Boys' birthday cards and another bag-a-lope

Is it just me or do other people find it tricky to make boys' birthday cards that strike the right note? When boys reach the age when those cute characters aren't considered cool, what can we use instead?

My son's friend turned eight this week and I was stumped for an idea for a card for him. My instant thought was to use a jumbo wheel (ANY excuse to bring my jumbo wheel out!) but I'm a new demo and I only have the It's Beautiful wheel which isn't remotely appropriate for an eight year old boy! (I could've made something fabulous with the Something Fishy wheel - I will not rest until I have ALL the wheels!)

Eventually I went for stars and stripes (but not in a US way!) and also found some On Board chipboard shapes and coloured them with markers. Look:

The first card uses brightly striped designer paper and a punched star popped up onto two sizes of punched circles. The smaller star is from the Christmas set Hung Up on the Holidays - I'm always so pleased when I can find ways of using my Christmas sets throughout the year!

The second card starts the same way with striped paper and punched circles but this time I embellished with a chipboard number eight (from a sadly retired On board) and a circle frame (there are several in On Board Batch of Blooms). I love the way the chipboard looks after being coloured with Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie markers. The tag is punched with the word window punch and cut in half. I took the word 'today' from the sentiment in Birthday Best. I used a bit of embroidery floss to tie the tag to the frame.

I was pleased with the way these turned out particularly when my youngest son gave his seal of approval. He also told me that he likes having a mum that makes cards - it doesn't get better than this: doing what I love AND getting appreciation for it!

I was just about to collect my son from school to take him to his friend's party when I realised that the present was still unwrapped - eek! But hey! No need to panic when you can always make a quick bag-a-lope! The fishy wheel would've been brilliantly speedy for this but it didn't take long to cover a C4 envelope with a few of the circle designs from Seeing Spots.

I strengthened the top of the bag inside with a couple of strips of card stock so that  I could add handles. I think it looks pretty smart!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stars and stripes card:
Stamps: Happy Moments sentiment
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun
Card stock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Bashful Blue
Other: Designer paper Cutie Pie (retired), star punch, 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

Eight today card:
Stamps: Vintage Labels sentiment, Birthday Best for the word 'today'
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun
Card stock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Real Red, Bashful Blue
Other: Designer paper Cutie Pie (retired), 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, word window punch, white gel pen, embroidery floss (from my sewing kit)

Bag-a-lope
Stamps: Seeing Spots
Ink: Night of Navy, Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise
Card stock: Bashful Blue (used inside to strengthen handles)
Other: 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Brocade Blue, C4 envelope (from stationer)

My goodness this has been a bit of a marathon post. If you are still with me I just want you to know that I think you're wonderful! (And extremely patient...)
I promise I won't ramble on for hours tomorrow so do come back and visit me.
Bye for now