Today’s card is a one I made for a Chat & Challenge on SUDSOL, but once I got going with it, I realized it would make the perfect card for a man in our church who is getting taken to the university hospital to be checked for heart problems.  He was admitted here to the local hospital, but they’ve decided to move him up for tests.

Anyway…I have a hard time making masculine cards sometimes, but the sketch was awesome and this stamp set was sitting on top of the pile.  The hardest part was coming up with the colors for this one.

I started out stamping the lighthouse in versamark and using my pastels to color it, but that was just not doing what I wanted it to.  So I pulled out lots of different colors and finally settled on this:  Night of Navy card base, Old Olive background, More Mustard strips and the image stamped on Whisper White.

The Old Olive background piece was cut to the right size and then I wadded (*is wadded a word?*) it up and unfolded it again.  Picky stamper that I am, I didn’t like the creases the first time, so I wadded it up again to add more creases.  Finally I managed to get it the way I wanted and then I had to flatten it out and stick it to the card.  (which is not as easy as it sounds    )

Next, I cut the More Mustard cardstock into strips, but the flat strips looked too crisp against the wrinkled background, so I used the faux suede technique from this post.  That gave me two strips that were not as sharp looking – perfect!

The image is stamped in Versamark, then Old Olive classic ink, and then embossed with clear powder.  (You can read a tutorial on embossing with classic ink in my September newsletter here.)  Once the image had cooled, I used the rough side of an emery board to distress the edges.  The nice thing about using an emery board, is that it’s easy to control the pressure & amount of distress you add to the paper.

Both the image and the navy mat were distressed, then stuck together and mounted on the rest of the card with dimensionals.  Finally, I stamped the “Get Well Soon” sentiment from Sincere Salutations along the bottom in Night of Navy ink.  I wish I had moved everything up about 1/8 th of an inch so the sentiment would fit better.  Otherwise I really liked how this came out, especially when this is not how it started in my head! 

If you’re interested in being a part of the Chat & Challenge, I encourage you to check out SUDSOL (Stampin’ Up Demonstrators Sharing On-Line) and tell them Jen Clendineng sent you. 

If you’re not a Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator yet, and want to be, check out this page on my demonstrator business website and email me.  I’d love to get you the information on joining the SU! family.