Anywho, I wanted to share a masculine birthday card with you all today. Masculine cards are hard for me (like, stare-blankly-at-my-workbench hard) and I know I'm not alone. Dudes are tough. I once had a friend tell me, "We just want something simple with a clearly stated message." They don't appreciate any of the things we ladies have come to embrace in card making. No glitter, or ribbon, or rhinestones, or flowers...what gives?! Full disclosure: I've totally put at least three of those four things on a card for a fella, but usually it's my husband and he's man enough for a little sparkle now and again. There are other men in my life that I would never even consider giving a card with a rhinestone attached. Know your audience.
So I've come up with a few go-to embellishments and images for myself on manly cards. Typically they involve materials derived from nature (cork, jute/hemp, metal, wood). Sports aren't bad either (at least for the men I give cards; again, know your audience). Today's card incorporates cork.
I wanted to use the bamboo as my main image, but it wasn't quite tall enough for my layout until I tweaked it a little. First, I stamped the bamboo and sentiment and attached my cork frame. Then I laid my framed piece on my card front so I could see where I wanted to stamp the bamboo so that they would line up. The bamboo is a pretty linear image, so you can continue the visual line relatively easily, but it's not straight up-and-down so you can't just stamp directly below it or the angles won't work. You have to finesse it a little bit. In order to do that I took my uninked stamp not on a block and laid it over the framed piece. Then I took a gridline block, aligned it to the edges of my cardstock without moving the stamp, and then pressed down to attach the stamp to the block (I really hope this is all making sense). I was then able to ink my stamp and use the gridlines on the block to stamp the image exactly where I wanted it.
Afterward, I stamped a subtle background and texturized the card front with an impression plate. I sponged the edges a smidgen and added some stitching to the cork frame before attaching it to the card with foam tape.
Alrighty, well that's all for me today. Have a beautiful weekend and I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. Take care!
Recipe:
Cardstock: Simply Chartreuse - Papertrey Ink; white
Stamps: Peaceful Garden, Background Basics: Retro - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink; VersaMark - Tsukineko
Other: Mat Stack #1 Die, Fillable Frames #7 Die, Linen & Canvas Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Cork Sheet - Darice; Dark Brown Perle Cotton - DMC; Foam Tape - Scotch; sponge; needle
1 comment:
Love the quote from the friend:-)
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