Yukon Masculine Birthday Card

Well, hey! Haven't been doing much stamping until recently, so let me share with you a card I made.

This birthday card is for my grandson who turned 21 last month. He's a quiet, gentle young man, and this noble elk makes me think of him. 

The elk is from the SU! Yukon set, and was chosen as my focal point. 

I wanted to keep to a forest/wilderness theme, so I used the Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder on the grey-green outside panels. But before embossing them, I rubbed them (direct-to-paper) with my SU! True Thyme and SU! Close To Cocoa ink pads to give them more visual texture. Then I stamped the wilderness image from the same set in black ink on the bottom of each panel. The grey-green cardstock is one I've had for a long time. I'm not sure of the color's actual name or its maker. But it fit well with the look I was going for.

I used the gatefold cut to create a center-opening style. It's my favorite card style. To hold the card closed, I used a little bronze lever, held in place by a bronze mini-brad. It was very challenging to work with, so I'm not sure I'll do that again. I used one of the Nestabilities Pinking Circle dies on black cardstock to frame the center design and added foam tape under the white circle to give more dimension. 

I double-stamped the elk image on white cardstock. I cut one out with a circle die and the other one using craft scissors and a detail knife. Then I colored everything with Copics. Cutting out those antlers was a challenge! No die cuts to make it easier! After cutting it out, I lined the edges with a black Copic. Then I adhered it over the other elk image with foam tape to add even more dimension. 

On the inside I carried the forest theme further by using the Taylored Expressions Birch Tree Cutting Plate die, cutting it in half to use as inner side panels. I used the same grey-green cardstock, inked up with True Thyme and Close to Cocoa to texturize it. After the ink dried, I ran the tree pieces through a Xyron 510 sticker maker to apply adhesive to the backs. It was a bit messy because of all the nooks and crannies of the image, but it was fairly easy to clean up with a rubber cement eraser afterwards.

I used a 1/2" circle punch and a corner punch to get the corners and middles of everything a bit fancy. Another of my favorite things to do on my cards.

I used a tree stamp from SU! Lovely As a Tree and the numbers were from SU! Letterpress Numbers. The birthday stamp was from Fiskars Make a Wish Quotes. Everything was stamped in black ink using a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to align everything properly.

So there you have it. Thanks for coming by for a look! 

Recipe:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Yukon, Stampin' Up! Lovely As a Tree, Stampin' Up! Letterpress Numbers, Fiskars Make a Wish Quotes

CS: Black, grey green (unknown source), White

Inks: Stampin' Up! True Thyme (2007), Stampin' Up! Close to Cocoa, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Copics: 110, E33, E35, YG93, YG95, YG97

Other: Taylored Expressions Birch Tree Cutting Plate, Nestabilities Standard Circle Small, Nestabilities Large Pinking Circles, Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder, Xyron 510 sticker maker w/permanent adhesive, rubber cement eraser, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Corner punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/16" hole punch, foam tape, bronze mini-brad, bronze mini lever, craft scissors, Fiskars Fingertip Precision Detail Knife

Scout camp cards

This week is scout camp for my hubby and son, so I wanted to send them a little love in the form of a card. I was up waaaay too late last night making these, but I want them to get to camp before the end of the week!

The first one is for my hubby. I just got some new Cuttlebug embossing folders in (Crop Stop rocks, btw! I put in my order on Thursday and got my stuff on Monday!) and used one of them on both cards ("Distressed Stripes").

I wanted a "camp"ish theme, but I have few stamps that would fit. So since they're in the great outdoors and since my son will be horseback riding, I figured a tree and a horse would work.

For the tree from SU Lovely As a Tree I stamped in Basic Black dye ink on white CS and colored it with Prismacolor pencils. I stamped the sentiment underneath it using my Stamp-a-ma-jig and black ink. The saying is from Savvy Stamps. I mounted it all on black CS.

I used a piece of *swoon* Basic Grey designer paper for the distressed background. I cuttlebugged it and then sponged various earthy-colored inks on it. I punched 3-1/16" holes for the black mini-brads and mounted them as well as the zigzag ribbon after mounting the designer paper to the black CS.

For the back-most piece I stamped SU Canvas in Baroque Burgundy ink on Baroque Burgundy CS (or was it Bravo Burgundy? I can't remember and the cards are in the mail) and mounted the designer paper piece to it.

I adhered the tree image to the designer paper with Dimensionals to pop it out.

Stamps: SU Canvas, SU Lovely As a Tree, "Thinking of You" by Savvy Stamps

CS: Baroque/Bravo Burgundy, Black, Basic Grey designer paper, White

Inks: Baroque Burgundy, Basic Black, Various earthy colors

Other: Cuttlebug "Distressed Stripes" embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils, Zigzag ribbon, black mini-brads, Dimensionals, Sponges, Stamp-a-ma-jig

This card is for my son. Hopefully, the horse theme will remind him of the fun he had riding at camp.

I used Really Rust CS as the base. I stamped the star from SU Artifacts on the Basic Grey designer paper and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Distressed Stripes" folder. I then sponged it to "antique" it and stamped another star on Really Rust in black ink, cut it out, put an antique brass mini-brad in the center of the star and mounted it over the other star with Dimensionals. I adhered all of this to black CS and then to the rust CS.

I stamped the horse in black ink on white CS and sponged black, Summer Sun, and Really Rust inks over it, blocking parts as I worked with a piece of paper to give a vague background feel. I colored the horse with a few Prismacolor pencils in the browns and yellows to pick up the colors from the distressed piece. I punched 3-1/16" holes for the antique brass mini-brads. They're so perfect for an "old west" look. I then adhered the horse on black CS and then on the distressed paper with Dimensionals.

I stamped the "Miss You" sentiment from SU Year Round Cheer on Really Rust CS using the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I moved the words side by side rather than one on top of the other as it is on the stamp and then punched it out using a square punch because I can't cut a straight line to save my life! I sponged it with a little black ink.

The ribbon was the coolest part, I think. I took orangey-orange, like REALLY orange, grosgrain ribbon with blue stitches running along the edges and sponged black ink over it. It came out a cool rusty, oldish looking color. I sponged both sides for the bow thingy.
I'm so tired. I hope I didn't forget anything!

Stamps: SU Artifacts, Horse by PSX, Word saying from SU Year Round Cheer

CS: Really Rust, Black, Basic Grey designer paper, White

Inks: Basic Black, Really Rust, Summer Sun, Only Orange

Other: Cuttlebug "distressed Stripes" embossing folder, Sponges, Dimensionals, Antique brass mini-brads, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Orange grosgrain ribbon