Monochrome mens Card

I've been getting myself a bit more organised this year and trying to be more consistent with blogging.  I have recently finished a birthday card for a friend to share.

I have a few men's cards to make quite close together each year and sometimes it's a challenge to think of something different, which is why I tend to fall back on my stamping for these, but I did really like this design when I saw it.

This design is one of the men's cards from Opulence by Design Crafts and also happens to be a free download too. I used a 6 x6 inch card blank and layered it with some dark mirror card and grey cardstock from my stash.  I also used the mirror card to die cut the cogs to embellish my card.

For a bit more texture I added some distress Stickles glitter glue in pewter which added a more gritty shimmer than sparkle. I did print off an extra piece of this great backing paper for the inside of the card, so that I could overlay an insert that I also printed off.

My card will still be able to fit into its envelope too which is also a good thing for posting.

I do love a monochrome card especially when you have such a lovely topper like this. If it were a feminine card you could add any burst of colour, such as flowers as an accent.

What's on your crafting table today?  Have a good day whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy crafting

Challenges:-

Let's Craft and Create  Black & White

                                          (Won Top 3)

Daisy Chains - Birthday 

Creative Fingers - ATG

Little Red Wagon - Birthday 

AAABirthday - Birthday

As You Like It - one colour

Krafty Chicks - Birthday 

Creatalicious - ATG

Love to Craft - ATG  (Top Pick)

Love to Scrap - ATG

Mix It Up - ATG (no stamping)

Allsorts - boys/Men

Monochrome card - shades of pink

My DT card today was made for Daisy Chains challenges.  The theme this month is Monochrome and mine is in "shades of pink"

I decided to make this card out of a 12  x 12-inch double-sided scrapbook page, using a 1.6 cm flower punch and utilising the sentiment on the page for my card.  This time no inking and no stamping.

I also added a set of Dreamees dies. Their pretty leaves & flourishes set.  From the same cardstock, I die cut some flourishes and butterflies.

It was just a case of layering the card up using the design on both sides.

Then adding the flowers, butterflies and flourishes punched out / die cut from the same cardstock.  I finished the card off with some fuschia pink pearl drops and some shimmery accent from my spectrum noir clear sparkle overlay pen.

I thought that the sentiment made it quite a versatile card to send. A simple but quite effective card that didn't need any stamping or ink.

Added to the following challenges:-

Simply papercrafts - ATG challenge 56
Monochrome Magic  - ATG challenge 9
Creative Fingers - ATG challenge 144
Pammies Inky Pinkies - ATG challenge 1813
Crafty Friends - ATG challenge 80

Happy Crafting

Monochrome Mens Music Birthday Card

For my men's monochrome music themed birthday card I used the Visible Image Jazz it Up and The Ripple Effect stamp set.

To make this card I used:-

• Visible Image Ripple Effect stamp set
• Visible Image Jazz it Up stamp set
• Sheena Douglass Music & Dance stamp set
• black & white striped vellum
• Hunkydory 250gsm white stamping card
• Crafters Companion matt black card
• Xcut circle dies
• Xcut cog dies
• black embossing powder & versamark ink pad
• black versafine ink and glossy accent

I stamped and heat embossed the trumpet players from the Visible Image Jazz it Up stamp set with black embossing powder.and then I used Sheena Douglass musical notes from her stamp set to stamp a faint background on the card.

This stamp set was free with Issue 52 of the Creative Stamping magazine.

Then I used the keyboard from the Jazz it Up stamp set to stamp the keyboards with black versafine ink. Once the ink was dry I went over the black keys with some glossy accent to give a little texture.

I also created a few vinyl records for the card.

The vinyl records were made with The Visible Image - The Ripple Effect stamp set, which has been heat embossed onto a circle die cut piece of black card with black embossing powder. It has then been finished off with one of the cog dies to make it look like an old 45 inch vinyl record.

It was just a case of planning where I wanted everything to go, combining all the different textures on the card. I used a hole punch to cut out 3 white circles of white card and added some glossy accent to them to make them look like brads.

I added a name to one of my records as this is one of my friend's favourite groups. Being a music lover, I thought he would like a music themed birthday card.  I don't always put a birthday sentiment on the front of my cards even though I always add an insert to them as the card doesn't always need one.

I am entering this into the following blog challenges:-

Mix It Up - ATG
Monochrome Magic - ATG twist of black & white 
We Love2Create - ATG
As you Like It - ATG CAS or Layers? I love adding layers to my cards to add dimension and texture such as heat embossing or glossy accent.
Simon Says - ATG

Happy Crafting