stamp At a Time" (aka OSAT). Some days, that's my motto, especially when stuck on a never ending stack of swap cards or invitations that were super cute when I designed them, but by the 34th identical sentiment they kind of lose their appeal... anybody feel me on that one?  Anyways...for those of you who arrived here via Megan T, thanks for participating in the Hop!  For those who may be starting here; at the bottom of my post there is a link to the very talented Holly Stene, so please take the time to continue on and check out what she and those after her have created for you this week. Now, on to my card...

This week's theme is Spring Flowers.  I'm in California, so Spring may have a different meaning for me than it does for y'all on the East Coast or anywhere else that has a true Winter.  I can only imagine how nice it must be to start getting temperatures in the double digits again,  especially when we barely go out when our temps drop into the 50's! Lol.  I do, however, miss a lot of the things that other climates have going on; playing in the snow, White Christmas, affordable housing, and most of all -- visible season changes.  I always hear beautiful tales about how gorgeous the landscape is when the seasons change, and I have never had an opportunity to experience it myself :-(   So this week, I visualized Spring Flowers as a refreshing pop of brightness and color after a long and dreary Winter.  See what you think: 

 

 

I really enjoy look of water coloring mixed with the emboss resist, and I thought that both the sentiment and the image from Stampin' Up's Indescribable Gift stamp set fit the Spring Flowers theme perfectly. 

 

Hope you enjoyed my card and I really hope that you click the "Next" button below to visit Holly and see what she made for us. See you there!!

 

 

 

 

Just in case, here is a complete list of the Hoppees:

Eva

Elizabeth

Debbie

Tina

Megan

Me

Holly

Darla and Nancy

Andrea

Diane

Martie

Justin

 

My New Tattoo...I Wish :-(

I want a tattoo.  I don't have any tattoos (yet).  I've wanted to be tattooed for a while, but I haven't yet got around to it.  I know that may sound weird, but it's pretty close to the truth.  When people say that they want a tattoo but don't have any, I have found that its usually either because they're scared of the pain, they don't want something "permanent" on their body that they may regret in the years to come, or perhaps it's taboo in their family or religion.  For me, it's quite the opposite. 

About 12 years ago, I was close to a co-worker that had some pretty extreme tattoos.  I mean punk rock style, dark, graphic, and very visible. And he kept getting more.  Every few months, a new image would appear on one of his arms, lower and lower creeping toward his hands.  He now has full sleeves and more.  I was still a skeptic back then and one day I asked him a question that anybody with visible tattoos has probably been (or will be) asked..."What if you don't like them when you're older?"  His response came natural and quick, and now that I'm looking back on it I am sure that I wasn't the first to have this conversation with him.  He explained that every tattoo was like a memory.  It signified something that was happening in his life at that time.  Whether it was the logo of his favorite band, a cool graphic design that he really liked, or something serious and sentimental about his daughter, every tattoo had a meaning and connection to him.  He was already able to look at his body and pick out older tattoos that he would not have chosen again, but he didn't "regret" them.  They were just reminders of previous phases and events in his life.  And he would have these memories for years to come, as he continues to grow old. 

That conversation was pretty eye opening for me and it still resonates.  It didn't mean that I was going to start treating my body like a scrapbook and go out and get a Vanilla Ice, Pokémon, or Reebok tattoo, but it took away the fear of commitment.  That was when I realized that I was not only open to getting a tattoo, but I really wanted one. I appreciated art, I had significant life events to remember, and I wasn't afraid.  At that point, I just needed to pick one.  And that decision dragged on for about 10 years.  There were so many factors to consider; not just "what do I want to get," but I had to consider placement, style, etc.  Then, about a year or two ago, my paradigm shifted again. I realized that I was searching for the perfect tattoo, but there is no such thing (for me).  I have so many interests, and such an appreciation for different styles of art and symbolism, that I was just spinning my wheels trying to pick one.  That's when I knew that I couldn't pick a tattoo that I wanted because there isn't just one.  I need many.

Now my tattoo planning has stalled again.  I have developed a short list of 4-5 tattoos that I want to get, along with positions and placements for them (mostly).  I am coming to a point where I am almost ready to take the plunge.  But now I still need to decide on which one I will get first, commit to the style, and find the artist. This has lasted for about a year. For the style, I look at Pinterest and I pin tattoos that I like in hopes that I will blend them together and create the right one for me.  I'm sure that I'm the only one that does that. But the quality is a whole other issue.  I have watched enough Ink Master to be worried that my tattoo wont turn out the way that I want it to.  I have become an expert critic.  So now I drive by tattoo shops and wonder if that's a place that would be good enough to tattoo me.  I have looked up tattoo shops on Yelp to see how good my local ones are.  I have thought about traveling to Vegas or Southern California or some other mecca of artists to ensure that I will get the best ink that I can.  And that's where I'm at...hopefully to be updated soon...

So you may be saying "Wow, that was a really personal story. But I thought this was a Stampin' blog.  Thanks for wasting my time."  But wait!  My story ties into my card!  One of the tattoos that I like is the traditional (and some may say overdone) anchor.  I like the graphic as well as the symbolism.  So I was browsing Pinterest and we had just gotten a new box of SU! products in.  I put down my iPad and started unboxing our stuff.  Suddenly, the Guy Greetings set caught my eye.  It was like one of those movie vignettes in my mind of part flashback/part vision; I was seeing the stamp set, Pinterest, my tattoo, and my new card in a whirlwind of flashing, spinning, fading images, complete with a dramatic music soundtrack.  Ok, actually that's a little dramatic.  I saw the anchor stamp, and thought it would be cool to do a card that looked like a tattoo.  My creative inspiration came from the new style of "watercolor" tattoos (not my style for tattoo, but I thought it would make a nice card).  It was outside of my comfort zone, but I threw it all together and I really like the outcome.  See for yourself:

 



I embossed the anchor, then used the Aqua Painter in a combination of flicks, drips, and swirls to create the splotchy look.  Inks are Real Red and Night of Navy.  I was so happy with the outcome that I am thinking about doing a series of cards with a similar theme.  Not sure what the theme will be though, Lol.  It's just a work in progress.

Well, thanks for hearing me out. I was a little out of my comfort zone with the sharing of the personal info as well as the creation card.  Hope you like both, and perhaps you can find encouragement for your own tattoo story.  And if you have any advice, please share! It's not too late for me...

Guy Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set

$25.95

1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon

$7.95

Natural 5/8" Chevron Ribbon

$6.95

Perfect Pennants Clear Stamp Set

$21.95

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