It’s been a week already! Welcome back for another Tic Tac Toe Challenge! We were just floored by all the submissions from our inaugural challenge – be sure to check out the Picks here. As promised, I have another How to Wow video – this time featuring the distressed metal used in my design.

This week’s Featured designer is Corinne Blake (thecreativecompendium.com) and, no matter what three elements you choose, you can’t go wrong! When the Design Teams were setting up their boards and doing up our first projects, we all wondered if we could do all nine elements. Would it look too cluttered? Would something just not go together? Well, surprise, surprise! It CAN be done! And I did it!

It was a total accident. I started off with Masculine, Birthday, Hexagon. But then, realized that the hexagon was embossing and I used the diecut from Swirly Scribbles – that was also yellow. The background is wood, there’s a gray banner, and of course, some Enamel Glitter Dots embellishments (the best way to sneak in some glitter for a masculine card!). And, POOF! I was at all 9 elements!

Let’s take a minute to focus on the “wow” element – that hexagon piece that looks like distressed sheet metal. As are many “wow” techniques, this one is pretty simple. Simple enough I can show it to you in less than 3 minutes! Take a look:

You’re probably thinking that it can’t get much easier – there must be a catch? Nope! No catch. Just some sandpaper on your foil sheets. It even works great without the embossing folder! The key is to take your time. Let the ink dry, and sand gently and sparingly. You can always take more off, but it’s really hard to put back on!

Here’s a few other tips about this card

• The Basic Gray bars are stamped off. I didn’t want solid – but more distressed. So, don’t fret if the whole image doesn’t stamp.
• I wanted a bold swirly element – instead of the typical thread or twine, so I went for the Swirly Scribble. BUT, I didn’t want all the leaves. So, I simply snipped off the ones that I didn’t want!
• Always heat-set your craft ink! Stamp, then heat set, THEN punch!
• The Happy and Birthday are just freehanded. They’re not supposed to be perfect rectangles. That adds to the rustic look!

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Get your Distress on!

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