I spent some time yesterday making a special birthday card for a very special son-in-law.  I discovered I didn't have many masculine stamp sets to choose from, but Brad's the "outdoors-y" kinda guy, and I thought this beautiful tree image from Branch Out stamp set might make him smile.

I absolutely love the new designer series paper called Nouveau Chic.  It's a very unusual paper with an interesting color scheme — Basic Black, Basic Gray, Sage Shadow and Apricot Appeal.  For some added interest, I paper pierced the edges of the Apricot Appeal card stock and added a couple of black brads to the corners of the triangles that overlap the main image.

Here's a close-up.  After stamping the tree in Basic Gray, I discovered it needed a little "grounding".  I used my Aqua Painter and some Sage Shadow Classic Ink to paint in a little "grass".  The final touch was to stamp "happy birthday" from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set in basic black ink, then punch it out with the Curly Label Punch and tuck about 2/3 of the tag up under the main image.

Hope he likes his birthday card this year!

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
Item No. 113200 Branch Out stamp set (on dormant list; not in catalog)   $22.95
Item No. 115370 Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set   $36.95
Item No. 115670 Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper   $9.95
Item No. 112208 Curly Label Punch   $15.95
Item No. 103954 Aqua Painter   2/$16.95