Going Gray

Stamp sets used: Blockheads - Vintage Railway, Blockheads - Stargazer, Tim Holtz - Remnants 

A while back a friend of mine asked me to design a card for her to give to another friend. She gave me some parameters in terms of design, then mentioned that she wanted it to be done in gray. This last she followed with, "I'm sorry." The apology was unnecessary - I was thrilled! Gray is such a sadly under-utilized color. People see gray as being too funereal, or even worse, boring.

I say gray can be elegant and interesting.

I often hear complaints from other crafters that they find it very difficult to design masculine cards. Well, guess what? Gray can help you with that because gray is completely neutral.

Stamp set used: Artistic Outpost - The Old Grist Mill

You can even add flowers, as I did above, and it's still not too girly to give to a guy. While we're on that subject... really, you don't give guys enough credit. I know several very manly men who truly enjoy receiving cards that have flowers on them. Just because they're not girls doesn't mean they can't appreciate natural beauty!

To make the main image pop a little in the card above, I colored in the roof line and the three main trees with a white pen.

Stamp Sets Used: Blockheads - Victorian Invention, Tim Holtz - Remnants, Artistic Outpost - The Old Grist Mill

For the background on the main image above, I wanted something that looked a little watery and shimmery. So, I used a mix of Slate and Silver Mixative Alcohol Ink. The ribbon is plain white ribbon that I dragged through my gray ink pad.

 Give it a try... you'll see... going gray isn't as bad as you think!