Man Cards ...

I don't know about you but I often struggle with making cards for men.  Little boy cards are fine, teenagers and even young men I can cope with but when they get a bit older - like Dad age - I suddenly find myself in the realms of those awful cards that your Aunty Gladys sends to your Dad with pints of beer, footballers and sailing boats on the front - I'm sure you know the kind I mean.  When I look at my small amount *ahem* considerable okay them ever increasing :) stash I see flowers, pretty colours, glitter, sparkle and in general lots of feminine embellishments and papers so perhaps this is why I struggle with male cards.

So, I set myself a challenge to make some cards for men and off I went to rummage through the shelves of Jean's shop. It didn't take me long - in fact I just clicked on the New Products link - to find some really lovely papers and stamps that I thought might make some nice cards and this is what I did.

My card

I used the Music Background stamp to create my own background paper and stamped in brown ink onto kraft cardstock, then cut it out, layered onto black card and stitched around the edge with my sewing machine. Then I used foam dimensional pads to adhere it onto a white folded cardblank

I loved this black and cream spotted paper from the October Afternoon Thrift Shop paper pad so trimmed a smaller piece, layered onto more black card and stitched around the edge. I used a Making Memories slot punch to create a hole, threaded the ribbon through (who said male cards can't have ribbon?) and tied it in a knot

After using foam pads again to adhere the panel I then created a greeting with the Birthday Wishes sentiment stamp, trimmed and then layered onto the scraps of black cardstock

As a final touch - and because a card just isn't a card without some glitter and sparkle! - I added 3 black Kaisercraft rhinestones to balance the design

I hope you're feeling inspired to make those men in your life some of their own cards, love Andrea x