Try-mendous!

It’s my turn on the Visible Image blog this week and I’m sharing a couple of cards I made for a friend and my Dad.  They both enjoy the 6-Nations rugby so the Try-mendous Day stamps and coordinating dies was a perfect choice for their cards.  I was inspired by a page I made in my art journal for a Facebook challenge with the theme “Ireland”, which I made back in March when Ireland had just won the 2024 6-Nations Championship.

My Dad is English so I used sticky notes to mask the Grungy Union Jack stencil to create the St. George’s cross and blended Lumberjack Plaid Distress Oxide ink through.  I concentrated the ink in the central area and faded out as I didn’t want square edges.

I blended Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean for the sky and the grass.

My friend is also English but now lives in Scotland so for the St. Andrew’s cross, I used masking tape for the cross.  It was too perfect though so I used the dots from the Union Jack stencil to add a little grunge.

Next, I used the Splash stencil on the grass and then spritzed the panels with water to create the distressed look.

To add more interest to the backgrounds, I used the small stamps from the set.

The sentiments and rugby player were stamped using Versafine Claire Nocturne.  I didn’t worry too much about the player as I was going to stamp and die-cut another to put over the top but I wanted the dots around it as I think it gives the player movement.

The rugby player was stamped and die cut together with some rugby balls.  I like to use my stamp positioner for the solid stamps like this so that I can repeat stamp to get a really good image.  These images were attached using thin foam tape to add dimension.  The panels were matted on black card and then onto 5¾” square white card blanks.