Fire it up, Babe!

I made two cards using Karen's sketch SSSC18 posted on her blog, the sweetest thing, but I like the sentiment I used on the manly BBQ card--Fire it up, Babe! Hope you're liking the Boys Will Be Boys set at Taylored Expressions. I'm having as much fun using it as I did designing the images.

I'm finding I'm very 'copic-challenged'--I seriously need some tips from my friend Karen! But surprisingly I don't think the photos reveal my flaws too much. I'm using Gina K pure luxury cardstock, so I know I have the right tools. On my 'fire it up...' card I embossed just the right side of the cream panel with the sentiment to repeat the flame pattern. This was after I created the sentiments in Illustrator and printed on cardstock. I was thrilled to find the screw brads in my stash from heavy-scrapbooking days. Somehow I smudged copic grey in the corner of my image panel, so I ran the marker along the edge allowing it to seep into the cardstock then used my SU distressor tool to rough up the edges and make it even more manly!

I was inspired by the SU designer paper Good Morning Sunshine for my second card and gave my little squirrel a pear from the Branching Out Coordinates set instead of a nut. I created the "don't be afraid to try something different" sentiment in Illustrator. Because my squirrel was so dull looking after I over-coloured him with copics, I gave him some 'smooch' on his tail and belly and highlighted the pears with yellow atyou marker. I smooched the flame on the BBQ too.