Cards for men

With Father's Day happening tomorrow there has been a real flurry of challenges asking for cards for men. I completed my card for Dad a couple of weeks ago so I decided to make a couple of all-purpose masculine cards just to have on hand. Keep scrolling down to see both cards.

The first card gave me an excuse to use one of my latest purchases from Simon Says Stamp. It turns out that they carry quite a few art stamps. I ordered up two - the one on the left by Charles Wysocki and the one on the right by Gary Patterson.

I have yet to colour the Wysocki stamp satisfactorily (the tree bark is way beyond my abilities) and suspect that it may become one of those items that I look at, love and never use.

I had better success colouring the Patterson stamp and made this get well card with it.  The cat looks as if he's going to cough up a hairball or perhaps just did too much catnip. I based the card design on two different sketch challenges which was a first for me but the sketches were quite similar and actually merged quite nicely.

Challenges:

• Critter Sketch - sketch and use ribbon
• MAWTT - sketch
• Incy Wincy - for the guys
• One Stop Craft Challenge - for the boys
• Polka Doodle - masculine themed
• Raise the Bar - what a special guy
• Simon Says Stamp - PCP group - oh boy!
• ABC Challenge - "W" is for weather (OK, excuse the pun but the cat is "under the weather")

Recipe:

• Stamp Happens, Gary Patterson "All Tied Up" rubber stamp
• Copic markers
• Basic Grey "Granola" patterned papers
• Ribbon (stash)
• Brads (stash)
• Nestabilities

This next card was very quick & simple to make and will be useful for a lot of purposes. The digi stamp is from Tiddly Inks and is coloured using Adobe Photoshop. The paper is Basic Grey "Granola". I used a sketch from Corrosive Challenges.

Challenges:

• Daisy Doodles - father's day or manly
• Corrosive Challenges - sketch

Thanks for looking and happy Father's Day to all!

Daddy's Girl

I couldn't resist this digital stamp from Tiddly Inks even though my Dad only wears ties for weddings & funerals.  And yet, this just captures the feel of my relationship with him when I was a little girl. And I love that, with the addition of a few freckles, this is even a pretty good representation of me (right down to the kiss curl on the forehead).

After colourng the image with my Copics, I cut it with a Nestabilities Label, then matted it on some dark brown cardstock, also cut with the Nestabilities. I also added an embossed edge to the matte for some extra detail. This patterned paper has been in my stash for years and I'm thrilled to have finally found a use for it. I quite like the way all the colours work together. I hand-cut the tag and matted it on kraft card. Because I'm not sure when I will use this card, I didn't add any sentiment - I can slide out the tag and add the message of my choice any time.

Recipe:

• 
  
  Tiddly Inks, digi image
• 
  
  Copic markers
• 
  
  Kraft cardstock (stash)
• 
  
  Carolee's Creations, patterned paper
• 
  
  Spellbinders nestabilities, Label 8
• 
  
  Ribbon (stash)

Challenges:

• 
  
  C.R.A.F.T. - blue & green
• 
  
  Paper Sundaes - kraft & blue
• 
  
  Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Father's Day or masculine card
• 
  
  I Love Digi - for Dad
• Crafty Catz - the boyz are back
• 
  
  Simon Says Stamp (PCP group) - oh, boy
• 
  
  By the Cute and Girly - something old (pp), something new (digi stamp), something borrowed (tag concept), something blue
• 
  
  Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - for the boys
• 
  
  The Crafty Pad - make a card for any male

Retirement card & supporting a good cause

My uncle has recently retired and when I saw this digital stamp (Ronnie Relaxing) at Pollycraft, I just knew that it would be perfect. I also love that the purchase of this stamp supports a worthy charity - the image was drawn specifically for, and all of the proceeds are being donated to, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service (go here to read the full story). The image is coloured with Copic markers and then matched with Basic Grey patterned papers. I used a Just Us Girls sketch.

In regards to colouring, I wanted to show you a visual of why paper choice is so important with Copics. Take a look at the two coloured images below - can you believe that they are both coloured using the exact same copic markers/colours? The one on the right is coloured on Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte and the one on the right is coloured on Cornish Heritage Farms Simply Smooth. I knew intellectually that paper mattered to colour but the significance of the difference surprised me. So, what did I learn from this experiment? Always print off my colour chart onto the same type of paper I plan to use for my stamping.

Recipe:

• Basic Grey "Granola" patterned papers
• Tales from Pollycraft "Ronnie Relaxing" digital stamp
• Copic markers
• Brads (stash)

Challenges:

• Just Us Girls, sketch
• Digital Tuesday, "a toast to you" (include food or drink in your project)
• Play Date Cafe, use light blue, light green & off-white (I also picked up the greys of the antique'd birdhouses in the photo)
• All Sorts Challenge, animals
• Pile it On, boyish colours 
• Crafty Emma Charity Challenge - use Ronnie Relaxing
• Creative Cottage - use circles
• Creative Inspirations - celebration