This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!
Hi there! How about another project (or two) for Man Card Monday? I love flowers, and I don’t deny that my blog is lots of flowers lots of the time, but at least once a month, I post a card with decidedly masculine overtones. This helps jumpstart my creativity a little by making me think outside of my normal floral, super feminine box as well as hopefully provide you with a little inspiration for that elusive man card! Last month, I shared some super graphic inspiration, featuring bold cool colors, lots of texture, and a few metallic elements. This month, I have changed things up with these subtle cards that feature a serene color palette and lots of greenery. I think greenery on it’s own is a perfect “neutral” that can be used for both men and women alike. Let’s get started with the details!
I kept my color palette very muted this month, with some warm gray/platinum and lovely greens created with Pine, Sage, and Aspen Pawsitively Saturated Inks from Simon Says Stamp. I have had the unfortunate need for sympathy and “thinking of you” cards for men recently, and so I wanted to offer encouraging sentiments without going over the top. The Well Wishes stamps and dies by CZ Design from Simon Says Stamp provide poignant sentiments with bold, graphic fonts that work perfectly for these gender neutral projects.
For my first card, I used the Pine, Sage, and Aspen inks to stamp the Leaf Edges in an ombré on my white A2 card front. Using my MISTI stamping tool, I stamped the top with the lightest ink, dabbing the edge of the ink line with my microfiber cloth to let it fade away a bit, which helps the ink colors blend into each other more seamlessly without adding harsh lines. I stamped the middle of the stamp with the middle color, again dabbing the edges with the cloth, then the darkest color at the bottom.
Once I had added all three ink colors to the stamp, I stamped the entire image again with embossing ink and covered it with clear embossing powder, giving me the ability to blend over the top without compromising the crispness of the stamped image. I also blended lightly in the corner using Aspen ink and a blending tool. Such a lovely, serene background!
Next, I die cut two Sword Fern die cuts from white cardstock, leaving them in place in the negative die cut space. I flipped them over and added a few pieces of Simon’s Very Very Low Tack Tape to the back to hold these delicate die cuts in place while I blended Pine ink in the center and Aspen ink on the edges. Despite a plethora of options for colored cardstock amongst my stash, I did not have an exact match for these unique shades of green, so creating my own custom colored cardstock was super easy with some ink pads and blending tools! I die cut a Nested Domed Arches die cut from some heavyweight vellum to soften the area behind the die cuts and sentiment. I popped up the blended ferns and embossed greeting from Well Wishes on top of the vellum arch. I used some neutral twine to add a a fun textural element to the card, as well.
For my second card of the set, I began by blending the detailed stencil from the Dimensional Cubes Stencils using Cozy ink. I did spray the super delicate stencil with some Pixie spray first to make sure that the stenciled lines stayed nice and crisp. I trimmed the stenciled background panel down slightly and matted with some Midnight Green cardstock from Simon Says Stamp to create a thin, super dark green frame around the edge. I also die cut some Windswept Leaves foliage dies, again from white cardstock, then blended Pine ink in the center and Aspen ink on the edges, keeping these delicate die cuts in place with Very Very Low Tack Tape on the back of the negative die cut piece.
Next, I die cut the Circle Thin Frames dies from some white cardstock. I like to leave these frame dies together, though they can be snipped apart, so that I can run them all through my machine at once and have tons of leftover frames to use for future projects! I backed one of the white frames with a vellum die cut circle, again to soften the busy background pattern, and adhered it to the patterned background with liquid adhesive dots on the solid portion of the frame. I arranged the leaf die cuts around the embossed sentiment die cuts from Well Wishes and adhered them to the card front. To avoid adding feminine “sparkle” to the card front, I added a few white enamel dots for a bit of extra textural interest.
Well, that’s all for my Man Card Monday project today! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!
