My Time To Craft Inspirational Design
Masculine Cards
Good day, fellow crafters. I am thrilled to introduce my very first inspirational submission as a member of the design team at My Time To Craft Challenge Blog. Working alongside the incredibly talented ladies behind these challenges fills me with excitement for what I will be able to learn, and I hope that you too will find inspiration and join us in personal growth throughout the upcoming weeks.
For Challenge Week #509, we invite you to dive into the world of masculine-themed cards. With Father's Day approaching on June 18th here in the US, what better way for crafters to celebrate than by creating something special? While it's not necessary to adhere strictly to a Father's Day theme, as you can see from my own project, I've chosen a versatile card that can easily incorporate that sentiment if desired. With that said let's embark on a crafting journey that celebrates the men in our lives and showcases our passion for handmade art.
To create the background for this card, I first began by getting my supplies in order. Drawing my inspiration from one of my father’s button-up shirts, I chose to use some paper from my scrapbook stash that reminded me of one he used to own. Additionally to complement the theme I brought out a wood grain embossing folder, a sheet of vellum, embossing ink, black embossing powder, cardstock in various colors for the tools, the Waffle Flower Tool Box die set (pictured on the left), and the Waffle Flower sentiment stamp collection you see in the image below. With those things in hand, I began the creative process.
For the first steps of the process, I trimmed the background paper and vellum to their final size and cut the white mat, creating a window for added visual appeal. I then hand-textured the mat to make it appear to have a wooden texture and finished it off by ink-blending various shades of brown until I had the color I was looking to achieve. I then mounted all of the pieces to my standard pre-cut A2 white card base and set it aside to begin the foreground image.
Although the tool dies instructional image may appear intricate, I found the next step to be quite enjoyable. The die set I used offered not only the basic shapes of the tools but also included additional dies to cut out the rubberized handles that give them a realistic touch. It was fascinating to discover that these handles, which I had previously considered simply functional, actually hold significance in the world of tools. Colors play a role in designating the type of tool or even indicating the manufacturer's specific brand. For example, red handles might be associated with cutting tools, while blue handles could signify measuring or marking tools.
To achieve a cohesive look, I opted to give my tools the appearance of being made entirely of metal by utilizing a silver metallic-colored cardstock for their construction. To add contrast and visual interest, I decided to incorporate red handles, which complemented the metallic theme. Although I briefly contemplated making the hammer and saw appear wooden, I ultimately decided against it, as I wanted the focus to be on the wooden toolbox I intended to create using the woodgrain embossing folder and the corresponding die from the set. Once all of the pieces were glued together I positioned them onto the card background. The purpose of the vellum shows up here as it makes the toolbox appear to float above the background paper.
The finishing step for this card was to stamp the sentiment, which is where I ran into a snag. I love to use vellum and I love to use inks, but not all inks and vellum play nice with one another. In this case, the ink I originally chose never would dry and be smeared if touched. For that reason, I chose to use the black embossing powder and heat set it slowly so as not to damage the vellum to finish off this card.
I sincerely hope that you are inspired to give a masculine-themed card a try even if you don’t join us for this challenge, but if you do be sure to tag me so that I can see your work.
