Touch Down!!! - FWF 9-30

 

Hi, Friends.....

I am here with a little bit different angle (for me) on an autumn card:  American football.  I have to say right off that we are not a sports family.  Period.  End of story.  (Actually, I did enjoy watching the Portland Trail Blazers when Aryvdas Sabonis was on the team and also will admit to checking in on the Zags now that one of the Sabonis sons plays for Gonzaga U....but neither of my guys was ever into it.  Go figure....Ha!) However, we do have some friends and relatives who enjoy sports and it seems like I am always scrambling around for a suitable masculine card when a birthday comes around.  Now I will have one.  :)

I still am challenging myself to use my neglected Unity grab bag stamps for the rest of the year's Friends with Flair entries.  This week's stamp has a decidedly sports feel to it:  "I'm your #1 fan".   I finally am getting enough Graphic 45 papers in my stash to be able to use them (instead of completely hoarding them) so I pulled out my Good Ol' Sport items and got to work.  I'm not sure what possessed me, but I decided to make a Gate Fold card......I think that is what this style is called.  (Please correct me, if it has a different name!!)

I was inspired by the current MFP Speed Fox & Friends challenge which asks us to use a die cut negative as a mask.  What an interesting technique!!!  I didn't have any place on the outside of the card to do this, but the inside was a blank canvas, so to speak.  I used a negative of my Memory Box - Gwyneth Flourish that I found in my scrap bag and used some Tea Dye Distress Ink to sponge some swirls for my autumn leaves to continue the fall theme I had begun on the front of the card.  What a fun effect!!!

 Here's a closer view of the center panel of the interior.  My Unity sentiment is stamped with Smokey Gray Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear powder.  The sponging was done right over the top of it.

  
I used some removable Zots to keep my card closed.  They make it easy to reopen and close.  Not sure what other people use for their gate-fold cards.  I didn't follow a tutorial for constructing this card because it seemed simple enough to figure out as I went.  I'm not sure I did it "right" but it seems to work, so I guess that's the main thing.  

Hope you enjoyed this card.  I am pretty proud of how well it turned out for my first attempt at this gate-fold style and also this new masking technique!  :)

Thanks for your visits and your comments.  Be sure to check out my GIVEAWAY in my Fall Coffee Lovers Bloghop posts here and here.  You still have a couple of days to enter!   

Have a wonderful mid-week!!!

<3
Janis 

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1.  Unity - Friends with Flair 9-30
2.  MFP Speedy Fox & Friends Challenge #281 - Use Negative Die Cut as a Mask 
3.  The Male Room Challenge #20 - Autumn/Fall
4.  Simon Says Stamp Work-It Wednesday - Use a stamp
5.  DL.Art Thankful Thursday #165- Fall
6.  Try it on Tuesday - Autumn
7.  ChouxChoux Paper Art Challenge #1 - Fall or Halloween
8.  Verve September Inspiration Challenge - Autumn Lovelies
9.  Sweet Stamp Shop September Challenge - Anything Goes
10. The Paper Girls Challenge #88 - Sweater Weather
11. Stamped Blessings Amusing Challenge #22 - Anything Goes
12. All Sorts Challenge Week #330 - Numbers
13. Cards in Envy - Colors of Fall Challenge
14. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
15. Simply Create Too Challenge #95 - Autumn Splendor
16. Crop Stop Linky Party #8 - Anything Goes with product that CS sells (I used Graphic 45 papers.)
17. Cardz TV Designers Challenge #2 - Use an Autumn Motif (I used leaves and football.)
18. Skipping Stones Design Stamp and Share September Challenge - Inspiration Photo- (I was inspired by the blue door of this wonderful inspiration photo and used that idea for the blue Touch Down panel on my card.  The door also is perhaps where my idea to make a gate-fold card came from!  The vines inspired my autumn leaves.)