Life's Journey Birthday

Hi everybody.  Hubby celebrated his birthday recently and I won't say how many years, and I didn't put it on the card, but I will say that he has clocked up a few more than me..lol.  I saw a video recently by Gina K in which she masked to create boxes in which she placed her stamping and I liked the look of it so thought I would do something along these lines.  I decided to use a freebie set of stamps which came from a magazine a few months ago called The Great Outdoors and produced by Hunkydory.  I thought these would be good for masculine cards especially for those that like hiking and camping.  Hubby and I do enjoy walking and he is also a keen photographer so I included these things from the set.  We don't have a dog but the silhouette walker looked a bit lonely without it..lol. 

I decided to do a large 8" square card as I didn't have to post it, so made the piece of card to mat on the top about 1" smaller and found the centre point and cut the six strips for the masking about 1/2" wide using masking sheet as it sticks well without taking the surface of the card off when you remove it.  When I had placed it on the card I ink blended with Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistacio Distress Inks, keeping the Cracked Pistachio in the centre.  I then placed all the items using my Misti and stamped them using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.

I was so frustrated because at this point I managed to get a couple of bits of ink on to the edge of the two left hand boxes.  I tried the sand eraser which did fade it out but of course also took the ink off, so I put the masks back and reinked but the edge was not as clean as the rest so I decided to use my black micron pen and outline all the boxes. Against my better judgement I did it freehand and the result is a little rustic I think with some lines a bit thicker than others in places, but I had left it late to make the card and was not feeling like starting again.  For some reason the photo makes the boxes look quite out of shape, but in real life they don't look that bad.   I also grounded the walker and dog and the haversack, but wasn't sure about the camera so left it alone.  I then took some more Salty Ocean and a waterbrush and brushed some ink over the images to shade, and also water bleached to highlight, especially on the boots and camera.   I also ink blended a bit of the Cracked Pistachio around the edges so when glued down there is just the hint of colour.

Hubby did seem pleased and did say how different it was so a good result I think which made up for the earlier frustrations.  Thank you for taking a look today and I'll be back soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 580 I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'B' (blue, boots and birthday).
Craft Rocket Challenge - No. 72 For the Men/Boys.
Crafty Creations July Challenge - No. 411 Anything Goes.