'You Anchor me' !

Hello friends,
Today I have a Nautical masculine card to share with you all. It's so not my usual style and my first real attempt at a Masculine card.So without further ado, here's a look at what I have made! :)
                                                                     

 And  an another view :

To create the base of my card I have used a Woodgrain embossing folder. I cut the paper into long strips measuring 3/4 of an inch by 3 inch and embossed it in the embossing folder, then I distressed it using Vintage Photo and Scattered Straw Distress inks and tried to create the wooden plank kind of effect we see on water fronts! I have created the Sailor's knot on the either side of the sentiment banner and added a die-cut 'You' and stamped my sentiment using Lawn Fawn Harol'ds ABC stamp set.

Incidentally the sentiment banner is made from the smallest of the Timeless Tags 2 from Wplus9. I used the partial die cutting technique to create a long base for it so that it could be held by the sailor's knot on the two sides. So love using my dies in a creative way :) The life- buoy ring I have made using two circle dies and distressed it with Peacock Feather's Distress ink. The anchor in the centre is a wooden MDF piece which I have heat embossed using Ranger Super Fine Silver Embossing powder on a MDF base and the four golden brads that you see on the corners are actually plain flat-backed pearls which I first coated in Versamark Ink pad, then completely covered it with Gold UTEE(Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and heat-set it and voila! you have a gorgeous golden brad-like embellishments and nobody will know the difference! *Winks* 

Here's a quick tutorial on how I created these Faux brads :

Hope you find this tip useful and that's about all the information regarding my card ! If you have been with me till now thank you so much for your patience :) I really wanted to share all the tips and tricks which went into making this card as I really had a lot of fun creating it !

Supplies used :

Card base: Fabriano white cardstock, Fabriano Watercolor paper.

Dies : Ironwork Motifs Circle dies, Timeless Tags 2 from Wplus9, Simon says stamp 'You' die.

Embossing folder : Woodgrain Embossing folder from Darice.

Distress inks : Vintage photo, Scattered straw, Peacock feathers.

Versamark Dazzle Embossing ink pad and Versafine Onyx Black ink pad.

Stamp - Lawn Fawn Harold's ABC stamp set.

Embossing Powder : Ranger Superfine Silver Embossing powder, Gold UTEE.

Twine, Brads, Pearls and Studio Calico Stars Wood veneers.

Challenges entered :

BGC #56 : Nautical

Allsorts challenge blog :All Sentimental

Brown Sugar challenge : Use a Banner ( Made it to Top 3! )

Little Red Wagon : :Embossing

Hope you all like my card please do leave me your comment's /suggestion would love to hear from you :)

Have a nice day everyone !