Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #137 - Penny's Masculine "Anything Goes"

Today is the second of two rainy days in BC.  Good for the fires but depressing for the soul unless you have something to do.............like spending time in your craft room.  Nothing could be better!

It's time for this week's Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I get to be the hostess!  What fun!  

Before I get on with the challenge details I'd like to welcome our newest temporary guest artist Charlotte Ehrukainen from Finland. Charlotte's contributed many, many times as a participant in our challenges as "Lady Joyful", and has often Rocked the Watercooler with her terrific designs. So, welcome Charlotte it's going to be great having you on board!

This week is one of those love it or hate it challenges because it's about crafting a Masculine card. Don't groan..... I get it.  With the over abundance of floral and cutesie stamps that are geared to our feminine side, it's sometimes hard to come up with a design for the guys in our life.  Well don't despair, our WCW Design Team artists have come up with some  delightful samples that I'm sure will inspire you.

Here's My Card:

 

Here's what the inside looks like.  When you open the card the secret hinge allows this display to pop out.  There's plenty of room on the red bottom panel for writing a birthday message.

This is a Twist and Pop birthday card I made for a friend's cousin who was celebrating his 70th birthday. To create a card that was perfect for him, I needed to get into detective mode to find out whatever details I could about his life so the card would be a very personal experience for him.

On questioning, my friend said her cousin was a well traveled man who loved cars.  He's taken to the open road in his little red and white Corvette and on his Harley driving through California and Arizona on many trips.  He's also traveled Route 66 and been a big NASCAR fan.  So, road trips in the southern states have played a big part in his life.  

From this information, I tried to create a card that mirrored her cousin's life experiences and would signify not only what a great journey he's had but those he will continue to have.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Stylized Birthday, Guy Greetings, One Wild Ride, Badges and Banners, Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Gorgeous Grunge and Route 66 (Carta Bella non SU)
Card Stock: Basic Black, Real Red, Crumb Cake and River Rock (R) and Route 66 DSP Carta Bella
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Crumb Cake and River Rock
Accessories: Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Detail Scissors, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Post-It Notes for masks, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Tom Bow Glue, Sticky Strip, Envelope Maker, Misti.

The Envelope:  
This card making adventure begins with the Real Red envelope which I made with my Envelope Maker. It's a handy tool to have when making a Twist and Pop card because they can be bulkier than an A2 card and need some room.

The lighting in this photo doesn't make it look like Real Red but trust me it is.  I've stamped the Badge from Badges and Banners  in Momento Black ink on Crumb Cake.  It was cut out with the Best Badge Punch.  The Banner with Dan's name in it was punched out with the Duet Banner Punch, and the little houses are from the retired Sleigh Ride Edgelits.  The strip of DSP is from the Carta Bella Route 66 DSP.

This envelope started with a 9" x 9" piece of textured card stock.  This card stock isn't as dense as regular card stock, so it's easier to work with when making envelopes.  The only pitfall to using it is it's rough and uneven texture which makes it difficult to stamp on. To remedy this  I used my Misti to stamp the Stylized Happy Birthday sentiment multiple times to get a good image without fear of blurring it. 

Details:
I'm not providing instructions on how to make a Twist and Pop card in this post, but you can check out this link to one of my previous posts that provides a detailed tutorial. 

The Belly Band:
This Belly Band is unique because it's made from an Acetate Window Sheet rather than card stock.  The Acetate measured 3 1/2" x 10".  By mounting the die cut on the Acetate, it still allowed the map on the top of the card to show through. 

I mounted the Happy Birthday die cut sentiment which was cut from Real Red and Basic Black card stock to the center front of the Belly Band.  The two die cuts were glued together with Tom Bow glue.  They were offset slightly to get an illusion of a shadow and depth to the letters.  Mini glue dots secured the lettering to the Acetate Sheet.

To finish the Belly Band, I carried on the desert theme from the front of the card on Crumb Cake card stock and stamped the bike from One Wild Ride.  

I stamped a second image of the bike on a Post It Note and masked the original image before stamping the cactus and the "pit stop" images.  These stamps were from the Route 66 stamp set. The edges of this layer were sponged with Basic Black ink and I used the large splatter stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to add dots of Real Red, River Rock and Basic Black ink randomly across the images. 

 The Card Front:

I found some great DSP with a matching stamp set called Route 66 that was perfect for my card.  The top section of the card was a 3 7/8 x 5 1/8" piece of the DSP that features a map of California. 

I stamped the Corvette on a piece of River Rock card stock, and fussy cut out the car.  The desert scene from the Route 66 stamp set was stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  The sentiment "To a Classic" from the Guy Greetings stamp set was perfect for the Banner which was cut out with the Bunch of Banner Thinlet dies.  The edges were sponged with black ink.  

The Inside Panels: 

The top panel dsp has a map of Arizona and the motorcycle is from the One Wild Ride stamp set.  I've also used the Route 66 stamp set again to recreate the desert image.

The first two panels in the center of the pop up feature the Best Badge and Banners and Badges stamp set and the new Every Day Label Punch. the Happy Birthday and confetti are from the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set.

The third panel has an old Chevy from the Route 66 stamp set and the sentiment "Hope Today is One Wild Ride!" is from One Wild Ride. The Real Red numbers were cut out with the Large Numbers Framelit dies.

Well that's the end of this journey, and I hope you enjoyed it.  It's such a challenge making a card that tells a story and I think I've succeeded in capturing some of Dan's journey.  My friend said he really liked the card, so that's all that counts.  If you liked it too I hope you'll leave me a comment. 

Don't forget to check out the rest of the WWC Design Team if you haven't already done so.  Just click on the Designer's name above their cards to check out their individual blog posts. 

Also, if you want to participate in this challenge, and I sure hope you do, it's easy to play along.  All you need to do is make a Masculine card and link your blog post to the Linsky before 5pm Mountain time on Monday September 25th.  Please don't enter your card in more than 7 other challenges or you won't be eligible to win our "Rocked the Watercooler" or "Honourable Mentions" badges, and that would be sad.  Until next time....

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot