A serene birthday card

 This card was also a commissioned card.  I also knew the recipient.  I used his favorite color (yellow).  I used dies and embossing folders from my stash and did some ink swiping with distress oxide. I cut the tiny little deer using cricut DS .  The background paper is from paper rose studios.  I love their scene cardstocks.  Good for all thos masculine makes.  I stamped and  fussy cut the greeting. Those die cut trees are from a Tim Holtz set that I wanted forever and I do not regret the purchase one bit.   I think this card turned out very striking.  

Layering dies

I have always loved the layering dies that are out in the market...but I've never been able to afford them.  When Spellbinders started making the kaleidoscope dies, and they had a sale I jumped in.  I really love the look of them.  I don't have them all, but I do have a few and I think they are a good goto for masculine cards.  For this card, I decided to make a design b cyutting the layered dies diagonally and laying them out in a pattern.  I really like how it turned out and hope the recipient enjoys it as well.  

A first time for everything

I have had this stamp set from the Stamps of Life for at least 10 years.  I have never used it because I just couldn't think of a way to do so.  I made a thank you card for a friend of Matt's who has become like family to us.  I wanted to thank him for his constant prayers and support.  I feel honored to be his friend and humbled by his generosity to our family.  

This is an old school phone, you know, the only way we used to phone a friend???  I guess it might be considered retro by now.  HA!  I colored the phones with my triblend markers.  Added some doodles around the sides.  I added enamel dots from my stash. I hope he enjoys this card, a token of our appreciation.

More Whimsy goodies

 I have loved this donkey set since I first laid eyes on it. I love the goofy grins and faces he has.  When I won the vlog hop I was able to add this stamp set and selfie dies to my gifts. 

 I had a friend request a card for her husband's friend who recently gifted them some very expensive hearing aids.  I found the sentiment "did you hear?" in one of my old Stamps of life stamp sets.  I thought it was perfect for the occasion.  I did some dry embossing.  Popped the polaroid's onto foam tape for dimension.  I colored both donkeys with my triblend markers.  I added pops of color in marine and glossy accents over his eyes for final touches.  I think this makes a nice masculine card and I hope the recipient gets a kick out of it.  

It's all in the details

 Ok, pro tip....if you are making a project for someone else, in my case, a card, and the person gives you lots of details, you might want to keep that straight as you create...HA! Simple, right?  I'm going to blame my little oopsie on the fact that I usually get multiple distractions while I'm creating.  

Yep, let's go with that.  

So, the card is for a retiring gentleman, I added all the little details, finished the card only to realize the very next day that I messed up the number of years on his retirement.  ACK!

Thankfully, it was a relatively simple fix, but I could not remember the font I used, so I used a different one.  What you see in the picture is the wrong number of total years.  That is the picture I got before I fixed and already had it packaged.  Now says 41 instead of 42.  

Thank goodness I caught my mistake!!! Please excuse the dish towel and "life" mess in the background 😉

Just FORE you

 I love a good theme card.  I love to personalize a card with someone's name and fit it into the design or make it the centerpiece of the design.  This one I fit it in.  Sometimes, it's easier for me to create a card if there is a theme involved, especially for a masculine card.  I mean, I'm all about the froo froo, flowers, butterflies, hearts...I can go on forever with those. 

 I do like how this card turned out.  I hope the recipient enjoyed as well. 

 The image is from Cricut DS.  The tiny letters are from a Spellbinders card kit die set in my stash.  I dry embossed the golf ball with the swiss dots embossing folder and used the debossed side.  I used some glossy accents on the golf tee and it wasn't dry when I took the picture, that's why it doesn't look smooth.  The was a 5 x 7 card.

When someone asks for over the top

 I was asked to make a personalized card for a person celebrating his first year work anniversary with a company.  The company wanted to the card to be over the top.  I wouldn't typically use glitter card on a man's card, but she said to do it up big.  So, I did. I even added a shaker element to the front. The funnest thing about doing this project was I knew the recipient and it was a lot of fun to personalize the card to him.  This is a 6x6 concertina fold card card.  It was more like a book when finished.  I cut all the elements with my cricut from design space.  I'm told he really enjoyed the card.

Masculine Birthday, More strippin' it up

 I recently unearthed this happy birthday, wood block stamp and realized what a great background it would be.  I had left over strips of cardstock from another project and thought let's add a masculine birthday card to my stash.  (fyi, birthday cards are one of the fewest cards I personally send out) Also, raise your hand if you struggle with masculine cards ✋Sheesh, why is it SO hard???

 I messed up the stamping a little at the top, but again, I'm not perfect and I doubt the someday recipient will notice.  You're kind of stamping blind with wood blocks.  I really like how it turned out.  I added a stamps of life happy birthday die cut and pops of color in three shades to round out the design.  Matted with a thin layer of black and mounted to a 5x7 card base.