Blogger's Challenge #104 - Manly Theme

I have to admit, this theme took me a while to wrap my head around. Not that I can't make a masculine card, but it's just not my easiest theme area, kwim? I even asked my husband what I should do and after he got done mimicing Tim Allen of Home Improvement - he even said, "I don't know, don't you have some kind of tree stamps?" Well, yes, I do, so out came "Lovely as a Tree" once again and off we went!

I took my color pallette from the Urban Garden Designer Series Paper - in fact I was going to use one of the striped papers as a background, but it was just TOO much, trust me! The card is a 4 1/4" square of Not Quite Navy cardstock and it's layered with a piece of 4" square Kiwi Kiss. The Basic Gray layer is next and it's cut at 3 3/4" then texturized with my Big Shot and the Texture Plates #4 kit.

For my focal point, I used the stamp that looks like the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom - not sure what kind it is, but I'd never used it, so I thought it was time to give it a whirl. Taking my sponge daubers and ink pads in Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Not Quite Navy, I added color directly to the stamp in layers. Chocolate Chip for the tree trunk, then Baja Breeze, Kiwi and Not Quite Navy in that order to vary the color of the leaves. It looks a bit psychedelic, but I actually like how it turned out!
I sponged Not Quite Navy around the Whisper White cardstock then layered it on a piece of Kiwi Kiss for a mat. This piece is popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals for height.

The greeting came from the Sock Monkey stamp set of all places - I liked the font style and it fit the Word Window Punch I used to punch it out! This was sponged with a it of Kiwi Kiss and adhered to the card front. The Silver Brads were added for a bit of hardware interest and that was it!

I'm happy with the end result and I hope you like it too. If you are coming to stamp camp tomorrow, you'll be making this card along with 4 others. There is still time to rsvp if you want to attend.
Be sure to do two things this weekend - click on the Blogger's Challenge icon on my sidebar to see all the other designers "Manly" cards and be inspired. Second, check back here tomorrow for my design team project for the weekly Stamping 411 blog Sketch Challenge. I'll have detailed instructions for creating my project and you can take the sketch and play along with us this week! You never know if you'll end up being chosen as one of our top 5 picks for the Stampers Showcase!
Oh, and be sure and enjoy your weekend - hug the ones you love and do something fun for yourself!

Stampingly,
~~Robin

Shop 24/7 on my website at www.robinstamps4u.stampinup.net