Kraft Week Day 1: Rustic Dude Kraft

So, Mary Dawn of the awesome blog My Pink Mexico challenged me to use more kraft. I mean, really challenged me! Of course, I couldn't resist a challenge, so I went for it. Hook, line, and sinker.

Especially the sinker part. At times, I felt like I was drowning in brown. But it was SOOOOO worth it. *frabjous joy!*

And you're gonna LOVE Mary Dawn's kraft creations, too! She's the Kween of Kraft. I'm merely a pretender.

We decided on a different theme for each day this week, and today's theme is Rustic Dude Kraft. I'm pretty sure this took longer than any single card I made for the whole week. But it makes me so very happy!


OMG, sponging and distressing on one card! Please acknowledge that you know how HARD this was for me!!!! In fact, most of this week's posts stretched my creative horizons.

Stretching is important, you know. But not too far, of course. This is still clean and simple.

Each kraft square (1 3/8" square) is stamped with Close to Cocoa with a different background stamp, some of which I have hardly ever used. The screen background, for instance. I was considering giving that stamp away. It'll be harder now. Much harder.

Anyway, I sponged each square on all four sides and distressed only the tops and bottoms by running the cardstock over a scissor blade. Then I attached all four squares with glue to a natural cardstock base, added the twine and button (lawsy, that was a pain to figure out) and stamped the sentiment in more close to cocoa.

To attach the button, I wrapped the twine around the card and ran both ends up through the holes in the button. I put a glue dot where I wanted the button and pulled the ends of the string down until the button was stuck. Then I tied a knot.

I just love the texture of this card. It positively SCREAMS dude, don't you think? With a monochromatic color scheme, texture adds interest. So does that button. Making this card helped me realize I'm really short on interesting brown buttons, though. Wouldn't it look even better with a PTI rustic vintage button instead of the SEI plain one? And in retrospect, I think it would have looked awesome with a dark blue or red button with the sentiment stamped in the same color.

Someone please make that variation on the card so I can see what it would look like with a dark-colored button and sentiment. I'd be grateful.

GIVE-AWAY Details

Mary Dawn and I will choose one random commenter for the week to receive our prize. What is the prize? Well, it's a Crop-o-Dile II BIG BITE and a $25 gift certificate to Papertrey Ink! YES!

To enter, comment on at least one of the Kraft Week posts (one comment per post, of course). Mary Dawn will post five times, and so will I. That gives you ten entries for the drawing if you comment on all the Kraft Week posts. The more posts you comment on, the more chances to win!

Supplies
stamps: PTI Simple Little Things; four random background stamps
paper: PTI natural, kraft
ink: close to cocoa
accessories: twine (PTI), button (SEI), scissors, sponge