Masculine Cards, the sequel

Happy Memorial Day, all.  I hope you are enjoying your holiday.  I know it is not June yet, but I have had such a wonderful response to my call for masculine cards, I thought I would share some now.  Maybe if you are having a hard time thinking in terms of "masculine", these might give you some ideas.  It is my personal opinion that so many of our cards can be made into masculine ones with a change of paper and colors.  Think neutrals - i.e. browns, dark hues, black/gray.  Check out some of the colors on these cards.  The natural colors help to make the card more "mature" for our older recipients.

The first group comes from Betty R. - The neutral colors add to the maleness of the cards.

Some wonderful cards from Kate D. -  Blues and browns are great together.  Even the bird card comes across as a masculine design.

I'll throw in one that I made....

We should not overlook our younger males.  This is such a cute card from Connie M. for that little cowboy.

And last but certainly not least, from Roberta G., we have more for the younger age group.  As her last card says, she "nailed it".:

I have more to share, but will wait until June to post.  Hope these cards inspire you to think "manly".  It's fun to see what colors and images you have that will combine to create a card targeting the men.  Let's see your creations!

Tip of the Day:

Don't start your grill under an eave or patio covering.  Be sure to have lots of ventilation and have a wonderful holiday!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs, Jill

The Impossible Card

Good morning, one and all.  Two things happened the other day...coincidence?  Who knows, but I am in love with a new card design.  First, I received cards from Lenora S. for my charities.  One design in particular was new to me and I was studying it to try to figure how she made it.  Then, lo and behold, a "just for you" popped up on my Pinterest board and there was this fold! It's called The Impossible Card since it looks so intricate.  But, if you go to You Tube, there are plenty of instructions on making this deceptively simple design.  One thing I noticed, though, was that for my charities that use our cards for writing home, there was precious little space to actually write on.  So, I simply mounted my design on heavy card base, and there it is - a new and fun card.  Either way, mounted or unmounted, this is such a fun card to make with so many possibilities!

Here is Lenora S.'s card that first intrigued me - isn't it absolutely adorable?:

Here are several I have made, mounted on card stock so that they can be used for writing home.  I think the idea of the fold is still visible:

(Notice that two of them are masculine?  The top one was a special request.  She didn't even want a saying, thus the blank banner.)

TIP OF THE DAY:  Here is a picture of one of the cards before mounting -

  Front

  Back

I used double sided paper which is why the back is so "pretty".  I'm thinking you could attach white or ivory papers on top of the back as layers and give space for writing.  That is one way to keep the fold pristine without having to mount it.  It gives a little more writing area that way, but for the military units overseas who use them to write back home on, I believe the card base mount is the way to go.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs, Jill

Boy/Masculine Cards

Good morning.  If you are anything like me, I work better with a goal in mind.  For the rest of this month, I have decided to make only male/masculine/boy cards.  So many of the Send a Smile 4 Kids volunteers need this type of card, regardless of the actual theme, so I decided to help out where I could.  (BTW:  I am one of those volunteers who need male cards of all themes. Hint, hint...)  Here are a few I have come up with so far:

(So many scraps were used in making these cards)

A few will have sayings on them, but the majority will be without sentiments.  That allows for the card to be used for a variety of occasions, depending on what the sender needs.  

Tip of the Day:  The last card above, the one with the football, is my inspiration for today's tip.  The background piece comes from a pad I bought at Michael's years ago.

It came in 4 different sports themes so of course I bought two of each.  Thank goodness I did as I have not seen these since.  The bad thing about these pads is that the paper is extremely thin.  Using my ATG caused the paper to wrinkle and not look good.  So, I used a combination of double sided tape around the edges and Rubber Cement in the middle of each piece.  

Are you familiar with Rubber Cement?  It is perfect for this type of "problem"  I also use it on rice paper and vellum.  The BAD thing about Rubber Cement is that it is a contact glue.  You put a very thin layer of glue on each piece, wait a few seconds for it to dry and then press together. It adheres immediately and permanently - no time or room for moving if you make a mistake.  But, your thin paper will be flat and you will not be able to see adhesive through the paper.  I don't have too many papers I use this with, but when it is thin, this is my "go-to".  

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hugs, Jill

Highlighting Cards by Brenda Z. of Wi. / What to Do With Those Pesky Scraps

Brenda Z. of WI. is a repeat donor to the charities I mail cards to.  I had so much fun going through her box of cards today... they are so whimsical and detailed!  Here are just a few examples:

I know I have shown this box card before on my blog (check out the ones from Connie M. on an earlier blog), but I wanted to share Brenda's themes. I know the kids will get such a kick out of receiving these cards.  It must take time and patience to create such an awesome card.

 

And who wouldn't love getting this card.  I am thankful that Brenda made this a Birthday card instead of a Father's Day card as I do not need Father's Day cards this year.  How much fun for any male to get this, no matter what age.  Check out all the small tools and attention to detail!  Wow!

And last, but certainly not least - look at these incredible barn door slider cards.  Brenda has far more patience that I have!  Thank goodness for such generous card makers who share their creations with me. 

Thank you, Brenda.  Your cards are going to bring so much joy to so many!  You Rock!

TIP of THE DAY:   As promised, I will share my scrap story with you today.  After visiting a new friend in Arlington a few months ago (Roberta G.) and seeing how she organized her scraps, I came home and was determined to get a handle on all my boxes and drawers and bags of scraps.  Unlike the videos which say to throw any scrap under 6" away, I keep almost everything.  I KNOW I can make fun things out of scraps.  Are you the same way?  But, when push comes to shove, I can't find anything because I have SO MUCH!  My niece, Kelly, donated two hanging over-the-door containers/bags to me to start me off.  So, I got all motivated, dragged out one box of scraps and immediately got overwhelmed.  It is not in my nature to sort and organize.  So, enter Kelly in person - she had my scraps sorted, organized according to size, color or pattern in no time.  I sat and cut down scraps into 1.5" x 4" pieces as she worked to help out.  She ended up with 4 major categories - small scraps, medium scraps, large scraps, themes.  Each took up one side of the hanging bag.  And because Kelly is Kelly, she organized them in the rainbow color scheme.  This is how they turned out:

I hang these on the back of the two doors in my craft room.  (Notice how many empty slots there still are!  Room for even more scraps.) It is so easy to find what I need now or to coordinate colors when making cards.  And I find that I use scraps for so many types of cards.  Even when I just need banners, or circles - why cut into a full sheet of paper when a scrap will do?

I had several friends over the other day just to make scrap backgrounds.  It was so easy to find just the color and size scrap we wanted.

Here are some examples of the types of backgrounds or uses for scraps...

(Yes, the green corners should have been rounded as well.)

So many scraps!  So little time!

Thanks for stopping in today.  Hugs, Jill