Good morning, Sharon here with a masculine card. I am using Arches and Steeples Stamp set. When I first looked at these stamps I was at a loss of how to use them but as I gathered supplies my creative juices started flowing.

It amazes me how products can be used in many way. This card only uses 2 stamp sets, 2 inks, and a stencil (oh and cardstock of course!).

I started my design with Spotlight Trio Stencil, I wanted to use the circles as masks rather than stencil but I also wanted them evenly spaced and centered in the middle of my cardstock. to achieve this, I first taped the main stencil to some Bristol Smooth Cardstock.

To help I did trim my card down to 3.25 x 8.25 before I moved on to the next stage. I used a small amount of Pixie Spray on the stencil circles to temporarily fix them in place.

I then used Pumice Stone Distress Oxide and a stencil brush to color the cardstock. When I removed the circles I had frames to stamp in to.

The stamped images needed to look as though they were peeking through the ‘windows’ I had created with the stencil. So I placed the main stencil back in place and stamped over this into the circles using Flat White Ink. When I removed the stencil I had the desired effect.

I wanted to place a sentiment on the card but none of the one’s with the Arches and Steeple collection were what I was looking for. Never Stop Looking Up fit perfectly as I had used all roof top/ steeple stamps. This belongs to the Into The Unknown Stamp set.

I stamped this onto Bristol Smooth with Flat White Ink and ink blended with the Pumice Stone Oxide so make it the same color as my topper.

Now to build my card, I used a Slimline perfect fold Card base and some brown cardstock. As I had cut my image card so it was 1/4in smaller than my base I cut the brown mat so it was 2/8in smaller than my base. I do like to have a mat showing but only small strip. I also matted my sentiment with the same brown cardstock. The topper adhered flat to my base and I used foam tape to pop my sentiment up.

You can see from the photo below how the stamped images look as though they are behind the ‘windows’.

Thank you for taking time to read my post, if you are inspired by my card please share your creations on the Maker Forte Facebook group so we can see.