You're a fungi

I've got one last challenge card to post for August. Whew! It's been years since I've done so many blog posts in one month! This card is my second one for the August challenge at Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero. The theme is "It's Hip to Be Square," and each project needs to include a square(s) in some way. For this card, I went with a clean and simple masculine design.

Supplies:
Stamps: You're a Fungi (Hero Arts)
Paper: Stone woodgrain card stock (Hero Arts); Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: White embossing powder (Hero Arts), Neutrals Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!), 1-1/4" square punch (Stampin' Up!), foam tape (3M)

I wanted to use a neutral color palette, so for the card base I chose a piece of gray woodgrain card stock from an old My Monthly Hero kit. I could have cut the piece in half to make two card fronts, but I decided to score and fold it and use the whole piece for the card base. (Since this is a simple card, I like the extra detail of the woodgrain texture, and it's nice to feel it on the back of the card, too. Makes it seem a little more special.)

I love all the images and punny sentiments in the You're a Fungi stamp set, so I started by figuring out which of the mushrooms would fit in a 1-1/4" square and stamping them on a deep green card stock with Versamark ink. For some of the bitty mushrooms I was able to just fit two of them in one square. I embossed the images with white embossing powder and punched them out. (My embossing is not great. I know all the tips and tricks, but I often still struggle with it, which is one of the reasons I don't do it often. Luckily the rustic feel of this card means the imperfect embossing isn't too big a deal.)

I wanted to include the "you're a fungi!" sentiment, but it was too long to fit in one of the squares. I fixed that by stamping the sentiment in two steps. First I inked up just the "you're a" with Versamark and then stamped it on brown card stock. I cleaned off the stamp and then inked and stamped "fungi!" just below the first part of the sentiment. Then I embossed it and punched it out. Problem solved! And I love how it stands out on the different color of card stock.

I arranged the six squares in the center of the card base and attached them with foam tape. (The gap between the squares is about 1/4".) To finish the card I added three gray enamel dots in the upper left corner. I really like how they add just a little more interest, but since they're the same color as the background, they don't distract from the stamped images.

I'd forgotten how fun it is to do challenges -- maybe I'll try to keep it up and enter again next month. Thanks for stopping by!