Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge #325 (Clean & Simple)

If there's one kind of card that I struggle with the most it's Clean and Simple. White space intimidates me! But I do love challenges, and this time over at Cardz 4 Guyz they have a CAS challenge, so I ran with it!

One thing I love about being a card maker is that I never really know what I'm going to end up with when I first start stamping. That's what happened with this card.

I started with the idea of the leaves, but wanted to use my Stampin' Up! Hardwood as a background. Then I remembered that it's a CAS challenge and thought that would look too busy. Still I didn't want to have just a blank space, so I used the background stamp and thought I would stamp it with Versa Mark to give it just a little texture. The Versa Mark barely showed up on the light colored paper.

Rather than waste the paper, I pulled out my WOW Oyster embossing powder and covered the Versa Mark with it. It was perfect to give just a little bit of color while hopefully retaining the CAS look.

Since I embossed the background, I stuck to that technique with all the other stamping too. So everything here is stamped with Versa Mark and then heat embossed.

My complete supply list is:

• Speckletone Oatmeal Card Stock
• Versa Mark Ink
• WOW Embossing Powder in Oyster
• Green, Brown and Bronze Embossing Powder from Michaels Variety Pack
• Stampin' Up! Tropical Chic Stamps and Dies
• Stampin' Up! Hardwood Background Stamp
• Papertrey Sentiment
• Stampin' Up! Cinnamon Cider Card Stock
• Simon Says Stamp Off White Embossing Powder

I felt a little weird about putting "sending hugs" on a guy card, but the size fits (does anyone else do that-use a sentiment based on size rather than what it says?). Anyway, I thought the font was masculine and well, guys need hugs too!

I also thought that I'd mention that this card got hubby's approval for a nice guy card. That always makes me feel good! I think the only thing I wished I had done differently was to put a band under the lines going across the card. Still, it's a card that I really think a guy will like.

Thanks so much to everyone over at Cardz 4 Guyz for another great challenge, and thanks for stopping by my blog today!