Operation Write Home Sketch #189

Well, I feel as if I've rejoined the human race.  The past couple of days have been spent sleeping my way through a really nasty end of summer cold.  I'm happy to say I think the worst is over!!

I even made my way down to my "studio" in the basement.  Mind you, the basement is finished and I love it.  We've had some really awesome parties with huge amounts of guests and always hear how much people would love to have a space like that.  (It was a big selling point when we bought the house.)  I have to admit though that it isn't my dream craft room.  There are visions in my head that will be made reality one of these days and that will be my dream craft room....one with 4 walls and windows.  Oh, such luxuries.  In the meantime, I have an efficient space with lots of tables and it's quite adequate for me.

While I was down there, I managed to complete my other 3 projects for challenges at Stamp 'n' Doodle.  Those will be posted at the same times as the actual challenges go live so you'll have to wait on those.  I decided to go with making 3 A2 sized cards for my remaining challenges so I could also use those in my shipment to

Operation Write Home this month.

I also cranked out 5 more cards for OWH.  Can you tell I was having crafting withdrawals?  I used OWH's Sketch #189 for a couple of them.  On all 5 of these cards, I did the chalkboard technique that I just absolutely adore.  They have a very decidedly masculine feel to them because that's a style that I've read has been kind of lacking in OWH's inventory.  The sentiment I used is from Stamper's Best and I think it's pretty fantastic!

To achieve the chalkboard look is fairly simple;
it just takes a few steps.  (I wish I could give credit to the "YouTuber" who posted the tutorial I watched but I can't remember.  So sorry to that person!) 
1. Emboss your sentiment and any border you would like around it using white embossing powder.  I try to make sure I use my Embossing Buddy but because this is so forgiving it's okay on the times I forget....and there are always times I forget.
2. After the embossing has cooled, do a drop shadow with white ink.  I use Tsukineko Brilliance but I think any white ink would work.
3. The white ink is also used to give the appearance of old erased chalk on the black card stock.  I use a paper towel that I've wrapped around my index finger to daub on to ink pad lightly and rub over the sentiment and border.  You may want to practice a bit on some scrap black cardstock to ensure you're using a good amount of ink and not so much that your drop shadow is going to be lost.
4. Draw lines, squiggles, etc with a white gel pen if you'd like.  A great way to get ideas for that is to do a Google search on chalkboard art.  I believe a white pencil also works for this step as well.
And that's it.

Here's the group of 5 I did:

And here is the one that I'll be posting over at the

OWH Sketch #189 challenge.

Like always, I appreciate your visit and would love to read your comments.  Have a fantastic week!!

You can also find this card here:

Crafting When We Can -- Repeated Image
Creative Inspirations -- Inspired by autumn colors
Great Impressions -- Fall colors
Penny Black Challenges -- September challenge