Mr Cardmaker is Making the Most of Hibernation Weather

I don't know about you, but wintertime means indoors and hibernation as much as possible.
Max the Beagle keeps that from being true at my house, being privy to TWO two-mile walks a day. You definitely learn what 11 degrees Fahrenheit  feels like when you have an active dog. Oh, AND he gets up early, so no sleeping in, either. Good thing I love that good, good dog.

Outside or in, I have always been a HUGE house nerd. I love architecture and interiors, classical and modern. Give me a house, I'll tell you how I want to improve it, paint it, Christmas it up, whatever.
It made TOTAL sense to get my hands on Papertrey Ink's Boards & Beams stamps and dies. They came with my big box of Christmas goodies.

I was actually sort of slow to play with them--I don't know if it was a "sacred cow" syndrome or what. But, I did bust them out, diecut, stamped, and water colored a farmhouse and two town houses .  And then, they sat. And sat. Finally, after lots of staring at them, I came up with some cards.

I made this--

I think the painting turned out rather well on this guy, if I say so myself. LOVE my Distress Inks!

I borrowed a small stamp from a favorite Stamendous set to do that little grass/sidewalk-looking strip.
I love the chunky font of the hello die from Lawn Fawn. I did three layers, and did the top one from cardstock that was clear embossed. Hard to see the shine here, but it looks pretty good.
The house is also three diecuts, layered together, and the tree is on foam adhesive.

When I first stamped the fence and trees on the yellow card stock, I had to laugh at myself, because it looked like I stamped on a post-it!  My scallop punch gave it a more upscale look.

I thought it was done at this point, but I can't leave well enough alone, and I thought the card base was too plain.  I decided to add some stitch lines around the card with a white gel pen.

It looks like this now--

Better? Not better? I just don't know.  I need either a more steady hand or a better pen, I think, but it IS a handmade card, after all, so I don't worry about such things.

Then I made this--

I actually did a mix of stamps here. The background cityscape is from Jillibean Soup, called You Move Me, and the sentiment is from Stampendous. Everything else is from PTI Boards & Beams.

Another view--

Layers of the house diecut, glued together, pops the houses off the card front.
I think those tiny trees are so cute...

So, I am off and running with this set, and I'm happy with my start. More to come, I'm sure!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard