Masculine Challenge Card No. 2 – Sailing Home

Hello, Crafters.

I found the idea for this lifebelt on Pinterest and was really WOW’d by it! It was created by Sandrine of  https://papierciseauxetcie.com/. I couldn’t find this card on Sandrine’s website so I don’t know if she supplied any instructions. I’m not totally happy with how I put this card together and if I wanted to make one for a specifc person, I’d play around with the lifebelt a bit more to smooth out some rough edges!

Having said that, I’m very pleased with the overall design, and I think it’s a great masculine card. I think this is probably the best stamp set I’ve ever had for masculine cards. Part of the reason for this is – I think – that there are several different elements to the set, and therefore it’s easy to make the different images the main star of a card, e.g. the lighthouse, boats, compass, and of course, a lifebelt!

This is yet another card where I’ve used Designer Series Paper (DSP) – no wonder my stash is etting so low! LOL! Every time I’ve used the bird stamp, I’ve finished up with a “halo” effect. It’s extremely rare that I get really frustrated when I’m crafting, but I did after I’d die-cut three circles for the boat, and messed them all up with the birds!

I DON’T recommend you do this, but I separated all three birds, and that’s how I succeeded in getting three perfect images. The downside is that each of the three birds is very small and it’s going to be too easy to lose them! If you get the halos and want to do something about it, I’d recommend that you trim around the edge but leave it as one stamp. NOTE: please remember if you do trim your stamps, your guarantee with Stampin’ Up will be null and void because you have effectively deliberately damaged one of your stamps!

I used a Dauber with Balmy Blue Ink to colour the sea, and the dies for the seaweed, steering wheel and rope are all from Smooth Sailing which is the set of dies that co-ordinates with the Sailing Home Stamp Set. These two items are currently available as the Sailing Home Bundle (151066) which saves 10% on the individual prices (see page 145 in the Annual Catalogue).

I chose the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Wiggle Worm Stamp Set because I wanted something fairly small but still easily visible. One of the dies in the Stitched Labels Framelits was the ideal size for this sentiment; almost as if they were made for each other! The two colours in the Baker’s Twine are Sahara Sand and Night of Navy.

Inside the card I adhered a layer of Whisper White CS onto a layer of Balmy Blue CS, and then onto the Night of Navy card base. I knew I had a die-cut image of the same boat as the one on the front of my card. After I had retrieved it from my Leftovers, I adhered it in the bottom right-hand corner!Just a couple more things before I go. I asked Hubby what he thought of Monday’s card, and he loved it! When he came home from work yesterday, I showed him today’s card and he liked this one, too! He has come up with a great idea for a video but I’m not sure how to make it work! I’ll have a play to see if I can come up with a solution! Finally, you may have noticed, since our wedding, I’ve called Hubby by his name. Yesterday he said he prefers Hubby, so Hubby it is from now on! I’m off now! I’m hoping my Christmas pre-order will be arriving today!! If it does, I’ll spend my day getting it all sorted out and organised!

I look forward to being back with yu tomorrow, and in the meantime, happy crafting.

JanB xx

Products used: please click on any link to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. Thank you. xx