WHAT DEFINES A MASCULINE CARD?

I recently watched a You Tube video by Gina K Designs - she poses this question What defines a masculine card?  And isn't it interesting - as she said men like flowers too yet flowers are normally thought of as feminine cards.  Butterflies are feminine - are moths masculine?  Most men cards are to do with hunting, fishing, boats, beer - and isn't it an interesting phenomena in this day and age of equality?  It made me think.

I was inspired by Gina's video to produce a card with a more masculine feel to it shall we say.

I have an old dictionary that I use for background papers and I found the page with the word masculine on it.  I added some Tim Holtz distress ink in vintage photo and then crinkled the paper - I then spread some Ground Espresso over the top.  I used my old deckle scissors to cut out the paper and added it to some SU green card stock.  The image of the lion is an old Tim Holtz one I have and fits perfectly with Try it On Tuesday's challenge of songs.  One of my favourite of Kate Bush is Oh England My Lionheart - strange as I'm Welsh but it's such a good song. I edged the card in Crushed Olive and some Vintage Photo Distress Crayon.

I added it to some black card stock and added a piece of silvery washi tape just to lift the colours a little.  The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Crazy Birds.  Interesting that Gina also mentioned masculine fonts and this seems such a thing to me.

Close up of the masculine word 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Through the craft room door - AG 

Cardz4Guys -  monochromatic - I think this may just fit 

International Art and Soul - Cards for a man

Try it on Tuesday - A song - Oh England My Lionheart - Kate Bush

Addicted to Stamps - AG

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes 

SQUARE CARDS WITH ADDED SPARKLE

A square card from me for a change - this isn't normally a size I make but I loved this paper.,which already had the deer printed on it and wanted to use it for a card.  I embossed some white Christmas trees and snowflakes from Gina K Designs Season of Joy stamp set. I added some snowflakes and rhinestones.  The sentiment is from Sunny Studios - I added Spectrum Noir glitter pen to the Deer's antlers to add to the shine.

 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT434

Our challenge this week at Try Stampin On Tuesday has the following sketch with the option of adding some bling to it.  Who can refuse a bit of bling when Christmas is looming?

I went with a Christmas card - any excuse to play with Christmas products - my favourite cards to make.  I used a retired SU embossing folder to emboss the holly on the card stock. I then used one of the swirly bird dies to cut out two circles in gold and Old Olive.  The holly die cut is one from my stash and I used Always Artichocke for these leaves and added some sparkling red paper for the berries. I used the same paper for the sentiment which comes from Gina K Designs.  I added some red rhinestones.

 

SPARKLES CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE - #103 - IT'S SNOWTIME

Welcome to another Christmas Challenge at Sparkles - this time we are celebrating snow!! Not something we often see at Christmas time in the UK - we seem to get it more at Easter - but we live in hope every year.

I've used a set from Gina K Designs and Simon Says Stamp for my card -inspired by one of Gina's own designs.  It uses the snowflakes from her set Season of Joy.  I actually bought this set just for the little mugs which come with it and, of course, the reindeer as I love reindeer.  But the rest of the set is equally as lovely so I've used the snowflakes for my card.

I started off with some white cardstock and masked off a space for the sentiment.  This is not part of this set and was something I had in my stash.

I used a number of Tim Holtz distress inks for the background until I got the muted colours I wanted - they included Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Chipped Sapphire, Shaded Lilac.  I then used my embossing buddy to spread powder over the ink before I used Versamark for the two snowflakes.  I used some Wow bright white embossing powder.

I slowly peeled off the masking tape and added the sentiment in Momento Tuxedo black ink. I added some dazzling diamonds to give the white background some sparkle and added some pale blue rhinestones.  I then matted it onto some silver cardstock and then craft cardstock.





 

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

I'm joining in with TGIF Challenge Christmas In July with another card inspired by one of their Design Team Elizabeth Price.- I hope it's ok to post two!  I loved the way her card looked and the fact that she said it probably couldn't be repeated as it was a question of add this then that.  That's exactly what happened with my card.

I went for an unusual palette for Christmas as I normally do reds and greens so this was completely out of my norm.

I started off by using masking off a part for the moon then using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks in Fossilized Amber and Pumice Stone to create the background.  I sponged the edges to give it the vintage look.  The script type stamp is an old Cherry Pie one and I inked it in stamped off Blackberry Bliss by SU.  I added some gold pen to parts of the ancient script.  I  inked some of the trees from SU Winter Woods in the Pumice Stone to give them a soft effect.  The trees were cut out of Very Vanilla card stock and covered in ink and a touch of white gel pen for snow.  The ribbon and flowers were from my stash.  I wrapped some bronze thread around the card before sticking it to some SU Crumb Cake.  I also added the Reindeer from Gina K Designs and the snowflakes from the same set called Season of Joy.  I love how this turned out and may well keep this colour palette for this year's cards.

 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY #416

Our sketch challenge at TSOT #416 this week had the optional theme of adding Christmas in July.

I wanted to have a go at using white ink and coloured pencils.  I've used a set from Gina K Designs called Season of Joy as I just adore these little mugs!  I stamped them first in Brilliance Moonlight White ink and then coloured them in with SU colouring pencils. I used a white gel pen to write over the letters.  I used Versamark to add the snowflakes as a background for the red banner.

The background paper is from a set called Festive Chalkboard from Craftwork cards and I think it echoes the idea of the chalk in the main image.