It's Tuesday and today I have a change of style with a masculine card for you! I'm too late to link up over at Pals Paper Arts Challenge but I just couldn't resist this great sketch from Beth Beard:

So many lovely layers! The minute I saw this sketch I knew that I wanted to use the compass from the 'Going Global' stamp set and the co-ordinating papers in the Going Places DSP stack. Here's my card:

Today's card is all about co-ordination, colour and layout:

Co-Ordination - One of the things that make Stampin' Up! special is the extent to which suites of product fit seamlessly together and co-ordinate with our standard inks and cardstock and the Going Places product suite is no exception. Trendy, masculine patterns and textures with travel-inspired designs make this set perfect for cards for the man in your life. Whilst I don't often mix more than one designer paper on a card at any one time, the contrasting colours of the papers I used today work really well and the repitition of the compass image is what really makes this card.

Colour - Basic Black and Very Vanilla are in both of my chosen designer papers so I knew these colours would feature heavily on today's card. I needed a third colour though; what to choose? I decided upon one of our soon-to-be retired 2014-16 in-colours, Lost Lagoon. I wanted something muted, yet natural and Lost Lagoon fitted the bill.

Layout - I love a sketch with lots of layers and Beth's doesn't disappoint! My card actually has 12 separate layers, yet the definition of each plays an important part in the finished look and feel. Having chosen my sentiment and where I was going to position it on my card, I did take one liberty with Beth's sketch; my papers and compass were all centred on my card and whilst Beth's sketch shows the banner coming from one side and flagged on one end only, I knew I needed to centralise my Lost Lagoon banner too to maintain the balance of my card. This gave me the balanced look I was aiming for.

Here is a visual summary of the key products used to make today's card for easy reference:

I hope you like today's card. I have a short work day today as the James Juniors are on an early collection from school as it's the last day of term, so I need to get cracking! Before I go - for those of you interested in yesterday's netball scores, both A and B teams won their matches so Rebecca was thrilled to end the season on a high. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack	Going Global Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Going Places Cardstock Pack
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	2" Circle Punch	2-1/2" Circle Punch

Good evening lovely readers! It's the big day tomorrow so in anticipation I have one last Valentine card for you, and unlike many of my others, this one has a distinctly masculine feel. Today's card uses this week's sketch over at the Global Design Project and I am also linking up with The Friday Mashup (I chose Valentine, but not with candy!) and Just Add Ink where the challenge is something beginning with 'v':

I decided that this sketch was perfect for the globe in the 'Going Global' stamp set, paired with some of the map patterns in the 'Going Places' designer series paper stack. Take a look:

I layered my background and mats with Basic Black and Lost Lagoon, and used a piece of atlas patterned paper for the base layer and a piece of the street map paper for the top layer. Did you know that the papers in the Going Places stack are actual maps of real places? The street map here is of Brooklyn in New York, USA. I added a strip of Lost Lagoon embossed with the World Traveller embossing folder across the centre then for the focal point circle, I stamped the globe in Lost Lagoon onto Very Vanilla, having stamped off once so that it wouldn't overpower my over-stamped sentiment. I stamped the 'love' banner element again separately and fussy cut this and popped it up on dimensionals. I also punched a red heart from of Confetti Hearts Border punch and added over the stamped one and decided to create a mat for my circle element in red, to add a contrasting pop of colour and really draw you in - I know it's a masculine card, but it is Valentines, right? There are lots of layers on this card and I'm really pleased with how it came together.

That's all from me today; I'm looking forward to an early Valentines dinner this evening and will be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack	Going Global Wood-Mount Stamp Set	World Traveler Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
2" Circle Punch	2-1/2" Circle Punch	Confetti Hearts Border Punch	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad