A Masculine Card For Father's Day

Happy belated Father's Day everyone!  I hope everyone had a great Father's Day, we certainly did.  We were childless but we had a nice time together as a couple and of course the kids called to wish their Father a Happy Father's Day.

I decided to wait to show the card I made for my husband till after Father's Day because I never know who is snooping on my blog and I don't want him to see it beforehand.  I think it's such a generic masculine card it could be used for any event for a guy and not just Father's Day.

The stamp set is an old retired set from Stampin' Up! called "Thoughts of Father".  I just love this set.  They just don't make stamps like they use to and I'm very grateful I still own a lot of these old sets.  

Because the image is so intricate I used pencils to color it in.  I used designer paper for the background and then matted the main image base onto a dark blue paper.   I chose all the colors and papers to keep the card as masculine as possible.  

The inside of the card is stamped with a Father's Day message, but this card could easily be turned into a birthday card with a different message stamped inside.

And now for some Father's Day pictures.  We first went to church.  Yes, our church is open.  Some people seemed surprised by that when I posted these pictures to Facebook.  Our church reopened at 40% capacity about four weeks ago.  Our democrat governor illegally extended our lockdown so the republican legislature took him to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the judges ruled the lockdown illegal because the governor did not consult with the state legislature.  Our church then reopened two weeks later following CDC guidelines.  It is wonderful being back with the church body again and experiencing corporate worship.  I will never take going to church for granted again!

After church we took advantage of all the "freebies" the local restaurants had to offer for Father's Day.  First we went to Arby's where all father's got a free sandwich of their choice.  The dining room of the Arby's was still closed so we had to use the drive thru.  At first we were bummed, but it ended up being a a good thing because we found a sweet local park we didn't know about.  I googled local parks on my phone and found a park only about a mile from the Arby's where we could eat our lunch. It was such a cute park with a little bridge and creek.  There was a nice trail to that we hope to hike in the fall.

After our picnic lunch we went to Culvers for a free Father's Day ice cream.  Their dining room was open, (at a smaller capacity) so we took advantage of it.  It was the first time we sat down inside a restaurant since this nightmare began.  It's still weird with half the tables and chairs gone, the workers wearing masks, and all the "stand here" signs, cones, and tape, but it's better than the dining room being closed.

 

So there you have it, how we celebrated another holiday in our Covid world.  How was your Father's Day?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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How To Add Interesting Detail To A Simple Card With Stitching

It was my husband's birthday in December and I made him this handmade card and gave him a pair of very nice work gloves which he requested.  Making a card for a man is always hard, especially if they're not into hunting or sports.  And it becomes increasingly difficult when you're making a card year after year for the same man;  you begin to run out of creative ideas!  So as usual, I perused Pinterest for ideas but I really didn't find anything.  Next, I started paging through an old card-making book of mine and found a sketch very similar to the card I ended up making.   It was very simple, but the stitching made it more interesting.  Since I was pressed for time during the holidays (as I usually am) I decided to give it a try.

It might be a little hard to see in the photo, but the top and bottom grey and white border is sewn on and so is the candle and candle flame.  I used a small piece of twine to represent the wick.  I glued the green panel and grey and white border to the card base, and I hand cut the candle pieces and glued them in place before using my sewing machine to sew them onto the card.

The "make a wish" sentiment is a die cut from My Favorite Things.  The stars were made with a Cuttlebug die.

When hubby first opened this card he opened it upside down and was a bit perplexed.  He wasn't quite sure what it was. 🤣. It was not the typical card I make for him.  I just chuckled and said "Sorry!  I'm running out of ideas for what type of card to make for you!"  I'll have to try harder for Valentine's Day.  But he appreciated the gesture nevertheless.  I think he eventually realized how much work goes into even making a simple card!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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A Handmade Masculine Card

Editoral Note:  This is a pre-scheduled post.  I am in Illinois for the week visiting my children and grand babies.  They do not have Internet service so I will be unable to post or respond to comments till I return.

Summer is months of birthdays and anniversaries for me so I am always busy in my craft room making cards.  All my children and grand babies were born during the summer, plus almost everyone gets married in the summer, so I have lots of cards to make!

My son--in-law's birthday is in August and this was the card I made for him.

To make this card I used an old, retired background stamp from Stampin' Up!.  I stamped just a portion of it on an angle in brown ink.  The stop watch is an old Inkadinkado stamp.  I stamped it on separate card stock, colored it in, cut it out, then popped it up on dimensionals.

The sentiment is also an old SU! stamp.  I stamped it on a piece of separate white card stock, and cut it out using an MFT die.  Then I sewed it on to the main white panel using my sewing machine.  The entire card base was then glued to a brown card base.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A "Manly" Thank You Card

Do you like the humorous title to my post?  There's a funny story behind it.  We finally got hit with some significant snowfall here in Wisconsin, followed by the Polar Vortex.  Hubby went to work as usual, leaving our very long, long, driveway packed with snow.  Our sweet, 80+ neighbor came and plowed our driveway out in the bitter cold.  It was such a blessing because we don't own a plow and hubby would have had to hand shovel it in -30 temperatures after working a 12 hour day at work plus a one hour commute.  So, my husband bought a gift card to our neighbor's  favorite restaurant and asked me to make a Thank You card for him.  I already had Thank You cards in my stash, but when I showed them to him he rejected them all because they were "too girly".  So back to the craft room I went to create this more "Manly" Thank You Card.

I used my Deer Die set from MFT.  I just love this die!  The deer are so sweet, and I think it works for both feminine and masculine cards.   Because I had limited time, I kept the card very clean and simple by just stamping a foliage image in the corner and adding a sentiment.

For the inside a stamped another sentiment and repeated the same foliage image in the corner.

Isn't this deer just the cutest?  I just love him!  I don't buy a lot of dies as they are very expensive and I own a Circuit machine, but this one I knew I'd get a lot of use out of.  I live in "Hunter's Country".  We have the most and largest bucks in the state here and almost all the men I know hunt, so I knew this die would come in handy.

If you're wondering how I got all the different colors on the leafy image, I stamped onto a Spectrum stamp pad.  Easy peasy!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

"You Rock!": A Handmade Card For A Male Musician

My son turned 27 in August and this is the card I made for him.  He is a percussionist, so I used a drum image and a "rock" sentiment stamp from Inkadinkado.

I chose masculine colors and papers from DCWV "Rock Star" MatStack.  I stamped the drum image on tan card stock and cut it into a circular shape using Spellbinder's Nestabilities.  I cut a larger more jagged shape out of brown card stock using Spellbinder's again and placed it behind the drum image panel.

The sentiment was stamped on blue card stock and cut with a MFT banner die.

I finished the card off by putting the designer paper on dark brown card stock and adhering the entire thing to a vanilla card stock base.

And there you have it!  An easy, simple, masculine card for the musical in your life!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Handmade Card For The Amazing Man In Your Life

 If any of my fellow paper crafting bloggers are still following me I have a surprise for you:  I MADE A CARD!  I know, shocking right?  Believe it or not, I do still craft.  But my issue is I can never post what I crafted until after the holiday or event because I don't want my loved ones to see them.  Then, I don't post them on my blog because I think "Why would anyone want to see this now that the holiday is over?".  So, they never get posted.  I did however "save" this year's Easter's cards in my files to show next year....BEFORE Easter.

The card I have to show you today I made for my husband for Father's Day.  However, because it's really just a masculine card I felt I could post this on my blog after the holiday was long over.

I made this masculine card for my AMAZING husband.  The sentiment is from an old MFT stamp set, but you could easily print this sentiment out on your printer too.  I then cut rectangles with Spellbinder's Dies and the stars were cut with Cuttlebug Dies.  I chose a masculine plaid paper for the background.

For the inside, I added another MFT sentiment from the same set, and more stars.  The "Happy Father's Day" sentiment was a separate old stamp from my collection.  I think I picked it up in the dollar bins at my local craft store.

For Mother's Day our church offered to take free family portraits of all the moms and their families.  Unfortunately my children couldn't be with me that day, but we thought "Why not get our picture as a couple taken?"  It was a wonderful treat to finally get a nice photograph of just the two of us.  Most of the time either I'm taking his picture or he's taking mine.  I love the way it turned out too!  It's so rare when we both look good at the same time!

I wore the same dress I wore in Savannah and he picked a dark polo to coordinate with me.  We got lucky and the background went very well with what we chose to wear.  I had no idea what the background would be before the photo shoot.

I received the prints just in time for Father's Day so I printed one out and framed it in a masculine frame for his desk.  What better gift to give the man who has everything and doesn't want anything.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

You Make Me So Happy I Could Wag My Tail

 This is a birthday card I made for my son.  He loves all animals, but he is actually a cat person.  I knew when I made this card that he would say something about the doggie image, but I loved the sentiment so much I used it anyway.  So sure enough, when he opened his present and saw the card, he said "Cute, but you know I'm a cat person".  I replied "I KNEW you were going to say that!  I made it for the sentiment!".

Speaking of wagging tails, cats also wag their tails when happy and content...though not quite so vivaciously as a dog.  I just returned home from an eleven day trip and I had to board my cat while I was away.  Putting him in a kennel for that long was the hardest thing I ever had to do.  When I dropped him off at the vet and saw him in the kennel cage he was trembling.  It made me so sad I cried myself to sleep that night.  I just returned home yesterday and when I picked up him up and brought him home he was quite traumatized.  I don't want to get into all the details, but it wasn't good.  Later that day, after a few hours at home, I noticed his personality was slowly starting to return to normal.  He was laying on top of the stone fireplace, and I walked into the room and sweetly started to talk to him...and his tail started wagging!  I knew then he was starting to feel better, and eventually, he accepted my affection and even came and laid down with me and cuddled.  Oh, it was such a relief.  I'm not planning another vacation until spring, and hopefully I can figure something else to do with him, because I don't know if I want to board him again!

I made this card with one of those $1.00 stamps you will find in the dollar bins at JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts.  The paper and "Bow Wow" sentiment came from a DCWV stack called "Pets".  I cut the circles out with a Spellbinders Nestabilities Die and I adhered the "Bow Wow" sentiment with brads.

I colored the image with Copic Markers.

And here is a picture of the birthday boy!  I couldn't be there on his actual birthday but I was so happy he received so much attention from his church family.  They threw him a party, bought him presents, and took him out to dinner.  It's so nice to know that other people are loving your child when you are living far apart from one another.

Are you a cat lover, dog lover, or both?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Modern, Masculine Card

Anyone got any guy friends or relatives who are not into sports or hunting?  I certainly do!  My daughter and son-in-law's birthdays are only a week or so apart.  Last week I shared the birthday card I made for my daughter's birthday, this week I'm sharing the card I made for my son-in-law's birthday.  

Although Jason is very fit and athletic;  an accomplished gymnast and dancer, and he also runs regularly, he is not into competitive sports.  So when I spotted this card HERE I thought it would make a good alternative to the traditional sports/hunting card.

 Of course I had to change all the papers and sentiments to use what I had on stock, but the concept is the same.  The sentiment is a MFT die cut from gold metallic paper, and the little dots are black metallic embellishments glued on.

I really liked the clean, modern design of this card.  It was so quick and easy to make too!  

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Father's Day Card

This is a card I made for my husband for Father's Day.  He loves squirrels so I thought this image by Clear Dollar Stamps would be perfect for his card.  

I know most paper-crafters post their cards before holidays to give their readers ideas, but my family reads my blog so I always have to wait till after the holiday to post their cards.  Even though Father's Day is over, this would be a great design and image to use for any masculine card...just change the sentiment!

My husband and I have a number of bird feeders outside our kitchen window.  We get such a kick out of watching all the crazy antics the squirrels go through to get some seed.  One day we saw one squirrel hanging for dear life on a weak branch, only to spin around, hang upside down, and eventually fall.  It was so funny...don't worry, the squirrel was fine.  He only dropped a couple of feet.  This image of the squirrel hanging onto that small branch reminded me of what we watched from our kitchen window.

I stamped the squirrel image onto the card stock panel, but then I also stamped it again onto scrap card stock, colored it, cut it out, and adhered it over the image on the card stock panel to create dimension.

Everything else was stamped onto a white card stock base.  I then adhered that base to a black card stock base and then onto the card itself.

The "Happy Father's Day" sentiment is a dollar stamp from Studio G.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!