Pretty Butterflies ...

Jean sent me this gorgeous set of butterfly stamps and I couldn't wait to use them on a card.

I used the biggest of the butterflies which measures about 7.5 cmc wide. I stamped in black Memento ink and coloured with Copic Markers

I just used the darker colours in the centre fading out to the lighest on the edges of his wings

I coloured two of the same butterflies, cut the wings from the second and glued them on top of the first, curling the edges of the wings up

I used a second stamp from Jean, the For You greeting block by Purple Onion Designs. I didn't have the right colour inkpad so I used a Stampin Up marker to colour all over the stamp before printing.

I cut it into a tag shape by drawing around the lid off a jar of flowers :)

I kept the design of the card really simple by leaving off any patterned paper and getting all the colour from the coordinating ribbon, cardstock, ink and the coloured butterfly

I used:

Purple Onion Butterfly stamp

Purple Onion Greeting block stamp

Kaisercraft Rhinestones

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