Manly Monday... Late

Sooo I've had a nice hiatus and I think I'm feeling inspired again. I missed Manly Monday so today I made two manly cards to share. The second card I'll share in a separate post.

This card... I'm loving it. I tried out a new technique called Faux Leather and I'm just in awe at how amazing it came out.

Now there are TONS of various tutorials on how to do the faux leather look. These tutorials range from using embossing folders and clear embossing powder to using glycerin/water mixture to "condition" the paper to be soft and get that worn look. I didn't use any of those. Lol.

I started out with a piece of basic kraft paper and I crumpled it up. Then I lightly dipped it in some water to wet the paper while it was crumpled and squeezed the crumpled paper harder. I gently opened the paper and wiped off any excess water and kind of spread it lightly to the still dry areas and then .. yep crumpled it again .. and again. After I was satisfied with the wrinkling, I blasted it with my heat gun and this is what I got.

From just crinkling it with just water it started to get this sad worn look because it is just cardstock after all, but I loved the look.

Now this past weekend Michael's had a bunch of their Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress inks on sale so I bought all the browns and such. I rubbed Frayed Burlap along the paper lightly to color the roughest looking wrinkles and then used an art sponge to sponge on the same color all over the paper. I went back and sponged on Vintage Photo and Rusty Hinge over and over until I got the coloring that I wanted.

Using my Silhouette I cut out the label on white cardstock and sponged on Antique Linen and Tea Dye (distress inks again) and then splashed it lightly with a few water droplets before stamping the vintage car stamp (Tim Holtz, stampers anonymous "The Journey") with Vintage Photo. (The Car on the left is for another project which I'll post shortly.)

Then I made a simple banner and stamped it with a Birthday stamp from Stampin Up "Wetlands", tied a burgundy button to it with some twine and viola!

Hope you enjoy this beautiful card!

Challenges entered:
Simon Says Stamp Monday - In the middle (car image/tag)
ABC challenge - H is for Happy Birthday
Inspiration Destination - Anything goes #29
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Make your own background (faux leather background)