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Monday 2 May 2011

Masculine Monday - Strength and Hope

Good morning! It's Monday and time for a little more male inspiration!

All this week I'll be showing you cards I've created using Strength and Hope - a set created to help breast cancer research: Stampin' Up is donating £1 each time someone buys one...

... and let's face it, it will be no hardship to add this beauty it to your stamp collection! The set costs £15.95 in wood mount and £12.95 in clear mount - click here to email me your order or to find out more.

But wait - how on earth would you use this set for a masculine card? Well, it does seem very ornate, but there's a woodcut quality to this design that makes it work for male cards. Take a look at this birthday card:


The sentiment here is turned into a real focal point by the wood carving effect behind and, of course, you can easily change the sentiment to make the card suitable for any occasion.


It's was easy to make a frame effect with this flourish using my trusty stamp-a-majig. I coloured in the leaves and swirls using Early Espresso ink and my blender pen, adding to the wood carved effect.

Here's how to make this card:

  • Colour the wood-carved image using Early Espresso and Riding Hood Red markers and stamp on a piece of Whisper White card stock. Turn the stamped image upside down and, inking up the stamp again, make a mirror image using a stamp-a-majig.
  • Clean and dry the stamp thoroughly. Now colour just the large heart on the stamp and, again using your stamp-a-majig for accurate positioning, add a heart at each side to join the flourishes and create a frame.
  • Colour the leaves and swirls using a blender pen and a little Early Espresso ink.
  • Trim the card stock to 8.5cm square.
  • Using Riding Hood Red ink, stamp the Happy Birthday stamp from Afterthoughts on a piece of scrap Whisper White card stock. Cut it out (omitting the part of the sentiment in brackets) TIP: I used the 1 3/8" square punch to help me with straight edges. Glue the sentiment to the centre of the stamped frame.
  • Cut a 10cm x 20cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold in half to create a card base. Attach the frame panel to the card front with dimensionals.

Supplies
Stamps: Strength and Hope, Afterthoughts (hostess set)
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Markers

I hope you've all had a great weekend - a very long weekend for my readers who live in the UK! We spent our Friday celebrating the royal wedding with some lovely friends and had just finished the most wonderful barbecued lunch when a violent thunderstorm sent us scuttling indoors. How British is that?! We didn't mind though, it was the perfect opportunity for us ladies to review The Dress and The Kiss and for our menfolk to look at each other in a bewildered way!

Now, if you didn't like my male Strength and Hope card today, please don't give up on this set! I want you all to own it so I shall doing my best to inspire you all week - do come back tomorrow to see!

15 comments:

  1. Oooh, what a fabulous way of turning a really pretty stamp set completely on it's head!! Thanks for sharing. It seems everytime I think there's a stamp set that I'm not sure what to do with or not so keen on, someone comes along and inspires me all over again!!

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  2. So clean, so simple, so lovely. I love how the frame panel sits on the card base just makes the card look so classy. x

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  3. Simple but it jumps out at you. Suitable for male or female. x

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  4. Hi Vicky
    Fabby card ..love it i might get tempted...
    hugs
    sylvie
    xx
    Enjoy your day .....

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  5. This is a gorgeous male card, the scrolls are perfect!

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  6. How could anybody NOT like this card Vicky, it's stunning. Wish I could look at stamps and see what you see :0) but for now I'' just have to CASE you!!
    Margaret x

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  7. 'If you didn't like'??????????? Are you joking, it's beautiful. Thank you so much for showing us how to make something intricate look simple but stunning.
    If you weren't such a nice person I would hate you!!
    L J

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  8. Superb Vicky this set is a real head turner I think, and you have turned it on its head and ourtside the box, Love it!

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  9. What a great use of the swirly scroll stamp for a man. I like the way the clean white border is echoed in the sentiment mat and layer too. Congrats.
    Hugs, Sandra

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  10. Fab card Vicky! I love this set, I never thought about using it for a male card though, so thanks for the inspiration!
    Hugs, Victoria ~x~

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  11. Gosh Vicky. How do you come up with these fabulous ideas? That card is so elegant!

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  12. Such a fab card Vicky! I also love your beautiful cards for the Less is More challenge this week, just a fabulous set! A big thank you for stopping by my son's blog, having a couple of comments made his day. It's great to have the encouragement as I think it is fabulous that he is interested in writing about what he reads!

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  13. This is bold and perfect! I love that you could make this same card in a million colour combinations.

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  14. Hi Vicky, This is gorgeous, love how you've lifted the central mat and placed it right on top of the design beneath, perfect positioning, just lovely :0) xxx

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  15. Brilliant card, Vicky. I would never in a million years think to use this set for a masculine card. And I hadn't even noticed that there was a heart in that flourish-y image until you singled it out with a red marker. Like I said, you're brilliant! :)

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I'd love to know what you think. Do leave me a comment - it always makes my day! Vicky x


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