Hand Stamped Sentiments #119 - Masculine Theme

I don't know about you but my 'man card' slot is almost always empty in my card box!! If you are in the same boat, what better way to get a jump start on things than to hop on over to Hand Stamped Sentiments and play along with the Masculine Themed challenge this week?! 

I have 3 Dad's to make cards for this upcoming Father's day, so I couldn't stop at one, I made three (although 2 are the same)...

The grillin' Dad was fun to color and I used the cupcake punch to make the clouds.

The football card(s) are very simple and straight to the point, just like a man-hehe!. I picked up this EF not very long ago and I love the leather looking texture it gives off, so I thought a nice brown strip of it would resemble a football-something I really know NOTHING about, sorry.

If you have trouble with "man cards" or just love showing off your crazy card making skills, head on over to the Hand Stamped Sentiments blog to check out some masculine inspiration from the design ladies. 

SU! products used:

Paper - Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink - Craft White, Pacific Point

Punches - 1-3/4" Circle, Cupcake Builder

Hand Stamped Sentiments #102 - Beach

This week over at Hand Stamped Sentiments, we're turning the heat up a bit with a Beach Inspirational photo...now seriously, who can NOT want to be there right now?! I know I could stand a kiss of sun on this winter white skin!

I looked over EVERY single stamp set I own and sadly couldn't find a beach themed stamp anywhere in the whole lot...but staring dreamily into the inspiration photo and almost hearing the crashing waves at my feet, I thought of non other than sand, crystal blue waters and orange sunsets. Thought my little speed boat looked oh so cool tucked in between the waves as it sped off to pick up the latest water skier or parasailor.

HSS#102

I used a punched circle as my sun, held it in place and sponged Tangerine Tango all around, removing the circle, what remained was a perfect sunset. The water and sand were created by ripping strips of paper and then sponging each with their corresponding ink colors. The little speed boat was heat embossed in Basic Black onto a Basic Grey cardstock with a slight bit of color in the racing stripe. I wanted the boat to look like a silhouette with the sunset in the background. 

I hope you enjoyed my take on this weeks photo, head on over to Hand Stamped Sentiments and check out what lovely 'get away' creations the Design Team has put their sandy feet on and dive right into the challenge yourself, we'd love to see your warm beach' y creations!

SU! products used:

Stamp Set - Need For Speed

Paper - Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Basic Grey

Ink - Versa Mark, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango

Punch - 1-3/4" Circle

Other - Black Embossing Powder, Tangerine Tango Marker

Happy December Birthday

It's time for some December Birthdays, one being my brother, who loves all things motorized! I paired this weeks Play Date Cafe color palate with this fresh and clean sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. 

PDCC111

FMS#15

A simple mailable card for a man is always a plus when it's pulled off without too much fuss. Guys don't like fuss, they like to walk into a store, purchase what they came for and leave. Women on the other hand, tend to like to sit and stay awhile feeling all the fabrics, soaking in all the layers, etc, if you know what I mean! 

SU! products used:

Stamps - Need For Speed

Ink - Craft Basic Black, Basic Black

Paper - Basic Black, Whisper White, Island Indigo

Other - Black Embossing Powder

FMS#10 & OCC Challenges

Squeezing one last challenge in before the weekend...this week over at Our Creative Corner, they are asking that crafters create a masculine card or project using NON-TRADITIONAL guy colors. I paired the challenge with this week's FMS sketch #10. 

 I've been itching to ink up my little mustache stamp and this was the perfect sketch to give it a whirl. Of course my original plan got flipped once I saw what looked like a face when I looked at the two staches I had stamped. I embossed the top stache with Tempting Turquoise and flipped it upside down, creating a fab set of unibrow or shades (what do you see?)! haha

A pink little nose popped up to reassure the facial recognition and the best part, if you flip the card upside down, it looks like an angry clown, creepy!

I layered the DP on the inside and added this awesome slap happy sentiment.

SU! products used:

Stamps - Many Mustaches

Ink - Chocolate Chip, Versa Mark

Paper - Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Regal Rose

Punches - Decorative Label, 1/2" Circle

Twisted-Fold Man Birthday

This week over at Our Creative Corner, they are holding a "fancy folds" challenge...I scoured the internet, SCS, SU! and finally found exactly my kind of card on YouTube! With the FAB tutorial HERE. 

I paired my fancy fold with the colors over at the ColourQ design blog 

and this is my manly soaring result. I love how all the colors came together so well on the card, at first I wasn't so sure and they seemed more in the 'guy' realm then the 'ladies', which is why I went all guy on this card...

For my clouds, I punched both scallop punches with a piece of heavy cardstock, set them on top of my white and then sponged around them. When I removed them, I had nice happy white spaces on my paper. The airplane has been cut out and popped up as well. And isn't that Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder just lovely?

SU! products used:

Stamps - Need For Speed

Paper - Island Indigo DSP, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White and Soft Suede

Ink - Pumpkin Pie, Versa Mark, Basic Black, Island Indigo and Pool Party

Ribbon - Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Punch - 2-1/2" Circle, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle

I'm giving away blog candy this week, check my blog for DEETS! :)

Sail Away Birthday

My Dad's Birthday is coming up this week, so again another daunting man card (hehe)...I started off using this weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch #133

  

I pulled out some RETIRED Nautical Expedition DSP (that I hadn't opened yet) and cut out one of the boats. The image was so stunning by itself, I couldn't bear to muck it up with anything else, so instead, I stamped a random display of Happy Birthday greetings onto my Basic Gray background with Craft White Ink & Embossing Powder. A bit of the DSP (which is printed to look like a log book) is stamped with a bolder Happy Birthday phrase with Craft Black Ink & Embossing Powder as the main sentiment and focal point. Some Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, three RETIRED Aged Copper brads in the top left corner and now for some sentimental words inside to celebrate my hard working Father on his Birthday. Love you Dad!!

The Paper Players Challenge #62 is celebrating Birthday cards this week

 and over at 

Our Creative Corner

their challenge is to use DP as the focal point on this weeks project

Stamp Sets used for the Happy Birthday background:

Plane & Simple

Happy Moments

So Happy For You

Messages for Mom

Vintage Labels

Well Scripted 

Flight Plan

After making cupcake toppers and planning crafts for my daughter's 6th birthday slumber party last week AND surviving the slumber party, I was pooped to say the least! But when I saw the color challenge over at the Play Date Cafe', a bright card was just what the Dr. ordered as a pick me up! (along with a nap and multiple cups of coffee, hehe)

 PDCC70

I married the PDC challenge with this week's Card Patterns Sketch

Card Patterns Sketch 104

Finally was able to ink up my Plane & Simple stamp set, thought it was the perfect set to compliment the sketch and I'm always in need of a boy/guy card, figured this one could go either way. I whipped out my Color Coach and matched up Tempting Turquoise, Peach Parfait & Pear Pizzazz to the Play Date inspiration photo. I made my card a bit bigger than the norm, so it can squeeze in a 5X7 envelope. I pulled out my dusty crimper for the center peach layer, added a touch of 1/4" retired tempting turquoise ribbon, heat embossed my little airplane & birthday sentiment with basic black embossing powder and stamped the little compass in various angles in the same ink color as my paper.

Punches Used: Word Window, 1-3/8" Square

Thank You

Recently we had a bit of a water leakage problem and our neighbor Daniel came to our rescue...I whipped up this card so my hubby would have something to put his Thank you in! THANK YOU DANIEL, 10 times OVER, you ROCK!!!

March Club SWAPS

This month I hosted the club, as it's the LAST month for SALE A BRATION and I chose a 

man card theme...when I organized my card box, I noticed that I was running a little low on man cards and we all know those just seem to be the hardest ones to create, so I thought this would be a great challenge for the ladies (and myself for that matter)...

I used the stamp set TOTALLY TOOL & the Birthday saying is from GARDEN GREETINGS

a TON of cutting was had when I made all 6 of my SWAPS but not to fret, I LOVE cutting, it's like silent therapy for me, not to mention I LOVE how the cards turn out when I give them more attention to detail.

Here are the ladies MAN SWAPS, which I thought turned out AWESOME!!