Father's Day Cards

Hi there!
Time for the Father's Day Cards post! 
So I didn't do such a great job documenting the process on these but I'm still gonna share them because they turned out really cool and I'm proud and maybe someone can still use some of the ideas... You never know.
I'm sorry y'all I am who I am.
I'm messy. I'm kinda scattered brained ya know?
But I'm ambitious and creative and I'm gonna share that with whatever world tunes in.
Without further ado here's the two cards.
One for Dad and one for Step dad. 
​Keep scrolling to see how I made each one!

Dad's card!
I feel like I really did Dad's card process some injustice here because it's a pretty cool card... but I did get stuck for a while on photo #3... I could not figure out what to add to it for days and of course the last minute came and the magic happened.
Honestly, I didn't think I was one of those "thrive under pressure people" but the more work I do, the more that seems true... that's not something I really ever wanted to be proud of but I am who I am I guess haha. 
ANYWAY.

Dad's card.
Dad's card was easy. He's a car racing (yes literally) Mustang guy.
The picture of the Mustang is actually a legit picture of him right before a race. 
I thought it would be cool to add that to the photo.
I totally admire how he does exactly what he wants to do.
​He enjoys his life.
It's inspiring. 

So after I picked out the elements... I printed those out (twice... the first time they were too big...) I went ahead and sketched out a checkerboard pattern for the background...
That is done on Watercolor Paper. I like the thickness of it.  
Of course it didn't fit perfectly AND I thought about trimming it down but I left it and I like it that way. 
I also picked red as an accent because that's my dad's favorite color, which is great because black, red and white go pretty well together.

I did end up kicking out the Mustang symbol as I just couldn't get it how I wanted it.
The transtion of the card did literally go from what you see to the finished product.. 
It happend in one magical sitting.

I decided I wanted to distress the background a little bit and create a grunge type of effect. I used a black chalk pastel. 
I added some metallic red stars, cut down the Father's Day text and added a double layer background. ​
The gold you see is Pastel Paper painted gold. 
Besides the checkerboard background I used Pastel Paper for everything else.
I like the texture for one and the thickeness is important. I want the card to be sturdy.
For the last touches I tapped some white paint on the grey background and topped off the entire card with some gold speckles.
Of course I got that one bit of gold paint that wanted to be overzealous so I ended up using my finger and added some more gold.
​That's how the bigger spots came to be but I like it...   
Also added some White Chalk Pastel around the elements and the stars to give it a bit of a pop. I did secure the elements with some foam tape so they do have some depth to them they aren't just plastered on the card. I dig it.
​
Very proud of my end result! 

​Step Dad's Card!
Step dad was a bit more challenging at first but I went with my gut reaction which was coffee and sweets! 
I didn't have as much of a struggle-fest with this card but it also came down to the wire because I guess that's just how I roll lol
I did manage to get a lot more photos of the process on this card though
​so here we go: 

Okay so first off, blue is my step dad's favorite color so that's how I chose the color scheme here besides the coffee and sweets.
How lucky I got with colors lemme tell ya. 
Super happy about that... and as before I picked out my elements, some were just printed from Word, a few others I actually cut from magazines. 
​
Now that I look at it all the pictures on the left are from the internet... the ones on the right all cut out from a magazine... ha that's pretty cool! 
As for the paper I used, well the blue background is actually a file folder I cut up. 
Got a huge pack of them for $1 at the dollar tree.
The yellow background is pastel paper again. I don't know what to tell you, I like it. 

So here's what's pretty darn cool about this card... the texture/background you see is actually "painted" from REAL coffee... just some coffee grounds, a little bit of water and some tacky glue... I added some watercolor later as you can see in the next photo.
So this card is actually coffee stained and will probably still have a hint of a coffee smell. Pretty cool!!! Yes I have amused myself. It's okay, it happens often. 

Really that's about the coolest thing about this card haha
Getting all the backgrounds figured out was kind of a challenge because I didn't want it to look too bland... I used some more chalk pastels to create some shadows and that's also how I yellowed out the Father's Day text. 

You can't really tell from the photo but the coffee cup and the ice cream cone on the ends were adhered with the same foam tape I used on Dad's card to give it some depth. The rest are pasted on... I believe I used an Elmer's Xtreme glue stick.. those things are serious... once it dries that is it! ​​

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing my little behind the scenes creations.
I didn't do the best job of capturing the process on these but it's been a very very very busy first little half of June so I give myself a pass on this one. 
I do pretty good with my art journal pages so if you have any questions or want to see any of the supplies I used I have no problem sharing. 
I hope you all have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Much love
​Amanda