Taylor's Cupcake Challenge and Tim Holtz Mask

This card was made using the sketch for Friday's Taylor's Cupcake Challenge. I needed to make a card using the Tim Holtz Flourish mask, so I used it to make the background for this card.

I thought I was being really clever when I pulled the mask off its original sheet, which is the mask material adhered to a transparency. There was a lot of unused area around the flourish, so I decided to try cutting my own mask in that space. I ran four different Spellbinder's dies through my Wizard three separate times and it still didn't cut through completely. I used a craft knife to finish off the cuts, which didn't work too well on one of the shapes and I ended up throwing it away.

I used the three remaining 'masks' to make my three elements on the left side of the card instead of the squares that were called for in the sketch. As you can see by the top flourish, the adhesive on my 'homemade' masks wasn't nearly as strong as it was on the real mask on the right side, so some of my ink ended up under the mask. Oh well, live and learn. I hate wasting things, but in this case, it just wasn't usable. I threw the makeshift masks away as soon as I finished this card!

The real mask, on the other hand, works great and was fun to use. I sponged two different shades of Distress inks over the masks to give that vintage look. The Santa postage stamp image was also stamped with Distress Ink and cut out with my postage stamp decoritive edged scisors. The edges of all the layers were sponged with Distress Inks. I topped the card off with that fun reindeer ribbon - I don't know who makes it, but I love it and only have two reindeer left!

Hope you've had a great weekend. I managed to make six cards, which is a lot for me, so it's been a good one for me! Thanks for looking.

Card Details:
Card stock: Papertrey Ink Kraft
Patterned paper: The Paper Studio - holly; red check - unknown
Stamp: The Paper Source
Ink: Ranger Distress - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo
Misc.: ribbon, decorative edge scissors, Tim Holtz Flourish Mask