A Keeper and a New Look

How do you like my new look? I was bored with the way my blog looked so I dove, purchased some elements and re-did it. I am a PhotoShop nubie but struggled my way through it and although it's still a little rough, I am happy with the results. I'll probably be tweaking it over the next week or so.

I hope all you moms had a wonderful Mother's Day and that your family treated you right! I did! I got Copic markers (ok, I'll admit I did engineer that - LOL!) and spent the almost the whole day crafting, sigh, bliss!!

So on Mother's Day, I created this rustic, distressed Father's Day card. It was made with the same set that I made the Sweet Summer Day card with awhile back. It's called Keeper by Artistic Outpost. It's a great set. I hadn't made anything yet with the fishing stamps in the set so I broke them out for Father's Day. All the staming was done with either Vintage Photo or Tea Dye Ranger Inks. The fish were stamped with Versamark and I used three different colors of Ranger Distress embossing powder. If you haven't tried it and like to make distressed work, you need to get some. It is really cool. When you heat it, it doesn't come out smooth and shiny. It stays rough and has a sandpaper feel to it. I punched a tiny hole in the head of each fish and inserted a jump ring which I then threaded through a Tim Holtz Swival Clasp. The screw brads were a little too shiny to go with the aged look of the card so I blackened them with a black Copic marker and then rubbed most of the ink off. The edges were all scissor distressed and sponged with SU Creamy Caramel and Vintage Photo. The brown "wood" panel was stamped first with the SU Weathered background stamp and then run through the Distressed Strips CB embossing folder. I think it turned out to be one great Father's Day card. What do you think?

Card Recipe

Stamps: Keeper by Artistic Outpost, inside sentiment Stampin' Up

Paper: Base is SU Naturals Ivory, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip and last year's SU Apple Cider DSP

Ink: Ranger Tea Dye and Vintage Photo, SU Creamy Caramel & Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories: Cuttlebug and Distressed Stripes embossing folder, Ranger Distress Embossing Powder in Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and Weathered Wood, screw brads, Tim Holtz Swival Clasp, SU Word Window punch, sewing machine