If you’re like me, cards for the men in your life are a point of frustration. When an occasion arises and I have to make a card for my husband or my father or another male relative, I usually get stuck. Most of my stamps are flowers and girly stuff, because that’s what I’m drawn to. Well, I’ve decided to put an end to the all the girly stuff! I bought And Many Mower from the Occasions Mini and killed two birds with one stone!! It’s Father’s Day and Masculine Birthday stamps all rolled into one set!

Here is a sample I made using And Many Mower. As you know I love me some faux watercoloring using my markers and the aquapainter! The image was stamped in Versamark on watercolor paper, and embossed with Black Detail Embossing Powder. The, using Real Red, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, and Black Markers, I colored in the image, followed by a few swipes of my aquapainter to blend the colors.

I layered the image onto a piece of Riding Hood Red card stock and added a strip of “grass” using Old Olive and my scissors. The card base is Creamy Caramel, sponged with the same color ink for texture. Finishing off the card is a strip of Basic Black card stock behind the main image. Inside, I glued a 4″ x5 1/4″ piece of white card stock and stamped the sentiment that goes with this stamp: “And Many Mower”. So cute!

The past few days have been extremely hot here–like 89 degrees HOT. I have no idea what happened to Spring but hopefully it comes back sooner rather than later. Maybe having Spring on the brain inspired this card.

I haven’t used this navy polka dotted vellum yet from Taste of Textiles until today. I layered it onto a piece of Bashful Blue card stock, with small glue dots in each corner. I slipped some Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin ribbon around the vellum layer and tied a not on the right hand side of the card. A little tip: I applied some snail just under the ribbon in a few spots to keep it flat against the vellum.

The flower is from the Pretties Kit, which I embellished by adding a Kiwi Kiss Corduroy Brad in the center. I adhered that to the base using a large glue dot. On the bottom, I stamped the “You’re Invited” sentiment from Warm Wishes in Kiwi Kiss ink on Whisper White, cut it out and adhered it to the vellum.

I’m not sure these colors will work for my friend’s shower, but it was a pretty card nonetheless and I’m going to share it with her anyway.

This is a card I’m going to give my friend at her bridal shower (not the friend I’m making the invitations for). It’s similar to the one I made here except on steroids! It matches the gift bag I’m using for my friend’s gift almost perfectly.

Inside, the greeting is from Congrats and says “congratulations” and “on joining the wedded bliss club”. The card base is a piece of Pretty in Pink card stock, layered with Textured Chocolate Chip. The polka dots were made with my 1/2″ and 3/4″ Circle Punches from Pixie Pink and Pretty in Pink card stock. The bride from For the Bride was stamped in Pixie Pink ink on Whisper White and layered onto a piece of Pixie Pink to match. I popped the image layer up with dimensionals as well.

The “For the Bride” was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink at the bottom to finish it off.

This is my attempt at “country” or a little more of a rustic bridal shower invitation–which is a big stretch for me because I never really do that style. For the Bride is an elegant set, but when you mix it with textured kraft and hemp twine, keeping the colors pretty and soft, you can get a totally different look.

Here, I used Pink Pirouette as a card base. Then, I took a strip of the Striped Kraft from Taste of Textiles and layered it on a slightly larger piece of Close to Cocoa card stock. The hemp twine was wrapped around the Kraft/Cocoa layer twice and knotted.

Again, the image is from For the Bride, stamped in Creamy Caramel ink on Whisper White card stock. I layered it on a piece of Close to Cocoa and adhered it to the base using dimensionals.

The sentiment was a stamp I found in the $1 bin at Michael’s and I stamped it in Close to Cocoa onto the card base.

Sorry for another bridal shower card but I’m working on ideas for Shower invitations so you’ll have to bear with me for a few more posts!

This card just came together on a whim and I LOVED the result! Originally, the 3/4″ circles were going to be a faux scallop edge around the main image. Next thing I knew, they were scattered about against the Textured chocolate chip card stock and BINGO–it hit me–polka dots!

Card base is Pink Pirouette card stock with a wide band of textured Chocolate Chip card stock cut to 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. I stamped the bride from For the Bride in Cameo Coral ink onto Whisper White card stock and trimmed it to fit. Then, using my 3/4″ circle punch, I punched out Pink Pirouette and Cameo Coral circles, gluing them to the textured background.

I’m going to leave this blank for now, in case my friend does not choose this one for her invitations. That way, I can use it to give as a wedding or shower card for myself.

Another sample to get my creative juices flowing. I will show this to my friend who asked me to help her with her Bridal Shower invites. Being that she’s not sure on the theme or color scheme yet, I’m going with bright summery colors since it’s going to be in June/July.

The base here is a 5 1/2″ square of Basic Gray card stock. That was layered with a 5″ square of Apricot Appeal and a 4 3/4″ square of Whisper White.  As in my previous post, I ran the White through the printer first, then cut it to size. Here, I used Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set, and stamped one of the flower images in Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss, and Apricot Appeal several times along the left side. Next, I took my Martha Stewart Glue Pen (great product btw) and dotted some of the glue onto the centers of the flower. Then, I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the glue and there you go–Sparkly Centers!

A friend asked me to make her Bridal Shower invitations. I’ve got some ideas brewing, but she’ll have the final say. I made a few samples for her to look at. Keeping in mind these are invitations and have to be made in mass, I’m trying to keep things relatively simple and easy to reproduce. I’m not sure coloring each flower from Upsy Daisy stamp with markers is easy but I like the way it looks!

The card base is Cameo Coral 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ layered with a piece of Apricot Appeal cut to 4″ x 5 1/2″. The Whisper White layer was run through the printer and then cut to 3 3/4″ x 5 1/2″. Next, I stamped the flower from Upsy Daisy by coloring the image directly on the stamp with Stampin Up Markers. I used Old Olive and Certainly Celery for the stems, Pixie Pink, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun, and Pumpkin Pie for the flowers. If you notice, the flowers are two-toned, which I achieved by starting with the lighter color, then going back over the tips of the flower with the darker shade.

Here is a similar version I made, this time coloring the flowers each in a single color. I also added a Jumbo Basic 5/8″ Brad in silver to add interest to the top corner. Using the cropadile, I punched a hole in the Whisper White layer and put in the brad, then I adhered the White layer to the base using dimensionals.

This sample invitation was also based on the www.tinyprints.com version I mentioned earlier. It uses the stamp set Season of Friendship which is one of my all time favorites (I say that a lot don’t I?) but this one truly is one of my faves!

Card base is a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Baja Breeze layered with a 4″ x 5 1/4″ Whisper White. I printed the invitation wording out on the computer first, then cut the paper to size, rounded the corners with my corner rounder punch, and stamped the tree in Chocolate Chip ink. The bird was stamped in Baja Breeze ink.

At the top, I added a glittery cross by using sticky tape and Brown Supernova Fine Cosmo Glitter. It sticks great and holds up well. Hardly any glitter rubbing off at all even if I try to rub my finger over it. Please see my previous posts for tips on how to make the cross.

Based on a design from www.tinyprints.com this is the third sample invitation I made for my nephew’s baptism.

Card base is 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ Baja Breeze card stock. Whisper White card stock was stamped with leaves from Embrace Life in Basic Gray ink. The invitation wording was printed out on the computer, and using the RGB codes, I was able to match the blue color font to Baja Breeze. Font used is Bickham Script. I clipped the corners of the white layer with my corner rounder punch for a finished look.

Finally, the cross at the top is made from Sticky Tape and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. See my previous post for more details on how to make the cross.

I think I like this one more than the original. Plus, regular postage applies for mine, since it doesn’t requie a square envelope!

OK, this one I didn’t think I’d like when I was making it, but honestly, it has become my favorite! Originally this was designed as a photo card for a birth announcement, but I changed it to fit my occasion.

Necessity really is the mother of invention! I don’t have any cross or religious stamps, which forced me to come up with an alternative. That’s how I came up with the idea to use Sticky Tape and glitter to make a cross. I absolutely LOVE it! Here, I used Brown Supernova Cosmo Glitter to make the cross (see previous post for how to cut the Sticky Tape). Then, I punched out the cross with a 1 1/4″ punch and layered it onto a 1 3/8″ Baja Breeze Circle, adhered with dimensionals.

The base is a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock. The bottom striped piece is from Parisian Breeze Textured DSP, cut to 1″ x 4″. I tucked it behind the white invitation panel (which I printed on the computer) and adhered that to the base. Note: I used the RGB codes to make the name on the invitation Baja Breeze R:250; G:201; B:201 and used Libby font for the name. Check out Krystal Kuckenbaker’s RGB codes here. Thanks Krystal!