Reeling in Colorado's Beauty!!

I rarely make male cards...but this Thomas Kinkade image combined with Flourishes "What a Catch" set had me swooning. My guy is a fly fisherman, and the combined images made a pretty handsome card, don't you think?
I copper embossed the background and colored a decorative brad with a copper copic marker to antique it...adding the cool "fly" in versamark to give the background some interest. A couple of weeks ago I actually went with my husband while he picked out to fish with. They were so tiny, all in these little bins, and really detailed...pretty cool art in and of itself.  I added a simple handmade flag banner. The main focal image is so detailed, it doesn't need any color added. I kinda like that!

This card was a complete CASE because I love love love it. The blog, "Joyful Creations with Kim" caught my eye awhile back...Kim also lives in Colorado and she captured the beauty of a Colorado pine forest in her card here. She also gives a great tutorial for this one layer beauty. I can't say that I completely honored her card with mine, but I tried. Combined with the twine and a button, I am happy with this card's outcome. I made several using a masking technique and 3 colors for the sponging in background, Baja Breeze for the sky, Old Olive for the base, and So Saffron in the center going upwards to mimic sunlight filtering through the trees.
One thing that really helped me line the masking up is using a large lined post it note pad (I needed two pieces for each side and one for the top) combined with a grid paper underneath to match the lines. I used SU!'s large ruled sheets for this. I made that purchase a long time ago, and they are so handy to have!

Thanks so much for stopping in today!! I will be back on Sunday to share a project I am working on for Stampin' Sisters in Christ!
Hope you're having a wonderful end of summer!