My Cards for the August Creative Challenge SU!

Have you heard about the Stampin' Up! Creative Challenge for August? It is to create masculine cards and SU! has even given some optional color combos to work with!

I decided to make three cards for this challenge...a welcome baby boy card, a birthday card for a little boy, and a card for a gentleman heading toward retirement.  All my cards have a couple of things in common, background stamping similar to that on page 44 of the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog and some Paper Pumpkin stamps.

Tip: Subscribe to Paper Pumpkin kits to build your stamp collection and ink spots over time.

My first card is a welcome baby boy card.  I began with a Cloud Cover A2 card base. Then I cut a sheet from the Florals in Bloom DSP at 4" x 5.25" and stamped my sentiments on it using Secret Sea ink. I created some baby clothes using the retired All for Baby bundle and stamped a sentiment from the set on a piece of white card stock punched from the Labels of Love punch. I added a small strip of Lemon Lolly card stock behind my sentiment and cut a few stars from the card stock as well. To finish the card, I added a few Shimmer Adhesive Star Foam stars around the background.

For my second card, I used the last color combo in the chart above.  I made a birthday card for a little boy who loves bugs.  I used the Bee My Valentine stamp set and the Fright Night dies for the insects on the card.  I cut the EEK! sentiment from the Timeless Plaid DSP. I cut it 3 times and layered the pieces to create depth for my sentiment. I used a spiderweb mask and an ink blending brush to create a light image for the background of my Calypso Coral panel.  I also repeatedly stamped "birthday" on the panel in first and second generation stamping using Early Espresso ink. I adhered this piece to a 4" x 5.25" panel of Early Espresso two tone card stock. Both of these were adhered to an A2 Cajun Craze card base. I stamped "It's Your Day" and "happy birthday" in Cajun Craze ink using Paper Pumpkin stamps, then cut a banner from the Fright Night dies to place behind it.  I added a few Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots to finish the card.

For my third card, I used the second color combination in the chart above. These colors gave me a nautical vibe so I decided to make a retirement card. I began by cutting an A2 card base in Coastal Cabana card stock. I cut a second layer in Secret Sea two tone card stock and used the light side of the paper to stamp my sentiments in Secret Sea ink.  I also tore a small sheet of Cherry Cobbler card stock to add to the left side of the navy panel.  I stamped a compass image in Coastal Cabana ink and an anchor in Cherry Cobbler ink, then a sentiment in Secret Sea ink.  All images and sentiments are from past Paper Pumpkin kits. I added some thick white twine to give a more nautical feel to finish the card.

What do you think?  Are you ready to take on the August Creative Challenge? I hope you will give it a try!