Criminal Grace

I kind of forgot the pajama part of the A Muse Lounge Pajama Party, but it was fun all the same. With just four challenges limited to 30 minutes it took me a little over 2 hours, including a little bit of chatting, card construction, fiddling with my new photo cube, and uploading photos of my cards and a couple hundred of Tom. I’d really like to get the web cam thing going to chat with the rest of the pajama partiers, but I’d rather spend my time stamping than messing with the cam. On to the cards!

Challenge 1: make a card inspired by your celebrity crush. Someone else might go for George Clooney or Rob Pattinson, but my first thought was Matt Light, left tackle for the Patriots. I’ve had a bit of a crush on him since he started playing for the Pats back in 2000. Totally hot. Too bad I don’t have any football stamps (yet)! But he’s a big dude, like my DH, so I got to thinking about other big things and BAM, it hit me like a 300-pound lineman…

Challenge 2: make a card for your best friend. Since BFF = DH (dear husband), deer popped into my head. And that cute little “to a deer friend” sentiment tagged along. The deer is Memory Box and was the star of our 2007 Christmas cards. I wanted to keep it neat and bold, like Jon, so I limited the embellishments to a few dots drawn with my white signo and a little strip of white cardstock. I’ve also had the color combination stuck in my head lately: Yellow, aqua, brown, and white.

Challenge 3: make a one layer card. See that first card up there? It’s practically one layer. I do one layer cards all the time, so I wanted to up the ante a little bit and force myself outside my comfort zone. I’ve often admired scrapbookers who create little splashes of calm on a busy patterned paper with nothing more than paint and an artist’s eye. I started with a white pigment ink pad, then a white pigment reinker and sponge, before pulling out the big guns: white acrylic paint. So I went for it with a sponge and small paint brush. The image didn’t stamp cleanly because of the added texture, but that rustic look works for me. Between the paint and the Rock Candy Distress Stickles (that the camera didn’t quite catch), it really feels wintery.

Challenge 4: create a card using only red, black, and white. I wanted to do little red and white mittens to keep the winter theme going, but these little boxer shorts (oldies but goodies) were calling my name. Simple and straightforward stamping with a little masking and a bit of cutting for dimension.