Who Was That Masked Dude?

Hello there! Today I am sharing a card I made for a nephew who is a college student. It involved what I consider some heavy masking using post-it paper, but if you are an experienced masker you'd probably consider it beginner level, lol.

Now, I'd guess 99% of my stamped cards are made with multiple brands of stamps, so I want this noted: this is a rare exception right here! lol All of the stamps used are from Avery Elle's Surf's Up set:

I took my colors mostly from this Junkitz card stock that became the base mat of my card front:

I made my paper masks out of this stuff:

 I used Ranger Archival stamping ink throughout. I stamped and cut a mask for the van, 2 trees and 1 cloud. I used 110# smooth white card stock and my first stamp on it was the van.

I let that dry good, then applied the van mask to the stamped card stock. I stamped the middle tree and then the two outer trees. After they had dried good, I applied the tree masks to the middle tree and 1 outer tree, stamped the tree in between, then removed the outer tree mask, applied it to the other outer tree, then stamped the tree in between on that side. Then, I removed both the middle tree mask and the van mask.

Next up was the cloud, which also doubled as the 3 waves at bottom. I stamped the left one, masked it, then the middle one, moved the mask to it, then stamped the right one. I was not brave enough to stamp the sentiment right onto the waves, so I opted for stamping it on a strip of deli paper and layering it over them. I stamped the sun and the cloud, then set about to color everything with alcohol markers. I have Copics, Sprectrum Noirs and Promarkers, and often choose between them for the best color choices. I created the shadows of the tree trunks through the van windows by using the lightest grey marker that I had, then coloring in the windows with that milky white clear Sakura gel pen. The final touches were some white Winks of Stella on the cloud and some gold sparkly gel penning on the sun.

So, like I said, if you are an experienced masker, this card would have been a no-biggie to make, but for me, it was all I could handle at my current ability. I have gotten better the more I've masked, but I don't too very often because there's just too many arty techniques to do!

Before I forget, I want to mention these things: first, if you are wanting to try your hand at this, I would strongly suggest finding a card to CASE - that way you have a reference photo at all times. I used one

by Caryn Davies. I found it HERE in the samples for the AE stamp set. Having a reference photo helps you see which objects are in front and which are behind where they overlap. Caryn layered her van, but I got the wild hair to see if I could layer the masking, lol. What I additionally benefitted from was the placement of her trees and the overall proportions, as well as a general design. So, while our two cards look and are different, they are also very similar, and I could never have made mine as it turned out without the help of hers. Thank you, Caryn!

Hope your Hump Day went well. Thanks for visiting and leaving me a hollah. Cya next time. xoxo