Distressed Leopard Card - Journey on the Wild Side with Wild Cats

This will be my last journey on the wild side card for now.  Like my zebra card (here), my giraffe card (here), my tiger card (here), and my two leopard cards (here) I'm using the same sketch, but this time I've added a little twist to the finished card.  On this card I'm again featuring a leopard, however, I've added a distressed texture to the card.  Therefore, this card exudes a shabby chic persona.  This was a first for me and the distressing of the card is an interesting technique even if I didn't take it to the extremes that I've seen on other cards.  The color palette I selected for this card is more subdued than my previous two leopard cards and I think this puts more focus on the leopard and the shabby chic appearance of the card.

Before I get into my card I want to share some pictures with you.  This weekend we took a drive along the river in our town to see what we could see.  On one side of the road the river runs and on the other side we pass a variety of landscape from rocky terrain to snow covered cornfields.  Most of this winter we have seen flocks of Canadian geese meandering through the cornfields and across the road to the river.  On this trip we had a double take at one of the cornfields.  Look closely along the tree line on the edge of the cornfield in the following picture.

There are wild turkeys in them there trees!  I counted over 30 turkeys.  We are accustomed to seeing 3 to 6 turkeys in a group, but not a flock this big.  Here are a few other pictures that I took while they sauntered along the trees and part way into the cornfield.

 

The turkeys slowly made their way along the field and were heading away when we left the area.  What a sight they were.

The Making of My "Distressed Leopard" Card

Card Statistics

• Final Card Size: 5.5" tall x 4.25" wide
• Tools: Martha Stewart scoring board, Making Memories paper cutter, blending stumps, ruler, sponge pieces, emery board, Cowtown Stamps leopard stamp
• Materials: cardstock, animal print paper, cover stock, adhesive, gamsol, Stazon ink, Colorbox inks, Prismacolor pencils
• You can purchase this card in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Distressed Leopard Card

Card Front

This is my "distressed" leopard card.  I've created the card base from deep beige cardstock and layered it with a leopard print paper and black cardstock.  To give the card its shabby chic appearance I distressed the edges of the leopard print and then sponged it with black ink.

For the image panel I stamped the leopard on white cardstock with black ink.  Using gamsol and colored pencils I colored the leopard in tones that play off of the leopard paper.  I sponged a combination of colors around the leopard reflecting the color scheme of the card.  I matted the image on deep beige and black cardstocks and then distressed the edges of the image.  After distressing, I lightly sponged black ink along the edges.  I popped the image panel from the surface of the card to give it some dimension.


Angle Views of Card Front to Show Dimension

 

In the pictures above you can see the popped image panel and the color variations in the leopard.


Card Inside

 

As with my other wild side cards, I kept the inside simple by matting white cardstock with black cardstock and adding a decorative strip of the leopard print.

I also constructed a coordinating envelope from heavy cover stock and added a decorative strip of the leopard print down the left side.

Final Card and Envelope Combo 

 

Like my other leopard cards, this card has its own personality and I think the distressing added some interest to the card.

You can purchase this card in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Distressed Leopard Card

Card Recipe Specifics

• Cardstock: Wausau, The Paper Company, Embassy
• Animal Print Paper: Paper Pizazz
• Cover Stock: Staples
• Leopard Stamp: Cowtown Stamps
• Inks: Stazon black, Colorbox petal points
• Prismacolor Pencils: light umber, warm gray 50%, dark umber, warm gray 90%, yellow ochre, white, cream
• Tools: Martha Stewart scoring board, Making Memories paper cutter, blending stumps, sponge pieces, ruler, emery board
• Misc: gamsol, adhesive, silicone 

 

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