Ridin’ By In My Big Green Tractor

I couldn’t resist making one more card for the current Lawn Fawn Challenge #193. The theme required inspiration from a book, movie, or song, and I kept coming back to Jason Aldean’s Big Green Tractor song and Lawn Fawn’s Hay There, Hayrides tractor stamp.This card was meant to be! Along with last week’s card for the same challenge, music was the theme winner for me!

I was also inspired by three other challenges, so today’s card is a compilation of all four including Freshly Made Sketches #679, Addicted to CAS & Color Hues #106.

Making a big green tractor…

I began by stamping and die cutting the tractor from Hay There, Hayrides and then colored it with Ohuhu Alcohol Markers. The greens I used were GY1, GY2 and G390. I used shades of green-gray to color the tires, choosing GG020, GG040, GG060 and GG110.

Next, I stamped the farmer mouse from the Add-On Mice set that coordinates with the tractor set. I colored him with the same green-grays as above and positioned him into the big green tractor. He looks so cute drivin’ across the corn field!

Let’s make it corny…

In addition to the previous images, I stamped some corn stalks with an olive green ink and die cut them. Setting all of these pieces aside, I went to work on the background.

Keeping the sketch challenge in mind, and knowing I could only use yellow & green (plus neutrals) for the color challenge, I quickly chose a white card base. I didn’t like the stark white, so I splattered some black and metallic gold paint onto it.

Continuing on, I cut a piece of black card stock to measure 2” x 5 1/2” and then notched the bottom to make a banner.

Creating a little background…

I wanted to add a circle behind the big green tractor, so I chose a stitched circle die that measures 2 7/8” and cut it from a piece of yellow Watercolor Rainbow Wishes and then again from the green. I cut the bottom section of the green circle with a Stitched Hillside Border die, and then adhered it to the bottom of the yellow circle. These pieces created the backdrop of sky & grass for my little scene with the tractor.

Adding a little curve…

Next, the card needed a sentiment. To ensure a perfect fit, I used the circle as a guide, placing it over the black banner and curving the sentiment stamp along its upper arch. After inking the stamp with VersaMark ink, I sprinkled white embossing powder over the stamped image and heat-set it with my embossing tool. These steps were repeated for the sentiment at the lower arch, as well.

Putting it all together…

All of the pieces were finally ready for the assembly process. The first step was to glue the black banner to the white card base. I then glued the circle to the black banner, positioning it between the curved sentiments. Finally I added the big green tractor to the circle, popping it up with foam dots. The corn stalks were tucked here and there around the scene and glued into place.

Don’t forget the little details!

It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten the little puffs of smoke for the exhaust pipe on the tractor! I quickly stamped and die cut the puffs. After adding them to the scene, I sat back and smiled. My work was complete 🙂

I truly had fun making this card and making sure it met all of the challenge requirements. I’m pretty sure this is a new record for me- four challenges in one card! Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time,

~Krista