Masculine card with rusty squares

Hello crafty friends and happy New Year!!! We finished a weird year and I hope that you and your loved ones are all in good health. 

It's January 1, and we have a new challenge at the Country View Challenges. The theme is, Use one or more squares and the lovely Corrie chose that who will be your hostess this month.

For this challenge, I created a masculine card with rusty squares.

For making the rusty squares, I cut out squares from 300gsm watercolour paper but the mixed media paper is good too. Then I put a layer of DecoArt Snow-Tex onto them but the Grit-Paste is perfect too. When it was dry, I painted the squares with Burnt Sienna, then I added Burnt Umber here and there with a sponge.  In the end, I spattered with Indian Turquoise which was spritzed with water.

The background was painted with Indian Turquoise first, then I toned back with lighter turquoise and white paints.

I also stencilled tiny squares with Stampers Anonymous Linen stencil by Tim Holtz, then I spattered with white paint and with diluted brown paint.

The letters was cut out with Sizzix Thinlits die, Alphanumeric Classic Lower (664224) by Tim Holtz. I painted them with DecoArt Blue Chiffon first, then I tapped Williamsburg Blue and Uniform Blue. All the edges (letters, background paper) were inked with Ranger Distress Archival inks (Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso).

I also put two Idea-Ology Hex Fasteners into two corners.

If you have a project with squares, please don't hesitate to join our November challenge where a randomly selected winner can have a £20 voucher to spend at the Country View Crafts online shop.