Sailing-themed masculine cards

I know it's not exactly sailing season right now, at least not around here, but it's always a good time for masculine card ideas, right?

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Seas the Day (Taylored Expressions)
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Bordering Blue, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (smooth and textured), Whisper White card stock; Wood Textures Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Know the Ropes embossing folder (Taylored Expressions); Sitting Pretty, Sitting Pretty Nautical Accessories, Helm, Life Preserver dies (Taylored Expressions); linen thread; Vintage brads

These weren't necessarily the fastest cards to make, but they definitely were easy. I planned ahead of time to make several cards, so I used two colors for card bases -- Cherry Cobbler and long-retired Bordering Blue (still one of my favorite neutrals) -- and layered each card base with a panel embossed with a rope texture. Then I cut a 6" x 6" piece of Wood Textures DSP into four pieces, and adhered one piece to each card base.

To build the focal layer, I cut the shelf out of textured Soft Suede card stock four times and glued one shelf to each Wood Textures DSP panel. For the rest of the little shapes, I die cut them out of all the card stock colors (Cherry Cobbler, Bordering Blue, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Whisper White) and collected them all in a little plastic container. Then I just dug through the container to choose the pieces I wanted to use on each card.

I wanted a little more texture, on the card so I wrapped a bit of linen thread into a loop and secured it with a knot. Then I attached it to the card front with a brad placed under the shelf, so it looks like rope hanging on a peg. Note: If you don't want the brad prongs to show on the inside of the card, you can do this step before you adhere the embossed panel onto the card base. Just be sure to add the Wood Textures DSP background square first.

After finishing the card fronts, I had quite a few pieces left over. So inside the cards I added a white panel, stamped a sentiment, and glued on a few extra die-cut shapes.

I stamped birthday sentiments inside all the cards, but you could easily use a variety of sentiments -- or omit them altogether -- and give these cards as a great set of masculine cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Usually on Thanksgiving, we head to one of our cousin's houses to have a big meal with all the extended family and lots of children running around. This year my immediate family is having a quiet dinner at our house, and we may visit with the extended family for dessert later in the day. I'm sure tonight and tomorrow morning we'll be busy cleaning and cooking, so I decided to share my Thanksgiving post a day early so I don't forget it completely.

I don't send out too many cards for Thanksgiving because I'm usually already swamped with Christmas projects, but I did make a few this year. I used the fall-themed cards I shared in previous posts ("Happy fall!" and "Fall is coming") for most of them (although it seems like we're about a month into winter already), but I do have one more card to share:

Supplies:
Stamps: Thankful Harvest (Impression Obsession), Thankful (Raisin Boat)
Paper: Very Vanilla card stock (Stampin' Up!), mustard and brown card stock (unknown)
Ink: Chocolate Chip for the wreath and leaves (Stampin' Up!), various shades of brown and yellow for sentiment (unknown)
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Framelits dies, gold baker's twine, burlap ribbon, Hello Honey striped ribbon, Dimensionals (all Stampin' Up!); mini pearls (Doodlebug Designs Inc)

I apologize that my supply list isn't very specific for some items. This card started as a make-and-take project from one of the stamp shows I went to over the summer. Specifically, the cream base, brown layer and yellow strip stamped with the sentiment were from the original project. There was a focal image on the card, too, but when I got home I decided I wasn't crazy about it. So I very carefully pulled it off the card and thought about how else I could use the base and background.

First I stamped some leaves on the brown card stock using Chocolate Chip ink to add some visual interest. Then I stamped a twig wreath on Very Vanilla card stock and die cut it with a stitched circle die. I added a bow with baker's twine and yellow pearl "berries". To add a little more texture I added a piece of burlap trim and a piece of striped ribbon behind the wreath before attaching it to the card base with Dimensionals. I really liked how this altered card turned out.

Whether or not you are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wish you a day filled with peace, happiness and blessings. Thanks for stopping by!

His and hers birthday

I still have a backlog of birthday cards to share, so here are two cards featuring die-cut focal images -- one masculine and one feminine.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Birthday Backgrounds, coasters kit (Hero Arts)
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip card stock; gold foil paper
Ink: Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Framelits, Hipster Icon dies (Hero Arts), metallic washi tape (Handmade Modern), Dimensionals

I kept this card fairly simple, since guys don't usually want anything too frou-frou. For the focal image, I adhered the die cuts to a stitched oval and added the sentiment on a banner at the bottom of the oval. The whole piece is attached to the card base with Dimensionals.

I stamped streamers using Real Red ink on the Real Red card base to create a subtle but festive tone-on-tone background. And I added a little shine with a gold beer mug and a strip of gold washi tape along the bottom of the card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Powder Pink card stock; scrapbook pocket cards (Close to My Heart)
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Teacup Stack die (Poppy Stamps), crochet trim, corner rounder, pearls, delicate white doilies, Dimensionals

This shabby chic card is definitely on the frou-frou side. For the background I used a card made for pocket-style scrapbooking. I love the soft pink flowers on the blue background. I rounded the corners of the card and sponged the edges to create an aged look.

For the focal layer, I used a second scrapbooking card -- one with a light background and very subtle pattern. I cut it into a wide strip and sponged the edges. I added the die-cut teacups, a stamped sentiment and a bit of crochet trim to the strip and then adhered it to the card base with Dimensionals. A white paper doily and a few pearls finish off this feminine card.



Thanks for stopping by!

Inspirational birthday card

As soon as I saw the All Good Things stamp set from Stampin' Up! I knew it was one I was going to buy. The one thing I wasn't sure about was the fact that two of the images (the bonsai tree and the large koi) were connected to sentiments. Of course, you could always ink part of the stamp to use just the image or just the sentiment, but that can be a little fussy to do sometimes. So when I was ready to order the set, I bought the clear-mount version and did a little "surgery."

Using a craft knife, I very carefully sliced apart the stamps. Just pull the blade; don't saw. It doesn't have to be a perfectly straight cut; in fact, it helps if it's a little imperfect. Then if you do want to use the two parts together, you can just join them up like puzzle pieces before attaching them to a clear block. So now I have all the images separate from the sentiments, so it's much easier to make a card like this:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: All Good Things, Inside & Out: Birthday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Thick Whisper White card stock
Ink: Mango Melody, Smoky Slate, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stardust Gelly Roll pen (Sakura)
Accessories: Blue sequins (Craft Medley), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)

I love how this card turned out! I started by stamping the large orange koi near the upper right corner. I added the sentiment below and then filled in the rest of the card front with more koi, making sure to change the orientation of the images so it looks like a pond full of swimming koi.

Speaking of pond, I wanted to add some blue to create the impression of water. I could have watered down some blue ink and done a light wash of color in a few of the more open white spaces. But I also wanted to add a little embellishment to this single-layer card, so instead I added a few sparkling blue sequins.

I decided the card needed a little more sparkle, so I used a Stardust Gelly Roll pen to draw a glittery highlight along each koi's tail and fins. It's subtle (and hard to see in this photo) but really pretty when it catches the light.

I think the sentiment on the front of this card could be fitting for several different occasions, such as a graduation or congrats on a new job. I planned to make this into a birthday card because I am perpetually in need of more birthday cards. I didn't want to just stamp "Happy birthday" on the inside, though, because I wanted the sentiment to link back to the words on the front of the card.

So I dug through various birthday and greeting stamp sets and tried a few options -- I even asked a friend to vote for her favorite. I finally decided on this one: "Each birthday is a new beginning full of promise and opportunity and the chance to make dreams come true." I think it works really well with the sentiment on the front to create a birthday card that's a little more inspirational than a  traditional birthday card.

I decided to add a little color inside the card, so I stamped one of the small koi images with Mango Melody ink. I love how the shape of the koi makes it look like it's swimming around the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bold birthday balloons

I had hoped that when October was done I would be able to get back on a more regular blogging schedule of posting at least twice per week. But then at the last minute I decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. That amounts to 1,667 words per day. So now the computer time I would have spent working on my blog is spent trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to write next in my "novel." (I use that word very lightly, and I'm honestly not sure how long I'll stick with it.)

But I'm squeezing in a quick blog post tonight. So without further ado, the parade of birthday cards continues.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Whole Lotta' Happy (WPlus9 Design Studio)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party card stock; alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: Craft Whisper White; Wild Plum, Aqua, Lettuce alcohol ink (Ranger); white gel pen
Accessories: White embossing powder, Balloons dies (Simon Says Stamp), Sitting Pretty Nautical Accessories (Taylored Expressions), glitter enamel dots, clear Wink of Steall glitter brush pen, white crochet thread (DMC), "Happy" die-cut sticker (Paper Pumpkin leftovers), Dimensionals
Other: Gel plate (Gel Press), hand sanitizer, spritzer with rubbing alcohol

This card started with an alcohol ink background I made using a gel plate. I wasn't crazy about the whole background, so I decided to use it for die cuts instead. I used a set of balloon dies to cut out three balloons, and I tied a bow of white crochet thread around the end of the largest balloon.

For the background I chose three card stock colors that coordinated with the alcohol ink -- Berry Burst, Pool Party and Lemon Lime Twist -- and cut several strips that were 4" long and of varying widths. I arranged four of the strips at the top of a white card base and one strip along the bottom. I left the middle part white and added a die-cut Pool Party "happy" sticker. To finish the sentiment, I used white embossing powder to emboss "birthday." I added the three balloons to the top part of the card and embellished with a few glitter enamel dots and two die-cut arrows.

Thanks for stopping by!