I've been absent from the blogosphere for a bit, so thought I would post a quick share.
I think I've said this before, but for me one of the most challenging creative situations is creating masculine cards. There are so many beautiful papers and embellies that are ultra feminine - but for men I find the pickings rather slim. This weekend I had 2 boy cards to make (lucky me!) - one for my nephew who just turned 15, and the other for my step-dad. You would think that just having created a few man cards for Father's Day that I would have had my mojo on, but nope. Creating the man cards was as challenging for me this weekend as it ever has been. Here's the first one I managed to come up with: 
This was one of those cards that turned out nothing like I had intended it to. When I started out, I was looking to base my design on a card I saw recently in Stamper's Sampler (pg 110, Cherish the Moment by Ronnita Carridine, Apr/May/June 2009 issue - Ronnita doesn't seem to have a blog I can link out to, but she deserves a big shout out anyway!). I absolutley loved the muted background stamping that Ronnita had done and her card was finished simply with two pieces of coordinating ribbon placed near the bottom of the card and a stamped sentiment. Well, aside from the muted background stamping and the fact that I left significant 'white space' at the top of the card, this card evolved into something completely different. I stuck to using mostly cardstock with the exception of the one blue patterned strip. The Outdoor Denim twill tape and the buttons were my answer to adding some texture and dimension and the sentiment is from the soon to be released "It's Your Day" stamp set by Close To My Heart. (The set will be available in August 2009 as the Stamp of the Month). The background stamp I chose was from the set Legendary Moments (also CTMH) and while it's tricky to see in the picture, the background image was stamped a few times with Bamboo ink on Bamboo paper, but some of the images are stamped in 'second generation' so they are much lighter. I thought that this also added a little bit of depth to an otherwise very basic background. 
The second card that I managed to crank out was for my nephew and I again used the "It's Your Day" stamp set which I'm actually starting to really really like. When I first saw it I wasn't totally convinced that I would use it, but I can see the sentiments especially becoming a quick favourite. It's funny how that happens. Again I stuck with mostly cardstock, adding only that one small piece of patterned paper beneath the sentiment. The background is embossed with the 'Swirls' Cuttlebug folder and the little list up near the top right is adhered with pop dots. The cake itself turned out pretty cute I think. Each layer is a seperate stamp so CTMH has made it easy to make the cake multi-colored. I also really like the fact that the cake is kind of funky too and definately not formal. Very fitting for a 15 year old boy. The color combo (Outdoor Denim, Olive, Heavenly Blue, Bamboo and Sorbet) was another one of those accidental discoveries. It just so happened that the Sorbet ink was sitting on my desk and so I used it. I think that it gave the card just the right pump of bright colour that it needed. I think that without it, the whole thing might have looked rather drab. Tomorrow I'll post the girlie card I got to make this weekend as well. It was reallly fun to pull together. It took me a while and again, it was one of the creations that evolved away from what I had originally envisioned, but all in all it turned out pretty cute. So until tomorrow.
Happy Monday Everyone! I just wanted to pop in this morning and share one of the other Father's Day cards that I did indeed manage to create in time for the occasion. I took the no frills approach on this one and based my design on this card on Kathi's Corner, which in turn was inspired by this card on the Cards Blog. Now because I was going for something masculine - as you can see my card looks significantly different than either of those two, but I sure you'll agree that the basic structure is the same.
Sorry that the pic isn't the best --- I am in search of some instructions for improving my art photography.
So I'm a little late (as usual) getting crafty for Sunday's celebrations, but I thought I'd share what is the first of four cards that need to be made.
I know I promised to share my whole Enchilada project (see this post), but it's not quite shareable yet if you know what I mean.....so for now, here's another fun card.
A stamp set that hasn't seen ink in far too long is Lovely Buckles (CTMH). So when I stumbled on it in the drawer the other day -- I just had to whip up this cute card. I don't really know what I'll use it for, but I'll set is aside nonetheless. I suppose I could have chosen a more occasion specific sentiment, but I wanted something fun because it just seemed to suit my mood at that moment. I have a scrapbook layout in mind that uses the buckle as a page accent as well, but for some reason I'm just not in a scrappy mood right now. The card thing seems to be working for me (for the most part), so I think I'll stick with that for a bit longer. The kids have some birthday parties to attend this weekend, so perhaps I'll try my hand at some 'kid' cards next.
Before I cleaned up my desk, I decided to use some of the bits leftover from my scrapbook layouts to create a couple of cards. This one is my favourite of the bunch despite the fact that it is incredibly simple. As I have said before and as I'm sure you know, it is for some reason more difficult to create masculine cards. Now, I just need to come up with 3 more --- wish me luck!
The title says it all, doesn't it? I suppose it doesn't help that I'm suffering from terrible pains in my arms. I think it's a simple repetitive strain injury from working at the computer all day -- but yikes! it sure does impede my ability to stamp! Since I moved into my new house last year, I've been working (temporarily) at a small desk in my kitchen - with no keyboard tray, and I think it is finally taking it's toll. I have been waiting for my office to be built downstairs but I think this weekend I'm going to have to make some changes and get myself a more ergonomicly correct workstation. I don't want to invest a ton of money at this point, since whatever I buy will likely be temporary, but I don't think at this point that I have much choice.
So for now, here's another one from the archives to freshen up the page a bit. I needed a masculine card for a swap I was participating in, and it needed to be fairly simple. The images are from "Off Road" by CTMH and the ATV'er is coloured lightly with watercolour pencils. If I was to do this again, I think I would change the colours up since I'm not really a lover of orange and green - but when I made it, I had a bunch of this cardstock laying around that needed to be used up.
So for now, I'm off to get the kids skates sharpened.....I hope the break away from the computer will do my some good.
