Masculine Cards – Keep It Simple

Hi friends! Today I’m sharing a card I made for the guy in my life. Now, are there guys out there that will fully appreciate the time and energy it takes to create a detailed and intricate design? Yes. Is my guy one of them? No. For him, I just keep it simple. That’s one of the concepts explored in the For the Guys card class with Jennifer Rzasa at Altenew. I took this class as part of the Altenew Educator Program and was inspired by one of Jennifer’s cards that had simple die cuts over a stamped background.

I wouldn’t call this card particularly masculine in the look but the concept is simple and fuss-free. My hubby loves koi so when I saw the Calming Koi set from Altenew, I knew I had to grab it. The die cuts are easy to assemble and the stamping is about as easy as you can get.

I started with a Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb A2 side-folding card base measuring 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches scored at 4 1/14 inches. This is a one-layer card so all the stamping is done directly on the card base. I started by masking off the bottom portion of the card front at an angle. I used Post-It tape and started about an inch from the bottom of the card on the left and ended about halfway up the card on the right side.

Next, I grabbed my Water Builder stencil and placed it on my card front. I chose Mountain Mist Fresh Dye Ink. I inked over the stencil with a Concord & 9th medium blending brush being sure not to ink blend past the masking. Then, I rotated the stencil 90 degrees and inked with Volcano Lake Fresh Dye Ink, focusing more ink on the outer edges and going lighter closer to the center. With the ink blending completed, I removed the Post-It tape mask and then stamped my sentiment at an angle just below the stenciled area. The sentiment is from the Calming Koi set and I used my Misti Stamping tool to ensure I stamped it perfectly.

Before I started on the rest of my card front, I needed to work on the inside since this was going to be a one-layer card. I did the same ink blending with the Water Builder stencil but I masked off the top portion to ink blend the bottom. I matched up the masking to the front so the ink blending on the inside started and stopped where the front left off. Then I stamped my sentiment from the Calming Koi set using Pure Graphite ink and my Misti Stamping tool. Guys love a good pun right?

Now it was time to assemble my koi. I knew I wanted three so I used the dies from the Calming Koi die set to cut the base pieces from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock and vellum for the fins. There are two pieces for the body. The bottom piece I left white and except for the eye area which I stamped with Pure Graphite Fresh Dye Ink using the coordinating stamp from the set. For the top layer, I ink blended and then stamped with the colors listed below. Once all stamping and ink blending were done, I assembled the koi using Art Glitter glue according to the provided guide.

I placed my assembled koi onto my card with foam adhesive squares. To add a little something extra, I used Concord & 9th dew drop embellishments. I thought they looked like air bubbles in the water. With that, my masculine card for my hubby was done. He thought it was pretty cool and it didn’t take a lot of time to pull together. I hope this inspires you to create some masculine cards for the guys in your life. Thanks for stopping by today. Now go get crafy!

**This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to shop, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps me to continue creating content for all of you. Thank you for your support! All products used in this post were purchased by me.

Products Used:

Supplies Used:

One Comment

Comments are closed.