Tag Archives: masculine

VSN, Yee-Haw!

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Friday night there was a mini-VSN at SCS. The theme of the VSN is rodeo. Only 6 challenges – and I managed to do them all!

The first challenge was called “the grand opening” and we needed to use banners.

My kiddo’s friend will be turning 11 in a week so I thought that would be a perfect card for a banner.

Supplies:
Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (PTI);
Colors: Rose Red, DSP (SU);
Extras: Banner die (MFTStamps); Number die (PTI); Baker’s Twine (SU);

 
 

The next challenge was called “the queen’s wave”. We could interpret “wave” any way we wanted.

I did it 3 ways: my scene is a HEAT WAVE at the beach (with waves in the background) and the card uses the Wiper Technique to create a little waving sun pop-up.

Supplies:
Stamps: Shore Thing (SU); alphabet ($bin); Birds – Light the Path (TAC);
Colors: Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake (SU); Brown (Palette);
Extras: Daffodil ribbon (SU); deco scissors; Jar Label die (PTI);

 
The third challenge was called “bring in the clowns” and we needed to use 4 bold/bright colors and have something pop-up.

Thankfully the pop-up could be completed with a simple dimensional, and that is the route I took – the bee is popped-up. The bright colors made me thing rainbows, so I chose a flower bunch to color.

Supplies:
Stamps: All About You (PTI);
Colors: Hibiscus (PTI); Gable Green (SU); Copics;
Extras: green ribbon (?); dimensionals; stickles (on bee);

 
The fourth challenge, “all that glitters”, required that we use sequins.

Oh my. I don’t have many sequins. The ones I do have are bright colors. I decided to make shaker balloons. I really don’t have a use for such a “young” card. I need to find some place to donate cards – any suggestions?

Supplies:
Stamps: Say it With Style (PTI);
Colors: Real Red, Brilliant blue (SU);
Extras: circle dies (Spellbinders); Black/White Baker’s Twine (?); Label die (MFT Stamps); sequins; acetate (SU);

 
The fifth challenge, “sunset on the plains”, required a brayered or sponged sunset.

I was a little stymied at first, so I had my hubby help – he decided the sunset should be orange and set in the African plains. I chose to do a giraffe because he likes them and with the “miss you” sentiment I can pop it in his suitcase for his next business trip.

Supplies:
Stamps: Wild Things (SU); Paper Tray (PTI);
Colors: Tangerine, Glossy, Black, Daffodil, Pacific Point, Night of Navy (SU);
Extras: white EP;

 
The final challenge was to be inspired by the lyrics of an 80’s song (Wild Wild West).

I don’t have any western stamps, but these mustaches paired with twine and a wood-grain paper make me think “cowboy”! And I’m getting double-duty out of this card – I took a picture before I adhered the sentiment and I can upload it as the index for the Many Mustaches gallery category, yee-haw 😉

Oh, and speaking of the sentiment – those letters are cut from different sentiments from the same PTI stamp set – Say it With Style. I’m feeling smart!

Supplies:
Stamps: Many Mustaches (SU); Say it With Style (PTI);
Colors: Early Espresso, Vanilla, Wood DSP (OLD! SU);
Extras: Twill, Twine, Brads (SU);

Proud of You

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My nephew, a rising senior in high school, is currently at boot camp. He is joining the National Guard to become an MP. Obviously I have mixed emotions about this, but I am undoubtedly proud of him. He’s allowed to receive post, so I wanted to send him a card to remind him that we’re thinking about him.

I don’t have many “service” type stamps (guess I’ll need to remedy that 🙂 ), but this ribbon from CTMH certainly does work (I originally bought it to make cancer ribbons, so I don’t always remember it when thinking military). To do the two toned ribbon, I stamped the image twice – once in blue, once in red – and cut out the “front” piece from the red image and glued it onto the blue one.

I kept the card very simple – apparently any cards that are over the top (mushy or frou-frou) earn the receiver a few extra push-ups! I just used lots of dimensionals to give it depth. And the blue mat is textured paper.

I am entering this in the “Krafts-men” challenge at CAS-ual Fridays (cfc9). CAS-ual Fridays is a new challenge blog dedicated to clean and simple stamping. CAS is definitely the style I prefer. I heard about their challenge before they even started – because I was already following a few of their design team members – but this is the first challenge I’ve managed to complete. I still have a text flower I created for their first challenge!! Maybe I’ll get it on a card one of these days, lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

Proud of You
Stamps: Remember (CTMH); Fresh & Simple alphabets (PTI); Sanded background (SU);
Colors: Poppy, White, Kraft (PTI); Crumb Cake ink, Not Quite Navy (SU);
Other: dimensionals;

Thanks to the PE Teacher

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This card is for the physical education teacher at our school.

I don’t have any sports stamps, so when it came time to make a card for the PE teacher, I thought I would have to do quite a bit of improvising. After lots of failed attempts, I went back to looking through my stamp collection for inspiration. I decided to use the Simple Circle die and use punches to create the different sports balls.

I went looking for layout inspiration to use the die and found, of course, an awesome card on Maile’s blog (last card).

I ended up finding a font to make the soccer ball – doing your own is much harder than it looks! I did make the basketball, baseball, tennis ball (yellow paper and white gel pen), hockey puck (in case you didn’t know what the small black circle was for), and a red kick ball (embossed with the canvas impression plate!!).

I didn’t have high hopes when starting this card, but I’m really happy how it finished!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks
Stamps: Background Basics: Text, Fillable Frames Additions 1 (PTI); sentiment (old All Night Media);
Paper: Black, Kraft, White, Harvest Gold (PTI); Pumpkin, Riding Hood (SU);
Ink: Crumb Cake (SU); Black (PTI);
Other: 0.5 Pen (CTMH); Fillable Frame 1 die, Simple Circles die (PTI);

VSN Swabbie

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So this weekend was VSN at Splitcoast. The theme was pirates – hence my post title (swabbie because I only managed 5 challenges, so definitely not “captain” material and I figured “VSN wench” wouldn’t go over well with my family 😉 )

I wasn’t actually going to participate – I have stamping chores to do (and they don’t really work well with challenges). But I got a couple chore cards done earlier today and then I saw a post by Carly (here) and was completely inspired by her cards and figured I had to give it a shot.

First up was a color challenge – aqua, light green, and kraft. I snuck in the craft as the color for the sentiment. The card stock is Aqua Mist and Spring Moss from PTI.

Since the stamps I chose to work with were small, I made a small square card. I really like this card and I can use it to fill one of my stamping chores – bonus!
 
 
 
 

Next up, a challenge to use colorful birds. Of course, there was another part to the challenge which I neglected – making a square card. So this card is already walking the plank!

At least I can use it as one of my stamping chore cards!
 
 
 
 
 

Moving on, another challenge was to use bling. That should be an easy task, you can add a rhinestone just about anywhere! I got the idea to use this dragonfly image because the wings have little open spots on them – perfect for placing rhinestones. The dragonfly has smooch spritz on it too, though the photo doesn’t show that bit very well.

I used die cuts to create the flowers/leaves. I added a bit of sponging to the flower centers before adding the bling. Before I glued it all down, I wasn’t sure whether to leave it on a white card base or not. I tried a few light colors but none of it looked quite right. I need something to anchor the images, so I pulled out a large label stamp. I am quite happy with how that turned out!

I had to do the next challenge because it was hosted by my friend Patty! It was an awesome challenge – and I actually tackled it first because I got an idea immediately.

I’ll be giving my hubby this card on father’s day (if I remember to take it with us on vacation, lol).

Oh, I have to tell you how I did the label – I’m feeling a bit genius about it (not an ounce of humility in me, lol). I don’t own PTI angled labels (yet), but I do have Fillable Frames #9 – which is a cool tag shape. Well, if you cut the tag, then turn the die cut around and put it back in the die, you can trim both ends with the tag shape!! As you can see lining up the stamp image is a bit trickier, but a stamp-a-ma-jig would make it much easier.

This is the last card I did tonight. You can tell my mojo was wanning. One day I *will* find a black ink that stamps perfectly. Until then, I’ll just deal with my meager results.

This challenge was to use sponging. I was going to do a “ray” type sponging, but was just too lazy to cut the masks I would need. I am definitely in awe of Theresa Momber who can work a sponge so amazingly!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Waltz with the Mouse

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Not THAT mouse – a better one: Waltzingmouse Stamps 🙂

I so want that little guy from the logo as a stamp!

This month’s theme is masculine. This is always a tough category for me. Thankfully I have the Free Spirit Boy stamp set. There are a ton of images in this set.
 

The medallion was created using Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. I’ve used this stuff before and even done this technique before, but it has been years…and boy it showed. I’m pretty certain I will be finding granules of this powder on my desk for months to come! The idea is to start with a card stock shape and ink it with Versamark. Then you add UTEE and heat it, once it melts, add more powder, and so on until you have a few layers. Then you take a Versamark-inked stamp and press into the goo; wait a minute a pull it out.

Since the medallion is so shiny and I opted for a busy pattern for the “tails” (they started as tails, as you see, they migrated up and out), I kept the rest of the card very simple.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bravo
Stamps: Free Spirit Boy, Off Beat Backgrounds, Bitty Banners, Fancy Phrases (WMS);
Colors: Not Quite Navy (SU); White, Kraft (PTI);
Other: Limitless Layers 1 3/4″ dies (PTI); Gold UTEE; Versamark;

Blue Bird

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I created this card for the SCS CAS challenge – Rule of Thirds (cas116). The challenge was to use three – however you interpret that. I did colors (blue, white, black) and images (bird, wire, sentiment).

My hubby is going on a business trip next week, so I needed a “miss you” card. To do the bird was a bit tricky. I figured it would take a few iterations to get right, so I stamped it on another piece of paper and cut it out. I inked up the bird and then kissed a tiny heart stamp to the image (multiple times) to remove ink. The heart I used is NOT a clear stamp, so getting the heart into the same spot multiple times took a steady hand. I think it also helped that I used a pigment ink, so it sorta smooshed itself right. I’m just glad I got it to work!

Thanks for taking a peek!

missing you
Stamps: Birds of a Feather (PTI), Perfect Plaid (SU);
Colors: Not Quite Navy (SU); White (PTI);

Panel Art Inspired

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This card is for another relative who sent some books to the family. I wanted to create a card that had an oriental feel, so I went to Google images and searched for Japanese art. There was a piece that caught my eye immediately – beautiful panel artwork with wispy trees. I tried to recreate it, but fell short. I still like this card, but it isn’t what I was hoping for.

Thanks for taking a peek.

thank you
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree (SU); Communique Sentiments (PTI);
Colors: Vintage Cream (PTI); Watercolor paper (Strathmore); Soft Suede, Early Espresso (SU);
Other: sponges;
Technique: Sponging; Wet Paper Watercoloring;

Masked Leaves

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Wow, it took me a long time to figure out what to do with PTI’s latest Make-It-Monday challenge (mim10). The challenge was to use dies for masking. The sample created in the video used reverse masking.

Since no idea was presenting itself automagically, I decided to get all my PTI dies out and rifle through them until the muse got interested. I finally settled on using the leaf dies, but I could easily have done this same thing with flowers.

Anyway, the way I did it: I took a piece of printer paper and cut it to card front size. Then I ran it through my Big Shot with the leaf die, moved the die, ran it through again, ditto (for 3 leaves). Then, just like Lisa’s video, I added repositionable glue and adhered it to my card base. Next was sponging – I used 2 colors per leaf and chose to go from green (summer), to yellow (fall), ending with brown (winter). Finally, with the mask still in place, I went back and stamped the Geometrics grid background over the sponged leaves using vanilla ink.

Of course then I just sat and stared at the card not knowing what to do next! Obviously I figured something out 🙂

Thanks for taking a peek.

Thinking of You
Stamps: Places Please, Vintage Picnic Sentiments, Background Basics: Geometrics (PTI);
Ink: Kiwi, Olive, Curry, Mustard, Suede, Espresso (SU); Vintage Cream (PTI);
Paper: Rustic Cream, Ripe Avocado (PTI);
Other: Rustic Twine (PTI), Leaf dies (PTI), Place Card die (PTI);
Techniques: Reverse Masking, Sponging;

(not so) Embellished

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Embellish Magazine’s latest color challenge was a masculine theme (check it out). With many nephews in the family, I can always use a masculine birthday card, so I definitely needed to participate in this challenge!

After perusing my stamp index, I decided to use the paper airplane image (my nephews are getting older, so cute doesn’t really cut it any more). As with many of my one-layer cards, the stamped images didn’t end up quite where I wanted, so I chopped it up and made a layer instead. I added the checkerboard image to help with the “racing” feel of the airplanes.

On the inside I repeated the border (along the top as well, but you don’t see that in the picture). I also used the outline paper airplane image to make it feel cohesive.

Happy Birthday
Stamps: Free Spirit Boy, Off Beat Backgrounds (WMS); Birthday Basics (PTI); Free Spirit (swoosh/flourish – CTMH);
Colors: Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzaz, Baja Breeze (SU); Charcoal (Palette);

Designer Puns

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This is another masculine card I made for next month. My cousin does interior design, hence the choice of stamps. To bring a little life to the card, I chose a die shape for the focal panel and I embossed the pattern paper. The chair is paper pieced with coordinating DSP. Finally I used a sticker border from an old SU scrap kit.

A tip for matting the dies. I cut two of the same size dies – one in vanilla and one artichoke. In addition, on the vanilla one, I also used the die to emboss it. Then I just trimmed the embossed edge off and now I have a perfect mat.

I even did the inside of this one!

Basically I just brought all the elements from the front to the inside. I used a larger size of the same die shape, then added a bit of the DSP and sticker. A stamped sentiment and the card is ready to go!

Created for the Passion for Papertrey blog challenge (Piece Out).

Chairs to You
Stamps: Chair-ished, On My Couch & Additions, Birthday Basics (PTI);
Colors: Always Artichoke, Vanilla (SU);
Other: Manchester DSP, Secret Garden scrap kit (SU); Curved Rectangle dies (Spellbinders); round tag (Sizzix); brown brad (Pink Hedgehog);