I love to make cards of every shape and size. To me they are just mini works of art that can be personalized for the receiver. I know that many of us enjoy making and sharing cards with our family and friends. There is one kind of card, however, that I find harder to create – masculine cards. I have lots of pretty, girly things in my hybrid stash but what do I use for the men in my life? The more I thought about it, looked at masculine cards I liked and did a little research I realized that there are some basic tips we can all use when creating masculine themed cards.
Supplies List:
Digital Scrapbooking Supplies
Scissors, paper cutter, bone folder
Paper – water color, double-sided matt, card stock
Adhesive – two sided tape, pop dots, glue stick
Embellishments – torn strip of blue jeans, cord, wide ribbon, rawhide shoe string, star brads
Distress markers, distress ink
Matt fixative
Scallop punch
1- Color: Start with a masculine color palette. Does the recipient have a favorite sports team, love nature, or are they drawn to neutral tones? Look at their wardrobe, the color of their car, etc for inspiration. Digital Scrapbooking Supplies are perfect for choosing a color palette.
2- Theme: Does the recipient love a location, like to travel, or have a hobby you can feature? Can you tie an embellishment (like a globe) to a catchy sentiment? Do you have a photo of them from a different period of their life that you might want to feature? Is there a food item they can’t live without? Think about the things that make them unique and special.
3- Embellishments: Leave those girly flowers, frilly ribbon and girly stickers in your storage boxes. If you are using ribbon find some with a masculine feel – textured or wider. Look for found items – washers from your husband’s tool box, a torn strip of blue jeans, a rawhide shoe string, a piece of twine. Stamp some masculine images from your digital scrapbooking brushes, cut out and color with markers. These help to give your cards a masculine feel.
With color, theme and embellishments in mind, I created six masculine Birthday Cards.
Instructions
Each of the photos includes basic instructions and provides suggestions for masculine embellishments. All of the cards are 4.25” x 5.5”. I used some of my digital brushes to create stamped images that I colored with my distress pens. I have an ink jet printer so I used a matt fixative to help set the ink before I colored my images. I distressed all edges in a black or brown chalk ink. This adds a shadow like dimension and covers the white core of the paper.
Hope these tips will help you as you create masculine themed cards for the important men in your life. We would love to see how you use your digital scrapbooking supplies to create your own hybrid cards. Post them in the Scrap Girls Hybrid Gallery.
Live each day creatively,
Karen
Digital Scrapbooking Supplies List:
Souvenir Collection
Brush Set: Souvenir
Coastal Collection Biggie
Brush Set: Chesapeake
Blue Linen Collection Mini
Lettering Delights Remington Portable Font
Brush Set: Altered Pages
Tutorial written by Karen Webb