Manly Mondays - Week #11

My friend Betty's Garry has taken up driving. Not everyone likes to drive. To mark this "I'm going to overcome my fear and just deal occasion" I made this card for him. I mapped out his route from home to work somewhat using MapQuest.

He is travelling from West to East. Since the truck from Loads of Love faces the other way I embossed it with Silver Powder on Vellum Cardstock and attached it to the card on the reverse side.  I knew that he had bought himself a truck although I did not know the color so it worked out perfectly. On the inside I wrote "Congratulations on putting on your big boy pants, they look good on you!" He got a good laugh out of it and that's all that matters.

A La Prochaine.

Faux Metal

Faux Metal - a technique I've been wanting to try for quite some time. For some reason I thought it would be more difficult which is probably why it caused some hesitation. Turn out better than I imagined.

Used Basic Black as the base of the card.  Made a layer using Brushed Gold and embossed that with Gold Powder and Versamark using the Bella Toile background stamp - one of my favorites.

On a small piece of Brushed Gold, covered it with Versamark and Gold Embossing Powder. While it was still hot, added more Embossing Powder. Repeated that about 4 times. Once I liked the thickness of all that embossing I put the bird image from Of The Earth while it was still hot and let it rest for a few minutes to cool.  Once the image has cooled completely I trimmed it and layered it to a piece of Basic Black.  Added Black Satin Ribbon and some Gold Cord.  I love the dramatic effect this created.

Frankii is already for Canada Day sportin' his new scarf.

He sure loves his new bone.  He's been carrying it around ever since he got it.  I'm surprised he's not sleeping with it.

A La Prochaine.

Manly Mondays Week #10

Every once in awhile I like to join a swap in one of the Yahoo groups that I am involved in.  I was looking for something a little different and came across a one card swap in the Scor-Pal group.  It just so happened that for the month of May the theme was "masculine".  This is the card that I made.

The fish was applied with Heat and Stick powder and green sand.  A really fun technique I learned a few years back. For the inside I simply stamped some branches from Embrace Life.

I was pleased that the recipient acknowledged receiving it and really liked it.

The swap that I received in return is absolutely amazing.  My jaw dropped when I opened the envelope.  The time and care that it took just pops out at you. 

Mary Sanchez created this and unfortunately my lighting for this picture does not do it justice.  I received it over a week ago and I can not stop looking at it.  It shimmers and glows in all the right places.  When you get a chance check out her blog at Odonata Creations  She has some amazing tutorials posted. She also sent this.

Once again the lighting fails to capture its true beauty.  The letters are embossed and a slight pink shimmer surrounds this incredible plaque. I will treasure this always and it will hold a special place in my craft room. I can not say thank you enough Mary!

A La Prochaine!