Masculine Album

A couple of weeks ago I posted a card on face Book that had no flowers and received so many comments about my "missing" masculine cards that I just had to respond to by making some masculine cards. Here are the results.

Card 1: Having just seen the new movie about Oz, I could resist using this stamp from Michael's dollar bin. The background is a retired die-cut from Sizzix cut from a Paper Company piece of mustard parchment paper edged with brown and black ink. I colored the stamp image using Prisma Coloring Pencils and then added some brown floss held in place with a glittered Fleur de Lis sticker from Jolee's Boutique/E.K. Success.

Card 2: I stamped a group of horses from Inkadinkado in Martha Stewart/E.K. Succes Merlot ink on a piece Paper Company mustard parchment paper which I then tore the top of and edged with brown ink. I layered a wood grained paper from K & Company/E.K. Success and the torn panel on a card and edged the entire card with more brown ink. The ribbon is made from self adhesive 7 Gypsies paper ribbon and an antique copped buckle from Making memories.

Card 3:   This card is semi monochromatic and uses a layer of patterned paper with a Christmas paper ribbon from Anna Griffin mounted on a black background. The front panel is more Paper Company  parchment paper but this time its the tan version on which I stamped the Fleur de Lis image from Stampers Anonymous. I used a deckle edged scissor to cut the panel and then edged it with black ink before I added it to the card using raised adhesive dots.

Card 4: This last card was the quickest and easiest ... a deep burgundy background on which I ran a burgundy ribbon from American Crafts and then added a gold Spellbinder die-cut frame inlaid with some texted paper from K&Company/E.K. Success. To finish off the card another piece of ribbon cut with a birds beak detail and attached using with a glittered Fleur de Lis sticker from Jolee's Boutique/E.K. Success.

Easter

This year I decided to break down my Easter cards into adult and children categories. I used cutesy baby chick and bunny stickers for the kids and more religious themed images for the adults. But when I started doing more old fashioned styled cards I realized they could actually fit both categories.

This card uses a Martha Stewart.E. K. Success border punch to create an oval shaped doily ribbon for the background stripe. I overlaid this with an oval lace edged tag also from Martha Stewart/E. K. Success. The image is a sticker from Punch Studios. I used a baby blue card to match the color of the egg in the sticker. Another simple multi recipient card.

Left overs ... who knew!

This card was made using left over pieces from three different sticker and rub-on packages from K & Company/E.K. Success.

The card was actually inspired by my seeing two of the packages stacked over each other.  I always take my K & Company/E.K. Success packages apart because I save the patterned paper backing material.  This leaves the stickers and the rub-ons on their clear plastic support sheet.  Once I use the pieces that prompted me to buy the package, I keep the remainders in a storage box ... stacked over each other.  There you have it, my inspiration.  I started with a white size A2 card to which I added a 2" wide light purple panel.  I then overlaid 3D texted and framed mini panels in a collage format copied directly from the packaging.  To this I added some rub-on flourishes to enhance the upper and lower corners. To create the shape I cut up the rub-ons and then assembled them to meet my needs.  For the final touch to the lay-out I added some additional 3D flowers with small rhinestone centers and to finish the card I added a computer generated text.

 

Sometimes the unexpected can produce great results.

 

 

Multi media layering

Some card makers use nothing but stamps other stickers and othet yet use mostly paper ... I like to use them all and layer them.Layers do not need to have a three dimensional aspect to create depth, sometimes imple flat overlaying works just as well. The idea is to get as many layers as I can.

The first layer was the red stripe. I then took a tan strip of paper and used a border rub-on to embellish the strip. this was my second and third layer. I then added the dimensional sticker tag (layer number four). I used more rub-ons, this time flourishes, around the sticker tag to create the fifth layer. Finally I added a row of rhinestones to the one strip; which become layer number six.

 

At first glance the card looks simple but when you start looking at it each layer becomes visible and the depth becomes more evident.

Combining Themes

This year I wanted to make a very elegant New Year's day card but could not find anything like that in the New Year's section. So I had to improvise and look around the craft store under other holidays, themes and even sections.Finally what caught my eye was a black rub-on flourished frame from the wedding section of the store.

 

 

I started by making a legal size black card for the background. I next added the black rub-on flourished frame to a piece of white paper; which I trimmed accordingly to fit on the card and adhered to the center of the card. The final touch was an old rub-on text is.