Masculine Birthday

The challenge over at The Male Room is to make a project with an embellishment.  Considering that most embellishments are girly, it took a bit of thinking.

I started with a piece of heavy mirror paper, and embossed it with a Sizzix diamond plate folder.  I used very old Scraps of Time Walnut Ink Crystals semi dissolved in alcohol blending solution.  Even though I wore gloves, I am shocked and surprised) that my hands are NOT stained with the ink!!  I am a bit of a sloppy creator :).  I attached the sentiment with brads (my embellishments). 

Love is in the Air....

This post got lost in cyber space - my apologies! 

February and Valentine's day are close at hand, and love cards are everywhere!  I am not a girly girl, hearts and flowers just don't excite me.  Operation Write home is always in need of love cards and masculine cards, and I think this one meets both needs!

The kraft and black papers are from my paper stash.  I stamped the key background with a 1.5" interlocking stamp from the Lovebirds set from SEI.  The hemp cord is from my beading stash (remember - I am a serial crafter!), and the sentiment is from Cloud 9.

Groundhog Day is coming, and so is the February Words 2 Scrap By challenge!  Come play with us!!

I linked this card to:
The Card Concept: Challenge #27 LOVE.   The style is clean and layered.
House of Cards February Challenge:  Love
AAA Cards: Game 32 Love Love Love

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #22 - Have a nice Trip

I stumbled on a new (to me) challenge blog - Craft Hoarders Anonymous.  Since so many people travel for the holidays, their challenge is to celebrate adventures with a travel-themed project.

Operation Write Home always needs masculine cards, so I thought I would make a few of these.  There are still a few days left to play the Words 2 Scrap By December Challenge - Eat, Drink, and Be Merry.  Join the party!  Sentiment from All Night Media, Spellbinder and Sizzix dies, striped background, twine, and other supplies from my wonderful Marti stash. 

Shopping Our Stash #138 - Oh, Shiny!!

This week's challenge over at Shopping Our Stash is Oh, Shiny!

A year or so ago, I bought a ton of this shiny card stock for next to nothing.   I love how it looks when embossed with a diamond plate folder.  Makes a nice masculine card.  Operation Write Home is always in need of masculine cards, so I made a bunch of these:

It is such a challenge to photograph reflective surfaces!!!  Old All Night Media sentiment.  Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Be sure to check out the Words2ScrapBy.blogspot.com February challenge  - the Olympics!!!

OWH Mid Week Throw Down - Masculine Birthday

This week's challenge is to make a masculine birthday card.

Here is mine:

The Paper Studio Glasses, Staches, and Ties paper, textured with a Fiskars crocodile plate, grey rawhide and layering cardstock from stash. 

Masculine Thank You Card

Operation Write Home is always looking for Thank You cards.

I saw this one on Pinterest, and I loved it.    It was uploaded directly to Pinterest, so I can't link directly to the inspiration, just to the board.

Love how it turned out.  Will be a great one for making multiples!

I dusted off my Creative Memories circle cutting templates, and cut the circles in dark maroon and black.  I layered the circles around the sentiment from Fiskars, and layered that on mirrored paper embossed with a Sizzix folder.  Brads from stash. 

OWH Mid-Week Throwdown - Masculine Cards

Operation Write Home is always in need of masculine cards.  Since I am not a girly girl, these are a little easier for me than some of their other challenges.

When I make cards, I often make more than one of a particular style.  I see the cards improving with each version.

So, here is the evolution of a masculine card.  Inside of all of the cards is the sentiment, "Thought you could use a little pickup".

I started with this one:

OK, but I think the truck is a little too big.  The black background paper was dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and lightly distressed, and accented with the larger silver brads. 

Round 2:

Still not loving it.  Like having more of the background showing, but still not right.  Maybe a different background paper?  More embellishments?


Round 3:

Better, but the ribbon blended in too much.  Don't like the smaller brads, either.

Round 4:

Oh, yes, this is MUCH better!!  Love how the brown and blue ribbon complements the background paper.  But I wonder if it would look better with a blue background?


Round 5:

I like this one, too!


Striped paper from Cloud 9, blue solid ribbon is SU, brown and blue ribbon from Adornments.  Stamp is SU Loads of Love.