Welcome to the newest Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge!  Our host for C4G #299, Pamela, chose summer for the theme.  Both the Cardz 4 Guyz #299 and the June Pals Fun Fold Blog Hop go live on the same day, so I knew I needed to combine the two.  Then I saw the layout for Try Stampin on Tuesday #561 and knew I wanted to incorporate that layout.  The color palette inspiration comes from the Fusion card challenge.  Score!

When you are finished here, I hope you will visit the Cardz 4 Guyz challenge and the Pals Fun Fold Blog Hop, the links for which follow my blog post for the card.  

Here’s my card:

I do need to thank the design team at Try Stampin on Tuesday. They chose my card as one of the Top 3 for TSOT559. You can see that card here, which was a three-fer by combining TSOT #599, Color Throwdown #696, and the Double Trouble challenge. Thank you very much!!! Once again, I feel completely honored.

Here are the Fusion and TSOT challenge banners:

The Hippest Hippos stamp set and coordinating dies make this card too stinking cute!  You can earn each of these FREE, with a qualifying purchase, starting July 1, 2022 with Sale-a-Bration!  

Measurements:

• The Poppy Parade base measures 4-1/4 by 11 inches, scored at 2-3/4 and 5-1/2 inches.
• I used Gray Granite following the Fusion colors, for the mat, which measures 4-1/8 by 5-3/8 inches.
• The white panel for the inside of the card also measures 4-1/8 by 5-3/8 inches.
• After doing all the math for the layout pieces on the front of the card, I created a template, which will save so much time for the next time I want to use this layout. Here’s the template:

• I had enough leftovers to stamp, color, and crop all the elements on the front of the card and the birds on the inside.
• I used a piece of Basic Gray 6 x 6 DSP trimmed to 6 by 2-1/2 inches for the envelope flap. Then, I punched a 1 inch circle from Pool Party DSP to create the envelope seal.

What I Did:

• I started this card with my blending brush and Pool Party ink on white cardstock. The hippo dies have one for waves. Since I wasn’t happy with the waves I created for the first card I made with this set (you can see that card here), I needed to figure out something else to do. I grabbed a piece of a window sheet and cropped out a stencil of the waves. I used the stencil and worked my way up the white cardstock.
• HINT: Make sure you move the stencil placement so that the waves form a very random pattern. Do the same thing for the clouds.
• By working my way up the white cardstock, I was able to create darker waves at the bottom and lighter ones at the top.
• I repeated the process for the clouds again using Pool Party ink and my blending brush.
• Of course, I couldn’t leave the inside white piece of cardstock plain, so I added waves at the bottom and clouds at the top.
• Here’s a picture of the well-loved stencils I created by cropping window sheets with the dies:

Hippos:

• Next, I worked on the hippos, which I stamped using Momento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with the Smoky Slate light and dark blends combo. The hippo in the tub is actually a tutu wearing ballet hippo. However, since the challenge is to make a card for a guy (of any age), I simply cut off the tutu. I used another blending brush and Night of Navy ink to create a base on which the tub could sit.
• Both the tub and the boat dies come with the hippo die set. I cropped each in Basic Gray cardstock. Then, I added dimension using my gray ink tones blending brush and Basic Gray ink. The effect is subtle, but I think it works.
• Then, I used Poppy Parade cardstock and cropped the googles, breather tube, life saver and sunglasses. So stinking cute!!
• If you use the multipurpose glue carefully and sparingly, you can easily adhere these cropped pieces to the hippos.
• The hippo in the boat and in the tub got popped up on dimensionals.
• The water droplets for each hippo needed some height, but not by using dimensionals. I cropped enough droplet sets to layer three droplets on top of each other. Since the Pool Party cardstock blended in with the background, I added Wink of Stella to each of the droplets.

Finishing Up:

• The bottom horizontal panel really had me stumped. A quick perusal of my stamp sets led me to the school of fish stamp from the Whale Done stamp set. I stamped it in Pacific Point ink going across the bottom panel. Then, I added some to the waves on the inside panel as well.
• This bottom panel also needed some sort of dimension. Therefore, I stamped the fish from Seas the Day four times using Pacific Point ink on Pool Party cardstock. I didn’t want to use dimensionals under these fish, so I adhered two fish together and then adhered them to the bottom panel.
• The Waves of Inspiration stamp set contains a small bird, which I stamped three times across the top using Gray Granite ink.
• The outside sentiment comes from the Catch You Later stamp set and the inside sentiment comes from Happy and Heartfelt. I stamped both using Night of Navy Ink.
• I still needed something to hold the easel upright and settled on the birds from the Waves die set. The birds would need to be high enough to hold the easel, but I didn’t want to even begin to try to add dimensionals or foam adhesive behind the birds. Therefore, I cropped enough birds from Gray Granite cardstock to adhere five birds on top of each other. Five layers of cardstock turned out to be enough to hold up the easel.
• Finally, I trimmed the DSP on the envelope flap and ran the 1 inch circle envelope seal through my XYRON create-a-sticker. With that, I’d finished this coordinated easel card, envelope, and seal set.

Back to the Pals’ Fun Fold Blog Hop:

Thank you for stopping by my blog!

Have a Peachy Day!

Sue

Colors Used:

Supplies Used:

Basic Crafting Supplies:

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Again, thank you for stopping by my blog today!  I appreciate your comments and your time.