Backyard Hero by Art Impressions!

Copic colors used:  skin-E00, E000, R20, E11 hair- E37, E35, E31shirt- BG96, BG93, BG90 shorts- E44, E43, E42 leaf blower- C5, C3, C1, R39, R29, R24, R32 gloves- C7, C5, C3 grass- YG17, YG13, YG01 background- B00, B000, B000

Hey, all!  Welcome back!  Today at Art Impressions, we're starting week 2 of our masculine challenge AND we're releasing our Father's Day Heroes collection in the Art Impressions Shop!

Let's face it, there's LOTS of fabulous images available to show the ladies in our lives that we love them, but what about the men?  Sometimes it may seem like the pickens are a bit slim in this area.  Not at Ai!  There are many masculine Ai images available in the Ai Shop and now there are a few more.  Meet our Father's Day Heroes collection!  These fellers are the king of their domain, whether it's the backyard, grill, or can of bugspray...LOL!  AND we NEED them ;)  My card features Backyard Boss and he means business!

Visit the Art Impression's Blog and see what the Design Team has created then pop into the Ai Shop and pick some up just in time for Father's Day!  

Until next time, stay crafty!

It's good to be the king!

Good Morning! This card is a birthday card for my husband's boss. It's challenging for me to create a masculine card and it's even harder for me to adhere to the unspoken "rules" that apply to these types of cards. Rules? You've never heard of the "rules" for making Dude Cards? Sure you have...you know...stick with blues and browns...no ribbon...no flowers...no gemstones. Yes, those are the ones!! I did happen to stick to that color palette on this card, but only because my Stampotique fellow seemed to sort of just go in that direction when I was coloring him up. I let him have complete creative control on this one and this is the direction he took. I added the crown from a Tim Holtz set and the sentiment is computer generated. Do you remember this line from the Mel Brooks movie, The History of the World Part 1? It's a side-splitter! It seemed like a perfect pairing for this image. I really hope Kirk's boss has a sense of humor ;D

Masculine Cards

Do you ever have trouble creating masculine cards? I know I do. I hate to stereotype cards for the men in our lives, but it seems the manly "go-to" color palette consists of lots of blues, greens, and browns. I'd like to say that I broke away from that mold with this card, but alas, you can see, I did not....LOL! I say if it works, then go with it :D However, there's no reason why we can't add terrific patterned papers, lots of interesting embellishments, and dimension. Here I used some wonderful stamped images by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. His images are some of my favorites! I stamped them with Versafine ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I pulled out my good old friend, the Versamarker pen, and embossed the images 2 more times to give them a glossy, lacquered look. I also added lots of dimensional foam tape to several of the layers, because I like a special card to have some depth and weight to it when I'm giving it as the main gift. Finished it off with paper flowers, gems, a tiny bit of ribbon, and even some glitter glue around the edge of the main panel. These items satisfy my need for bling without making it too girly. And hey...if it's too girly, too bad! LOL! It's a handmade card for crying out loud :D