masculine

Woodland Scene

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

The awesome techniques used in making this card certainly aren’t new, but I finally got around to trying it myself.  I have always wanted to, and last weekend I had the perfect opportunity.  Interestingly enough, I spend enough time preparing to teach others, I often neglect teaching myself.  Thank you YouTube!  And of course all of those terribly creative crafters who share their videos.

101_1826

This project didn’t take too long to create in its basic form, but I did spend a good amount of time water coloring it.  The truck stamp was stamped with versafine ink on the recessed side of the embossing folder.  Then the paper was placed and those pieces were run through the big shot machine.  This gave me the embossed trees and the stamped truck. A brayer was inked up with crumb cake and gently rolled over the embossed trees. That is how they became colored so tidily.

After that, it all came down to painting.  Some parts went quickly, like the sky and grass, but I took my time on the truck.  I went over areas several times to get the tones I liked and fix the creative moments I might not have wanted to happen.  When I finished the painting it looked a bit too crisp for the setting, so I sponged over all the the card front and then heavily around the edges.  That worked.

101_1827

I did make a tag with the stitched framelits that says happy birthday.  I just couldn’t bring myself to place it on the front.  I didn’t want to cover up any of the picture.  It ended up being placed inside.  It isn’t like me to have a layered sentiment inside of a card, but today ended up being that day.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Nailed It!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

How about a tiny tool kit for a gift bag?  These tool framelits are so fantastic, they really just make me giggle. This set is a little more elegant than others, but I still found myself playing with them before I put them in place.  I realized this photo makes it look like it could be a card, but it is a gift bag made from half a sheet of cardstock.  The tools were die cut from a piece of water color paper that had been painted with several ink colors and some liquid metal colors as well.  Love that look!

3-2

I tried to keep the whole hexagon theme going on here and it turned out nice. The paper is so great it speaks for itself.  What a great set of paper, really.  This piece is foiled and heavier than the others.  After I die cut the large hexagon piece, using a die from the same set, I embossed it for another layer of dimension.  The sentiment background was cut from another piece from the same set.  The classic label punch worked pretty great for the actual sentiment and kind of nestled as well.

A bit of ribbon for the handle was all it took.  I was trying to give it the look of a bucket handle.  Not sure if that happened, but it looked pretty good. The large hexagon was placed before the tools, raised up on a couple of dimensionals.  Then I just started wedging the tools in place and squished some tombo glue underneath to keep them in place.  Fun!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Thanks For Always Building Me Up

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I love tiny things, also terribly over sized things, but tiny things are my favorite.  Die cutting these tiny tools, painting them, and placing them in a tiny jar really made me giggle. Making a masculine card usually doesn’t elicit giggles, but this one sure did.

2-19

The tools were stamped on water color paper, painted and then die cut.  I tried to keep the tools in color scheme similar to real ones which was really kind of boring.  The screwdriver is my favorite. The tiny screws and nuts are so adorable though.  I used foil paper for those and thought they looked great. They all got a bit of sponging with soft suede to kind of grunge them up a bit.

The background paper got a light water coloring with the same colors I painted the tools with, sponged as well and then I ran it through the big shot using the hexagon dynamic texture embossing folder.  So very cool, love that folder.

The jar was stamped on water color paper and lightly painted with a very light blue.  I then die cut it as well as a piece of velum card stock.  Some of the screws and nuts were glued to the bottom and the tools placed on as well.  I glued the velum jar over the top to make the glass look happen.  I hid some adhesive under the tag, allowed some to show on the screws at the bottom, then reinforced the top wrapping it in gold metallic thread. Good deal!

2-19-1

Have a creative day!

Moana

First Time I Saw You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Too adorable for words.  How can you make a masculine card adorable?  Just like this.  The catalog shows this product more in line with Father’s Day, but I seriously couldn’t wait.  I felt like making the die cut pieces and just playing with them, how silly.

1-27

The background paper was stamped with the saw image in delightful dijon in a random but still kind of organized way.  I then layered that piece on a slightly larger piece of coordinating card stock.

The saw and sentiment were stamped on water color paper so I could paint on them without warping.  I used the same delightful dijon on the saw blade and went with a wash of early espresso for the handle.  I did go over the screws on both the saw and the sentiment with gold wink of stella.  Subtle, yet just enough.  You can’t do too much on a masculine card, kind of defeats the purpose.

1-27-1

I touched each side of the sentiment tag in the ink to give a strong edge and still washed the rest of it in yellow.  It worked out nicely.  I tried to stamp the sentiment in early espresso, but my water coloring over made it too light.  I went back to my standby of black stazon. That is just my favorite!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Suite Sentiments

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Mornings don’t always go as planned, and that is okay.  This set of cards was ready to go, but I had to choose to be on time for my carpool, or blog.  Blogging in the afternoon can be good too, just not my favorite.

1-24-2

I wanted to use the cupcakes and carousel dsp stack for the focus on these cards.  The colors are so great.  They make me feel like having sherbet or frozen yogurt.  Yummy.  So I used two pieces of paper, trimmed them to size and used the extra pieces to accent the other.  Great way to use up the paper and get two cards done at once.

Suite Sentiments is an awesome stamp set.  So many great sentiments ready to be used, and all occasions covered too.  I went with a little more groovy ones to go with these odd colors and liked it.  I simply stamped with black stazon on velum cardstock and layered everything together.  All good and pretty darn easy.

1-24-1

Have a creative day!

Moana

Country Basics

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

This particular project really made me slow down and think.  My usual haphazard color selection just didn’t work out, as you can tell from the huge collection of colors I have listed. This might be the most color I have used on one project.  It ended up kind of cool in the end, but not sure what it will end up serving as.

7-18

One single stamp was the beginning, just the guitar.  The rest of the images were at the end and quite an afterthought to be honest.  I painted the guitar with cajun craze and the color adventure began.  I had thought it would have been fun to sew metallic thread in the guitar string area, but when I spent so much time on the painting I really wanted to walk away. Maybe next time.

Even though it can be a bit frustrating, it is also quite relaxing to work like this.  It also helps a lot with patience.  I know that if I just stick with it, eventually it will come together. Then, the next project doesn’t seem so daunting, because look at what I managed to pull out of the trash bin!

7-18 (1)

I left it clean of sentiment and all other embellishments.  The images speak for themselves and that guitar, I love that guitar.

Have a creative day!

Moana

You Are Awesome

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

The other day my daughter was wearing a fun pair of pants that were so colorful and had a bunch of fun patterns.  Every time I looked at them I thought I should make a card.  So, I literally went digging through her laundry to find them and give it a go.  Inspiration comes from a lot of different places, but the laundry bin was a first for me.

7-12 (1)

I went through my paper files pulling scraps of the different colors I wanted.  Most of the strips were fine, but some needed to be trimmed to give some diversity.  Once I had the color strips ready I cut a base from printer paper to adhere them too.  It was pretty easy to do because they were just stripes, nothing too tricky.

7-12

I used one of the elements from the butterfly basics set to put a few black stripes down as well.  The piece was then trimmed to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and put through an embossing treatment.  I was able to slide the piece around a bit lining up the patterns inside the stripes and along borders.  I liked that part quite a bit.

The sentiments were stamped and layered with more basic black, but something still wasn’t quite right.  The stripes were too stark.  So, I got my trusty sponges out and went at the whole card front with smokey slate ink.  It hi-lighted the embossed areas more and gave a bit of a distressed look.  That is what I needed and I called it done.

7-12 (3)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Country Livin’ Rocks!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Living in the country has its perks, and wouldn’t this be just one of them?  I unfortunately do not have an adorable old truck like this, but it sure would be wonderful!  I will have to settle for the stamp and my imagination.

7-2

This image was stamped with black stazon ink on water color paper and then adorned with a whole bunch of ink colors.  I started with a pallet of six colors, but it didn’t stay there.  I ended up with ten, but it called for it.  That doesn’t include the colors that emerged from simple blending and colors flowing together.  This kind of work is my favorite.  No real rules, just lots of distressing.

The perfect companion to the card is the new copper metallic thread.  It almost reminded me of barbed wire or old fence wire.  I like a little of embellishment, but don’t want any distractions when I water color.  The thread works for me.  There was a touch of stamping on the inside panel.  The splat image from the perpetual calendar set with cherry cobbler stamped off once.  Yummy!   I do think it would be interesting to try and paint this stamp with flames and metallic chrome.  I will have to see on that.

7-2 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Country Livin’

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

There is something so calm about a nice long water coloring session.  When I found myself needing a break from putting away yet more wedding reception decorations I looked for this stamp set.  When I saw these boots. I knew I would love creating with it.  I was right.

6-15

I honestly stamped just the boots in the lower right hand corner of the water color paper and started to layer color and distress it like crazy.  I can’t tell you how satisfying this card was to make.  I thought about putting a sentiment to it, but couldn’t find something that I thought worked well enough.  So I decided to leave it as an all occasion card.  I have adorable country girl friends that would enjoy this card just as much as any man.  And it is always great to have a great masculine card on hand, especially an all occasion one.

6-15 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Make a Wish

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

How about making a wish for a hard to find masculine birthday card?  Done.  I caught myself looking at a new pack of night of navy card stock that needed to be filed.  That is where I began.  I flipped through my designer series paper looking for one that had the same color in it.  Didn’t take too long.

5-11

I love the floral patterns in the english garden set, but decided to look to the ‘b sides’ of the papers.  That is where this beauty was hiding.  I had seen it when I first opened it, but was distracted into the others and forgot about it.  Today was a good day to use it.

A simple design was all I wanted today.  So I layered paper leaving just a 1/8″ border and picked a stamp that would fit inside the note tag punch.  Pretty quick and easy.  There are times when I could just sit for hours on a project, and other times I have to get up and go. Today is a go day, as I look at the clock one more time.

5-11 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Tap Tap Tap into Retirement

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Well, it has begun.  The retirement list has been published and I can start getting sad over some of my favorites.  This has been one of them.  I love the images, but really love the little tap tap tap tap stamp.  It is so adorable.  Some stamp sets I just keep because they make me smile, and I love to smile almost as much as making someone else smile.

4-20

This project was created with a few techniques.  I stamped my little typewriter  in cajun craze first, then did a bunch of stamping all around the base image with almost artichoke first and then moved on to delightful dijon.

When that was done I got out my sponge and went at the edges.  I aged the entire background by swirling around and around focusing on the edges to make them darker.  I added a little extra sponging around the edge to really darken it up.  I did the same on the inside, but left the center light for easy writing.

4-20 (2)

I stamped my front piece with cajun craze and then sponged in three different areas to keep the colors blended, but still very separate.  I fussy cut it, layered it to some more card stock, sponged that too and put it up on dimensionals.  I did a single wrap of striped cotton ribbon sticking it down with glue dots on the front and back.  The background piece was placed on another sheet of card stock with a tiny border and then layered it up again on even more dimensionals.  Love those guys, they make me so happy.

I don’t normally show the entire inside of a card, but it turned out so awesome that I had to. I thought it was nice enough it could be a card front all by itself.  Not today, but I gave an extra peek just for fun.

4-20 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Mother’s Day Take Two

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Earlier in the year I made a couple of cards with this darling little chick from a sale-a-bration stamp set.  I instantly fell in love.  So did my mother.  I decided she needed to have one of her own and not just a card.

4-12 (1)

A prior paper pumpkin kit had this frame along with pretty little things to make a wonderful decorative gift.  I couldn’t make it for my own mother since she gets the same kits each month and I didn’t want to give her something she already had.  It sat upon the shelf for some time.  Until last night when I needed it, the frame that is.  I also used the wrapping cardstock and ribbon to go around it.  Now I will send it away for an early mother’s day gift.  She will be super excited.

The little chick was stamped in black stazon on a 4 x 4″ sheet of water color paper.  I started pulling ink pads until I had everything painted just like I wanted.  I did use my heat tool a few times along the way to set color when I wanted to layer another.  The yellows I let all blend together without worry.  But I wanted the cheeks to stay pink and tried to keep the beak a little more under control.  The shadow needed to be dried before the background was applied, but that is about it.  After I put a touch of marina mist for blue eyes I used wink of stella to give them some sparkle.  Just a fun little project to make my mom smile.  So fun.

4-12

Have a creative day.

Moana

They Say It’s Your Birthday

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Fun, fun and fun. That is what this birthday card says to me.  When you have a fun paper that isn’t just masculine or feminine, you are fortunate.  This card can be for just about anyone, regardless of age too.  I call that a super win!  The series I started is nearly to an end.  I can’t wait to share the cute box I made to hold the whole dozen cards for the gift set.

4-3

The tag was made using the triple banner punch.  Dang, I sure do love that tool.  When it first came out I thought it was a bit excessive, but I gave it a try.  I use it so much.  It makes layered banner tags so easy.  This one was whipped together super fast, layered up on dimensionals, given a tiny ribbon accent and slapped in place.  Honestly, this was one super fast card.  Again, the paper is a win.

4-3 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

It’s Your Day!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday was one of my TA’s birthdays.  Boys turning 14 don’t want a lot of fluff, just cut to the good stuff.  I stopped on the way to school and picked up a large chocolate bar and wrapped in this awesome, retired, water color patterned dsp.  He is also an artist, so I knew he would appreciate the water color theme going on.

3-22

It was so easy to assemble.  I placed tear n’ tape along three sides and wrapped the large candy up.  First I wrapped the paper around fairly tight and sealed it like a flat tube.  Then, I just removed the other strips of tape to flat seal the ends.

I took the scraps of my linen thread and wrapped them around and tied a knot.  I just took my hand painted, and stamped of course, gift tag and looped it through one of the extra strands.  Another simple knot and this lovely package was ready to go.  Sorry I didn’t get a photo of the finished product, but I wasn’t sure just what candy I would be able to get. Stores out in the country don’t always have a large selection.  The way the paper was prepared I could have turned it into a large sour cream container styled  box and been just fine as well.  For the win!

3-22 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Because You’re So Nice

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Nice people are just, well, so nice.  Saying thank you is always fun and feels great, but why not take it up a notch.  That is just the kind of thank you a super nice person deserves.

3-3

My daughter got some much needed study notes help last night from a friend.  She had re-written her notes for a big test, threw away the old messy ones, or so she thought.  Yup, she threw out the new ones, with the latest additions as well.  She reached out to a friend and they came to the rescue.  Favorite candy bar, MilkyWay.  Mission accomplished and the thank you is on it’s way.

3-3 (1)

This is a smaller version of a sliding box I had made earlier last month.  Instead of using full sheets of 12 x 12, I used two 6 x 6 pieces.  Same principal of making the score lines just 1/8″ in and it works pretty darn good.  I think I would have liked it more snug, but the candy needed the room so I didn’t want to chance it.  My daughter was so excited to take it to school today and share it with her buddy.  Me too.

3-3 (3)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Hey Dude, Get Well

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Making a custom card can be fun, difficult and frustrating all at the same time.  Masculine cards are an interesting creature to say the least.  It doesn’t have to be covered in metal, fire or tools to have the masculine touch you are looking for, but flowers will just not work obviously.

3-1

I used some stamps from two different Paper Pumpkin sets to give me the phrase combination I wanted.  How perfect is the word ‘Dude’.  It works equally well for both depending on the recipient, but is fantastic for a masculine theme.

I decided to create a grungy water color look instead of searching through paper, background stamps, or anything else.  That way I had control of the look and feel and could stop when it looked just right.  I spent quite a bit of time adding, sponging away, adding, drying and repeating it all.  Now I love it so much I don’t want to give it away.  It was a special request though, so it will get to be signed by a school staff and delivered this afternoon.  Good thing I have photos, because this one is going to get created again.

3-1 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sky is the Limit

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I love it when a card comes together better than intended.  This is a mix of three awesome products, one of which is free during Sale-a-bration.  How great is that?

Sky is the Limit

The mottled dsp stack is fantastic.  The color combinations and patterns are so strong.  They lend a masculine feel, but I don’t think they are exclusive.  The free stamp set is actually really versatile.  This is the sentiment, but there is a great plane, fun clouds and some other elements as well.  I wasn’t too sure about it, but my youngest talked me into it.  I am so glad I did.

Sky is the Limit

I layered two pieces of very vanilla with the spacing I  needed.  I used just a touch of snail to keep them together during the embossing.  But before I  did the embossing, I stamped the sentiment in the upper right trying to predict a bit where a smooth place would remain.  When I placed the papers in the folder, I centered the sentiment in Asia, or the part shown, so it would stay smooth.  It worked great!  I wanted the embossing to stay lined up, so I picked up one side, put two dimensionals down, then picked up the other side and did two more dimensionals.  I raised up the levels and kept the embossing lines in place.  I am in love with this folder.

Sky is the Limit

Have a creative day!

Moana

Have an Adventure

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This is a break from the seemingly endless lines of Christmas cards.  But you know what, people have birthdays during the holiday season too and they need to be remembered as well.

Have an Adventure

This adventurous card is headed to someone who is just about adventurous as I can imagine.  Some stamp sets you look at and wonder when you will use it, but then you have just the thing.  This little mountaineering guy has been waiting for just that moment.  He comes from a set that has long since retired, but found a friend in the World Map background stamp for sure.

Have an Adventure

I really do love this combination.  I can see many more coming together with other masculine images to accent the world map.  Kind of a fun change from holiday colors as well.  Good for all I guess, especially the birthday boy!

Have an Adventure

Have a creative day!

Moana

Tiny Gift Tower

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Little tiny gifts need to be put in adorable little boxes.  How about those gifts that go together, but you want to wrap them separately?  Look no further, this adorable little trio is just what you need.  Me on the other hand, now I have to find three little gifts that go together to put inside.  Sounds like fun!

Tiny Gift Tower

The gift box punch board was my primary tool here.  I made the small, medium, and large boxes using 6×6, 7×7, and 8×8″ measured paper.  The color scheme is neutral enough for a masculine gift I think.  Besides, Christmas lets you have all kinds of leeway on decorative wrapping, right?

Tiny Gift Tower

I put them together with gold ribbon and made an extra ribbon for the top.  A tiny ornament would have been cute as well, but those were not at my desk sad to say.  I don’t think I could find them anyway, it is a disaster!  Again, I squeaked out another project still using the Merry Moments dsp.  All that I have done so far has been from one set.  Yup, one set.  It is nearly gone, but not yet.  I will still get a couple of gift bags and a card to two, just wait and see.

Tiny Gift Tower

Have a creative day!

Moana

Moonrise Wonderland

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This is the kind of thing I get to see all of the time.  The moon isn’t quite that large of course, but you get the idea.  I absolutely love it when you can see so much detail in nature.

10-29

I started with the moon.  The punched image and the negative sheet were both used.  The moon was sponged inside the mask with So Saffron and detailed some with Delightful Dijon.  The beautiful trees from Wonderland were stamped in versamark ink, after a hefty rubbing with the embossing buddy, and then covered in black embossing powder.  I had to be patient with the heat gun to get all of that powder melted, but it is so lovely.

10-29 (1)

I only used a few colors to create the background.  An aqua painter was  used along the bottom with Mossy Meadow to give me a bit of a hill and the ground.  Then Elegant Eggplant and Night of Navy were used to sponge in the sky.  I used the punched circle to mask the moon and it worked so nice.  Instead of using masking paper which is thin, I just used cardstock.  The ink has a hard time getting right up the to edge of the image and gives it a bit of a halo effect.  If yo don’t like it that way and want more exact detail, use something thinner.  This made me very happy.

It was layered up once on another piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock and given a bit of height with dimensionals all the way around.  The inside cardstock was sponged lightly with more Elegant Eggplant just to tie it together a bit more.  All done!

10-29 (2)

Have a creative day!

Moana