Stampin' Creative Blog Hop Made for Men

A warm welcome to this masculine themed blog hop from the Stampin' Creative Design Team and if you've hopped on over from the lovely Sarah, then thank you for joining me and if you're starting the hop here, then welcome and be sure to hop round and view the rest of the inspiration on offer. 

I decided to pull a couple of stamp sets together to create a couple of cards for you, using smaller images for repeat patterns. 

I saw a couple of images in the Bookcase Builder Stamp Set that I thought would be perfect for some repeat pattern backgrounds and coupled them with two other stamp sets. 

The first card I created used the set of three bottles from the Bookcase Builder Stamp set, that I've stamped back to back and in two colours, before layering up a punched Banner and the Beer Glass from Mixed Drinks. Could you get any more masculine than this? ...

This second card used the Trophy from the Bookcase Builder stamp set and coupled it up with the Badges and Banners Stamp Set. 

Two simple little cards that would look great in many a colour way. 

I hope you've liked what I've created for you today. Be sure to now hop on over to see what Eimear has to inspire you with. 

One for the Men on the Urban Underground

Here's some masculine inspiration for you using the Urban Underground Suite from the current Spring/Summer Occasions 2017 Catalogue. 

Many a crafter finds male cards difficult to create, as they favour all the beautiful shimmery, pretty embellishments, colours and stamp sets, but Stampin' Up! have excelled themselves here with this suite, offering us a kind of Retro feel to the Urban Underground set. 

I thought I'd add a pop of Pool Party to give it a lift, but really love the Delightful Dijon colour, coupled with the dark Basic Grey. 

It had been a while since I last created Rosettes with my ladies, so I thought we'd use the Urban Underground Speciality Designer Series Paper to create this Box Topper. The box was made using the Gift Box Punch Board, which created gift boxes at such easy speed, it's crazy. 

This was a set that we made in class, where I gave my ladies the choice of sentiments, so that they could tailor their cards to that of either a simple Birthday Card or that of a Father's Day Card. We covered cards for Mother's Day last month, so this month, I'd thought we'd follow on with a potential Father's Day card.

At Christmas I loved the thick Cable Knit Embossing Folder and now I'm in love with the Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. It offers such a deep impression with such texture ... it's gorgeous!

A simple, yet effective fold for this card.

The tools were coloured in using the Watercolour Pencils, which are so soft, that they made shading so easy. They smoothed out the shading with a Blender pen. 

I hope you like today's share and perhaps you'll consider purchasing this set to get creating some Masculine cards. 

  

Global Design Project #GDP027 - Theme Challenge

This week's Global Design Project offers a theme of "Thank You" and once again, I thought I would accept the challenge and submit an entry. 

A while back, I saw a card on Pinterest with a background not dissimilar to what I have created here. It wasn't a card using Stampin' Up! Products, but I liked the layout and the Orla Kiely style background that was screaming out to be recreated. 

I decided to use the Botanical Blooms Stamp Set to create this card. I really am so pleased with the outcome of it and it's simplicity ...

… even the colour I've chosen, which is Delightful Dijon … a colour I probably wouldn't normally turn to. 

Never have I considered that a Thank you card would be appropriate for a Male or female recipient, but I do believe that this card would be absolutely perfect for a Male. 

I feel I could be making a few more of these. 

If you'd like to see more of the entries, then you can do so by clicking on the Global Design Project image at the top of this post.

I hope you like my share and have a most enjoyable weekend. 

Mikaela x

Shop online with me by either clicking the image above or the relevant products below.

Going Global with Birthday Bouquet for the man

At my recent Stamp-a-Stack of Birthday's event, I included the Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper pack for the kit bags. With such beautiful colours and floral prints, I must admit initially looking and wondering how I'd come up with a masculine Birthday Card for the event, using the paper pack, but I think I pulled it off.

I part stamped a sentiment from the Suite Sayings Stamp Set and coupled it with the globe and sentiment from Going Global. I sponged the world to add the dark and light to simulate night and day and added just a flash of the Pool Party Glitter Ribbon …. Oh how I love that ribbon!!

I'm not sure how well you can see the embossed World Traveller image to the white cardstock, but I adore that embossing folder. That alone is a must have for your collection, as you'll be able to create a masculine card any time using just this alone. 

I hope you like this simple little card. Pop back tomorrow to see another of the cards that we created. 

Mikaela x

Mediterranean Achievers Blog Hop - One for the Guys

Welcome to the Grand Vacation Achievers Blog Hop for February. This month our theme is …. One for the Boys. 

I feel sure that you will find some incredible inspiration from the projects that you see throughout this hop, as I'm sitting here amongst some of the finest of Demonstrators, who I'm soon to share the experience of my first ever Grand Vacation Incentive Trip with … and I can't wait!

With Male Cards often being some of the hardest to create, sit back and enjoy what we all have to offer.

It's my Mother-in-law's 80th Birthday this coming weekend, which had me thinking of her husband and his love of gardening. The Botanical Garden's Suite in the Spring/Summer 2016 Catalogue, is so often used to produce such beautiful feminine creations, but I set myself a challenge to use the set to create something for the guys. 

I gave some thought to my husband and son with this card and the fact that they both like to know the mechanics of how things work … something a little different, but not right out there … so decided to punch a circle out of the bottom corner of the card, to embellish, decorating the hole, with Designer Series Paper on the inside.

Why a circle? …  Why not. All I knew was that I wanted to take the corner away, but to still have some floating embellishments. I think you can see it better in this final photo, that everything is anchored to the faux wooden stick and the Birthday marker.

I so love the little abstract stamps that come with sets like this and couldn't resist but couple them with what would normally be used as the centre of the die cut flowers.

This was my first play with this great bundle, that can be purchased with an amazing 15% saving, whilst receiving your choice of a Sale-a-Bration Item for FREE!

Thanks for taking part in our blog hop, there are so many amazing ideas and inspiration you don't want to miss. Remember that currently you are at my blog - Mikaela Titheridge, from The Crafty oINK Pen here in Cambridgeshire, UK, so check the blog hop line up list to see who is next in the list and enjoy.

Mikaela x