Another Masculine Card

Recently Hayden's class had a unit on Ball Room Dancing.  They had lessons over several weeks, culminating in a 'Red Hot Ballroom Dancing' competition, which they all loved.  They took it really seriously too, with all the kids dressing up for it - meaning, for the boys - shirt and tie (for the lessons and the competition). Hayden does have a tie of his own, but when one of his teachers produced a box of ties for the kids to borrow he decided he would do that instead.  Which was great for me - it gave me the perfect opportunity to make one of these men's tie cards :

I had seen a tutorial a while back, and had filed some notes away in a folder.  Unfortunately I failed to note where I saw it, so if you know please remind me so I can give credit where it is due.  

I had intended to have a more, well, 'sophisticated' tie on the front of this card, but then I saw the 'Good Morning Sunshine' papers and it reminded me that the ties in the borrow box did tend towards more of a 'retro' feel.  I teamed the tie up with some saffron, pacific point and chocolate chip card.  It is a little hard to see in the photo, but the tie and 'collar' really pop up off the card.  I think it will work really well as a thank you to Mr D from Hayden.

Lots of Candles Masculine Birthday Card

Some days I don't feel much like crafting.  Some days I don't feel much like blogging.  And then there are entire weeks when I don't feel much like doing either.  Obviously this has been one of those weeks!  Thankfully there are lots of challenges out there to help me get back into it, and inspire this manly birthday card I made this afternoon:

The colours came from the latest Stamping 411 Colour Inspiration - old olive, not quite navy, close to cocoa and more mustard.  The design was inspired by the latest Mojo Monday sketch, although as you can probably tell, I did manage to put my own spin on it again.  These things have a tendancy to evolve a bit in the making!  

 Never mind, still got me back into the crafting and blogging - at least for today anyway!

Stamps used for this card:  'Sanded' background, 'Big Bold Birthday' (candle) and the SAB set - 'Whimsical Words'

The 'Back and Forth' Book

One of the treasures I had stashed away in the box of bargains was a simple exercise book (or composition book, if you prefer!)  Not exactly an amazing bargain, but I had bought it with a specific project in mind.  I wanted to use it as a 'back and forth' book for our son Hayden, in an attempt to encourage him with his writing.  Now if you know Hayden you know he doesn't lack good topics to talk about, or the words to do it (and he can do it for a loooong time!)  When it comes to writing though he is not so keen.  Why write it when you can just say it?!  I figured anything is better than nothing though, and a book for him to write whatever he wants for us to read, and for us to write back to him, might be worth a try (and hopefully wouldn't feel too much like homework!)

We could have just used the exercise book as it was, but I think that if it looks kind of special, then he might take it more seriously, and even treasure it a bit more.  I am pleased to say the effort was worth it - he thinks it is pretty cool, and the other kids are lining up now to get their own (I might have to check what else I can find in that bargain box!)  I didn't take a before photo - I am sure you can picture it in all it's 'ready for school work' glory.  Here is the after photo - and not a hint of school to be seen:

At first I was planning to use the Baja Blue patterned papers, but when I went to get them from the box I saw this spotty paper from the Urban Oasis pack, and changed my mind. I am so glad I did.  I think the baja papers might have looked a bit too baby boy, while this combo looks much better suited to a newly turned 10 year old.

Being stingy, I wanted to use just one sheet of paper to cover the front and the back of the book.  Of course, it wasn't going to be wide enough, so I used some narrow strips of 'going gray' and a kraft spine to hide the gaps.  I added some double rectangle punching to the edge of the kraft card, to let the gray show through, and add a little interest, without getting all girly.

The 'To you, from me' bit was done using the long retired (but not forgotten!) Newsprint Alphabet stamp set, with kiwi kiss ink.  I matted it on gray and kraft, and added a few linen thread stitches to fancy it up a bit. I also added a touch of twill tape, to match the piece that attaches to the spine, that will be used to mark our place in the book.  Love those built in book marks!

I finished it up with a few circle embellishments.  The Wild West Alphabet 'H' was punched then matted on a 1 3/4" circle of kraft card that fitted perfectly in the aluminum metal edged tag.  I added a couple of circle and star designer brads next to that and three plain little silver brads at the top of the kraft spine.

Inside the book I kept it pretty simple - after all, writing is supposed to fill that bit up!  I couldn't resist adding a little bit of encouragement and inspiration though, so searched my stamp sets for appropriate stamps, cut them out and attached them to random pages throughout the book.

And there was one last embellishment added to the back cover (so not quite so obvious) - a little bit of icky 'Mum loves you' stuff!

So far, so good with the back and forth book.

Not too homework feeling at all!

More Last minute Holiday Cards

What happens when you sit down with the 'Occasionally' stamp set, some kraft card, assorted coloured card scraps and matching inks and ribbons, and your trusty crimper, in order to make just a couple of last minute  holiday cards?  There is a chance you may get a little carried away, and end up with something like this:

Not just Christmas cards, but cards for all occasions (and this photo was taken after we had given away a couple of the cards already).

After stamping the images on white card, it was a quick job to punch them out with a square punch, mat them on a kraft square made using the bigger square punch, and then attach those to some crimped card, using stampin' dimensionals.  Most of the cards got some coordinating ribbon to finish them off, but a few were left more simple. 

For the holiday cards I made little sets of cards in a couple of different sizes, and some without the ribbon.  They all had the stamped image on the crimped coordinating card though.

 

The snowman, Christmas Tree, and Candy Cane images were especially good for these cards.  And when I had more than enough of those, I couldn't help myself.  I had to keep going with some other occasion cards like these birthday ones:

I like the fact that this quick and easy design could be used for boys or girls of all ages, just with a quick change of colour.  I especially like them with the wider ribbon, but if you didn't have coordinating ribbon you could use a strip of card and perhaps stamp on a greeting instead.  Use some softer colours and swap the images and you have baby and first birthday cards:

You probably get the idea by now.  Quite a productive morning on the card making front - not so much the bed making and laundry!  Never mind that though, making cards was much more fun, and best of all, if you want to make some for yourself, the 'Occasionally' Stamp Set that I used here is one of several that are currently part of an inventory clearance sale, and is discounted 50% for a limited time.

  To see the full list of discounted products, (with discounts from 25-50%) you can click here, or see the link on my sidebar over there on the right.

A masculine Birthday card

Well it seems the little problem we were having accessing our photos on the computer was not so much a computer problem, as it was a problem with swinging feet - kids feet that is - swinging, as they sat at the computer, and inadvertently disconnected cables.  Annoying, but now that we know what was happening,  much easier to fix than a real computer problem might have been!

While we had our temporary photo freeze out I was able to get a few projects done though, and am slowly working my way through the long list of cards needed over the next few months.  I also thought it was about time I did a colour challenge - and found this one of Makeesha's that was just what was needed.  The colours - chocolate chip, close to cocoa, really rust and vanilla are perfect for a classic man card, as is the  'sanded' background stamp, and the soon to be gone Spring Mini catalogue stamp set - 'Sense of Time'.

I also started off with some of the lovely jumbo brads from the spring mini, but when it came time to put them on they just didn't quite work how I wanted.  While I was playing I remembered a great little embellishment idea that I first saw long ago on a project by Jacque, and decided to throw that in the mix instead.  I had been wanting to try it for ages, so this was the perfect opportunity.  I will confess to a brief moment when I questioned the ability of my cropadile to chomp through all those layers, and then neatly set the eyelet.  Apologies Cropadile - it was wrong of me to doubt you - you worked just great - as  you always do.

I wavered between the hemp twine and twill tape to finish it off, but decided that the twine had a little bit more of a - I don't know - 'she'll be right temporary man repair' look about it? (perhaps a cable tie would have worked well here?!)  Glad I did go with the twine, as having just checked the link for Makeesha's challenge I realised she has a similar embellishment on her card.  Don't want them looking too alike!

And so here is where I ended up.  A nice manly card with a hint of fancy, but not the frills (or is that frills but no fancy?)  Either way it has lots of layers, and a good manly weight to it too!   Best of all, another card marked off the list, and another one coming soon!

Embossed wallets - and some lessons

After showing you this wallet a couple of posts ago - I did manage to experiment with some embossing and I was really pleased with how it turned out.  It has taken me a few days to get the post up though - the kids got hold of the wallets, and put them in a 'safe place' before I had managed to take the photo.  Lesson 1 - take photos of your projects before the kids start playing. 

Originally there was only going to be one embossed brown wallet to show you - that one you see there on the left.  I love how this turned out.  I cannot remember where I first saw this technique - the lady was using it on a wonderful handbag project she was making (if you have seen this, and remember, please let me know so I can give her the credit!)

Anyway, it is easy to do - just apply versamark ink to your project (yep - everywhere you want the embossing to be), add the clear embossing powder, and then before you heat it up to melt it, scrape some squiggly lines in it - removing a bit of the powder.  This means that when you do heat it to melt the embossing powder, the squiggly lines will not be shiny, and you will get a bit of a leathery look.

Lesson 2 - make sure you clean out your powder pal properly between projects.  It was only after I embossed the first brown wallet, and noticed it had a bad case of sparkly dandruff, that I discovered just how 'contaminated' my clear embossing powder was. Bother.

Lesson 3 - if the kids see it they will want one as well - not a new lesson that one of course, but I will confess, one I had momentarily forgotten.  Luckily Campbell decided that he actually really liked the brown with sparkly dandruff wallet - but couldn't we please make the inside red?  Bridie of course wanted pink with shiny flowers. 

So, for that one we used one of the flowers from the Fifth Avenue Floral set, some gold ink, and some of that contaminated powder (no good for versamark on brown card, but actually still okay to use on white card, or with metallic/white ink).  It doesn't show up all that well in the photo, but take my word for it - it looked stunning.  Especially stuffed full of the paper money that we promptly had to make.  I think I want one for me - expect, with real money instead of home made!

Lessons 4, 5, 6 and 7?  Embossing is easy.  Embossing is fun (the kids were fascinated!)  You can heat emboss with a good old toaster, but to be honest, I think for a project like the brown wallets, where you are embossing a larger area, the heat tool is fantastic.  If you are embossing both sides of a project remember that the first side you do may 'remelt' a bit when you do the second side - don't have it laying on your benchtop etc when you do that (and no - I didn't learn this last one the hard way!)

A Wallet for Dad

"A father is someone who carries pictures in his wallet where his money used to be"

Author Unknown

Well ain't that the truth?!  Not forgetting the receipts too, of course!  So what could be more perfect for a card for Dad than a brand new wallet?

Many of you joined me to make this great project this time last year - just in time for Father's Day in New Zealand.  From all accounts it was well received too - especially when the Dad's discovered it wasn't all receipts inside this time!

We used all chocalate chip card, inked and sponged to give it that worn in look, and completed it with some faux stitching - paper piercing using the mat pack, and then stitching drawn on using a choc chip marker.  A square of acetate was also added to the 'photo pocket' - just like the real thing.  Other pockets are perfect for notes, gift cards, vouchers, perhaps the winning lotto ticket? 

This year I think I may try another wallet card, but this time I am thinking I will try a cool embossing technique I saw a while ago, to make it really look leathery.  If it turns out okay I will be sure to share it.  Otherwise we might just forget about that until perhaps next Father's Day, and be glad that this is the kind of card that can be easily recycled from year to year!

Stamp Club Ladies - check your emails - I just sent you the instructions to make this project - enjoy!

Sweet Sunday Masculine Card

Today we have been busy spoiling ourselves just because we can. Because the kids haven't been fighting, because we got our jobs done, because we weren't the family standing on the side of the road in our pjs on Tuesday when the fire alarm went off (at 11am), and we all had to run from our apartments and wait for not one but two fire engines to arrive. We were in our outside clothes, waving to the firemen, and feeling very glad we weren't that family still in their pjs!!

Amongst other things we did to spoil ourselves, I spent some time working on a couple of cards to add to the pile. I wanted to try another sweet sunday challenge, and make a quick, stress free project, and if that could be a masculine project then so much better.

So here was the sketch I had to work with:

Here is the card I came up with. Blocks of patterned paper from the Urban Oasis collection, matted on chocolate chip, with a kraft card base. I love these papers - especially the fact that they work so well for both masculine and flowery projects.

A simple sentiment from the 'Sincere Salutations' stamp set, and a jumbo chocolate chip brad from the new spring mini to finish it off. Super simple, super quick, and best of all, super stress free!

Although, confession time. It wasn't actually the first card I came up with. Here is the first one...

This was also going to be a masculine card, but then I got sidetracked with that gorgeous floral paper, and suddenly it didn't work quite so well for the boys (but I am thinking if the flowers weren't on the top it still may have worked, with a different sentiment, perhaps?)

This time the papers were from the Urban Garden collection, and I sponged the edges of the paper pieces with Not quite Navy ink rather than mat them. Instead of a brad, I added a little bit of paper piercing as a finishing touch. Another stress free project completed - the best kind!

Missing the Beach...

We had a warm day here today - high 20s celcius - and when I saw the colours for Kristina's latest colour inspiration - it really did make me think of the beach. A walk along the beach would have been nice today (but it helps that our apartment complex has a pool!)

So anyway, here is what I came up with. I made a card with this kind of layout at the weekend. I really liked the finished look, and it came together so easily (making use of those ever handy punches!) so I decided to try it out again today...

The card colours I used for this challenge were baja breeze, more mustard, so saffron, sahara sand, and of course, white. These colours do have a lovely fresh feel - and I think this would be good for a masculine card.

The ink was all baja breeze. Sea shell stamps from the 'seaside' stamp set, and the greeting from the 'A little Birthday Cheer' set - using that one a lot lately!