Pile It On and...Relax!

This week at Pile It On, our Challenge theme is Kick Back and Relax, perfect for these lazy summer days.

For this fun Boy card, I used the Circle Flip-its Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die and some papers from a pre-glittered, Kraft-core Recollections cardstock pad.

I used one of the pre-colored images from LOTV's Take it Easy Die Cut Sheet. I totally feel like I'm cheating since I didn't color it myself, but I did add the green with Copics.

I added empty stitching to the border with my sewing machine, but I hand-stitched the border around the image. I distressed the card edges and sentiment piece with Vintage Photo TH distress ink.

For the flip-side, I used Iced Tea w/ Lemon by TLC Creations (altho I've only ever used it for lemonade!) I colorized the image brown in PhotoShop, then colored it with Copics.

Making these flowers with plastic straws was as much fun as it looks! I can't find a tutorial, but basically you fringe-cut a plastic drinking straw to form a flower. That's it! To make layers, just snip the straw so that you can curl it to fit into the larger hole.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Charisma Cardz: Recycle [plastic-straw flowers]
2. Crafts and Me Challenge #92: Stitching, Real or Faux
3. Gingerloft Challenge #44: Fancy Folds
4. Hotshot Crafts: Distress Inks
5. Paperminutes #225: Shabby Chic/Vintage
6. Paper Pretties: Try A New Technique [plastic-straw flowers]
7. Sisterhood of Crafters: Let's Hear It For The Boys
8. Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 116: Masculine Birthday Card [although this isn't specifically a Birthday card, I do plan to use it for my BIL's Bday]

Update: Woot woot, this was a prize winner for Charisma Cardz's Recycle Challenge!

Thank you for visiting,