Masculine DIY Card

Struggle on ideas for Masculine Cards? Let me show you a super cute and easy masculine card you can make for almost any occasion.

Today I'm going to show you this really cute masculine birthday card that I made for our latest card swap. I run a monthly card swap in the Facebook group called Card Maker's – Card Swap.  Each month we have a card swap where you create, seven cards of the same design based on the particular theme for that month. And then you send them into me, I swap them out with all the other crafters who have created their cards, and then you get seven different cards back.

Join me as I show you the techniques and supplies used for this Masculine DIY Card!

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Step by Step Instructions

For this card, I used the Blue Chevron 12 x 12 patterned paper from AdornIt.com.  I thought it had a masculine feel to it.  The sheets I had actually came out of their Basic Blender Paper Pack, but you can purchase it individually as well.  Recently, about a month or so ago, AdornIt asked me to be an ambassador for their papercraft line and this is some of the paper that they sent me.  You can check out the blog post I created showing all of the AdornIt.com supplies they sent me.

You can cut the paper down using a paper trimmer, but I like to use the My Favorite Things Stamps (MFT Stamps) Stax Die-namics.  I like this because it comes in predetermined sizes that fit the A2 card size. This one come in increments of 1/4 inches.  And I get the same exact cut each time I use them.  Sometimes when I use the paper trimmer, I may be off a little or it comes out crooked.  So I love using these dies because it helps me be more uniformed with my card making.

The dies come nested so use the 5′ x 3.75″ for the patterned paper and the next size up for the cardstock panel to go behind the patterned paper. Use some purple tape  to hold the die down so it doesn't move around when you run it through the Big Shot.

Once you have all of the paper cut out (you can find the dimensions of this card and its pieces in my library – you can get access here), then its time to do some shading to the cardstock. Use a regular craft sponge and pick up some distressed oxide ink onto the sponge.  I cut my sponge down into small wedges.  The color I used in the video was Weathered Wood, but the color used in the picture is actually Faded Denim.  I decided that I preferred the Weathered Wood better, so that is the color I used to create the video.

To shade the cardstock, just take your sponge with the ink and flick the edge of your card.  I do this on my glass media mat from Tim Holtz.  When I am making multiple cards of the same design, I can pickup the extra ink from the mat itself.  This saves on ink. It is also easy to clean up.

Next you will want to adhere the patterned paper to the cardstock panel.  I use the Gina K Connect Glue.  I love this glue as it is re-positionable and you don't need alot of it.  Check out my review of this glue on my blog post here. Once you have the paper down on the cardstock, just make sure that you have it square with all of the corners and there is an even space around all sides.

There is a small piece of gray cardstock that you will need to shade with more distressed oxide ink.  Just do the edges of the strip along the long sides. The shading, I think, gives it a little bit of a weathered look, kind of a rugged, masculine look.

Die cut the words “Best Wishes” out twice with black cardstock.  Use the Gina K Connect glue to glue them stacked together.  This gives a bit of dimension to the die cut words.

Pro Crafter Tip:

A little trick on how to position both words on the card.  Lay the cardstock strip down on the card and place the die cuts on top where you would like them to be.  Next use some purple tape to tape the words together where you want them spaced.  Don't press down to hard on the tape so you can avoid the cardstock from coming up later.  Then just place that to the side.

Next glue the gray strip to the card front. Use a heavy permanent glue like the Tombow Xtreme Tape Runner.  Stampin' Up! used to sell this as Fast Fuse but does not sell it anymore.  I found out that Amazon actually sells it as a Tombow product.  I still use the Fast Fuse container from Stampin' Up! but the refills fit it perfectly.

Trim off the extra that hangs off the side. I use straight scissors that are about 8 inches long. I find that using the longer blade scissors allow you to cut longer in a straight line.

Add some distressed ink to the sides that you just trimmed to finish out the shading.

Now it's time to adhere those words down to the paper. Turn the die cut over and put Gina K Connect Glue on the back of all of those letters. Just small dots throughout the entire word, making sure you get enough coverage there.

Then lift the words up just with the tape and  reverse tweezers. Place the die cut on the cardfront and press down, but not on the tape. Lift the tape up being careful not to bring up cardstock with it.

Take the cardfront and adhere to your card base.  I use the Xtreme Tape runner again because now the cardfront is a little heavy and I want to make sure it is not going to move.  Be careful when you place it because once it's down it pretty much is stuck.

Next its time to stamp the sentiment.  I used my MISTI to stamp the image on a piece of scrap gray cardstock.  I love using the MISTI because if you don't get a clear image, you can just restamp it.

The sentiment that I used is, from My Favorite Things, Bundle of Balloons. And the ink is Gina K Designs Amalgam Ink in Jet Black. It is a nice rich black color and it does really well on card stock.

I used the Essential Slanted Sentiment Strips Die-namics, from My Favorite Things to cut the sentiment out. Then I trimmed the edges with a small paper scissors.

To pop the sentiment up on the card, use Gina K Designs Foam Squares.  The foam squares are little to big for this sentiment, so just cut them in half.

Now that that's done,  place the sentiment underneath where it says “best wishes”.

One little annoying thing with this word die is that the little dot for the “i” on “Best Wishes” always gets lost during the cutting process.  So I  just use some of the Nuvo Gloss Drops, in Black Ebony, and put a little dot there for the “i”.

Always do this last when making cards because you need to set it aside so it will dry completely. Many times I have messed up a card because I put nuvo drops on and then did not put the card completely out reach!

And that's basically it. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. It's always nice to create masculine cards to have on those special occasions and I hope this has inspired you to create your own.

Don't forget to check out our  Card Makers – Card Swap on Facebook to join and participate in our next month's swap.

Storage Tips

Some of my readers have been asking how I store my dies.  In the video, you will see an example of how I store some of my smaller dies.  I use a piece of chip board and a magnetic sheet.  Then place it in a plastic sleeve.  I use the Brother Labeling machine to create a label.  Here is the supply list on that.

Get the Cut Dimensions on this Masculine DIY Card

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