The Man Card

The Man Card... you know, just like the Man Room or Manly Things.  We're talking about the ever elusive Man-centric process of gift selection, packaging and sentiment creating.  It can be difficult or easy, but nonetheless it must be ... say it with me... Manly. 

My man, Dan, is a particular challenge.  I've acheived adulthood without fully developing my Manly gift giving skills.  I always want to send that special gift with a homemade sentiment- if nothing else than to justify myhoard of scrapbooking supplies.  So, how to create a card that is all Man, yet contains just the right sentiment?  I've answered this question by going out on a limb and making cards for male co-workers.  Yeah, practice on those that can mock you- where and when you'll never know. 

This Enjoy the Journey card was inspired by a Michaels event earlier this year.  Brandy received a special invitation to a presentation at Michaels one evening with none other than the Rock Star of paper crafting, Tim Holtz.  Tim Holtz is one of Brandy's favorite designers to track on the internet.  How exciting to stand right there and seeTim Holtz give you ideas and suggestions in how to think outside the box.  Just what I needed for my Man Cards.  We both purchased Tim's book, A Compendium of Curiosities and had him sign our books. Inside this tips and tricks collection are a  large amount of inspiring ideas for roughing up your craft projects for the man in your life.  The truck in this card came from a Ranger stamp set that we won as a prize.  The image was stamped with a black ink onto a green cardstock and green Perfect Pearls dusted over the top with a paint brush.  This caused the image to blur and really added to the "aged" feel of the card.  The dark blue background paper was made using Tim's technique with alcohol inks, the ink applicator tool, and some glossy white cardstock.  The dark blue and dark green alcohol inks combined nicely to create the perfect accent for behind my car.

The Man card does not have to be complicated.  This very simple card was also made for a co-worker.  The truck was cut using the <truck3> image from Cricut's Heritage card.  The blackout was cut from a black cardstock and the truck cut from plain brown cardstock and inked on the edges.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was cut from the Wild Card cart.  Ink some fancy paper and away we go...

So, get crafting for that Man in your life. 

-Andie