Masculine cards are a challenge for most of us (including myself) and it took me some time to figure out what to do after having a finished card coming out too feminine. Believe me, I know the struggle!
So back to the drawing board I went, literally. I shifted gears and thought about using the Sailing Home and the Little Twinkle stamp sets together somehow. By the way, I used a totally different stamp set and layout for that one card I made that came out too feminine. I started drawing a sketch of my layout and searched on Pinterest for "sail in night sky" and I noticed this picture and thought it was perfect! I was automatically inspired!
Below is my inspiration that came to life! I am very happy with it!
Some instructions on how I made the card:
- I first got to work with placing my mountains for the background. I just drew them by hand and colored them in with my black Stampin' Blends.
- I then heat-embossed the lighthouse and sailboat with black embossing powder. I created some masks for these to prepare for the sponging technique.
- I sponged my lightest color first at the top of the mountains and worked my way to the darkest color towards the top of the card-front. I used Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, and Rich Razzleberry. Please note that I did have to be careful with the Rich Razzleberry because it tends to overpower the other colors. I ended up sponging some more Night of Navy over it.
- I took some white craft ink and my watercolor brush to splatter the ink above the mountains. After that dried, I heat embossed the heart with white embossing powder.
- For the water below the mountains, I sponged Coastal Cabana, Blueberry Bushel, and Night of Navy in that order.
- I colored over the lighthouse and sailboat with my Stampin' Blends. Crumb Cake for the lighthouse and Mint Macaron with Smoky Slate for the sailboat to make it look darker.
- Finished off the card with the sentiment from the Little Twinkle stamp set and some Braided linen trim.
I would love to hear your comments on what you think about this card (please be kind). Let me know what stamp sets you've used for masculine cards. I always need help with that!
Until next time....
