Category Archives: Masculine

Over The Moon Masculine Birthday Card

Over The Moon Masculine Birthday Card

Often times we rack our brains to think of a good masculine card, I don’t know why! I guess more stamps and papers are geared toward women so we find ourselves at a loss when we have to make a card for our husband, son, grandfather, uncle, etc. It took me a while of looking online to come up with this idea, the Over The Moon Masculine Birthday Card, for my brother’s birthday. Not that he has anything to do with cows, but the Over The Moon Stamp Set is so cute I wanted to use it for a whimsical birthday card!

The card base is Pretty Peacock with a plaid design in the Come to Gather Designer Series Paper. The cow is stamped in Memento Ink and colored in with Stampin’ Blends markers. Have I ever said before how much I LOVE coloring with these markers??! I love coloring with these markers! I find it very relaxing! Coloring is good therapy!

After the cow was stamped, I die cut it with a circle in the Layering Circles Dies. Then I cut a slightly larger circle in Pretty Peacock and layered the cow on top of that but not centered. I saw that idea somewhere online and thought I would try it for something different.

I thought the greeting in the set was perfect for a birthday so I stamped and die cut that and layered on a circle of Cajun Craze. I found a little scrap of Linen Thread and tied a small bow for the greeting and stuck it on with a smooshed up Mini Glue Dot. And for a finishing touch, I added three
2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots in Pretty Peacock.

Here is how I stamped and decorated the inside of the card.

Over The Moon Masculine Birthday Card Inside

The greetings are from the Special Celebrations Stamp Set and you can guess which one is from the Over The Moon Stamp Set with the cows! Since I wanted to use the long greeting but not fill up the inside of the card, I opted to stamp it and then die cut it with the Stitched Rectangles Dies so I could add it to the inside front cover of the card.

The Over The Moon Stamp Set was one I did not think I needed until I saw some cards made with it. I think it is fun making cards with this stamp set. It’s probably a good idea to have at least one “funny” stamp set in our collection! Check it out in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Last Minute Father’s Day Card Ideas!

If you have procrastinated, here are some past Father’s Day card ideas made with stamp sets you might already have. Just change them up according to what supplies you have! You know the father in your life will appreciate it! Better than Hallmark!

Tailored Tag Punch Father's Day Wood Tile Card
Click photo to read post!

If you have this Tailored Tag Punch in your stash, use whatever paper you have to make something like this card. Or just use strips of designer paper for a background. Add a greeting!

Father's Day Card Oval Window Lovely As a Tree
Click photo to read post!

Surely you have the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set that just retired! It’s very easy to make a card like this one with that stamp set!

Bubble Over Bottle Father's Day Card
Click photo to read this post!

Maybe you have the Bubble Over Stamp Set you could use to make a card like this one for Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day to All the Dads!

Father’s Day Masculine Card With Rooted In Nature

Father's Day Masculine Card With Rooted In Nature

Father’s Day is this Sunday, June 16th, so it is time to make a Father’s Day card for your father or husband or whoever you want to celebrate on this day. This card, Father’s Day Masculine Card With Rooted In Nature, I will probably give my husband, but as you can see, it could be for anyone anytime! You can say it’s a “masculine” card but really it could be for anybody. We just often feel challenged to make a card for men for some reason.

You can barely see in the photo, but the card base is Whisper White with a little extra margin before I added another layer of Whisper White stamped with the Buffalo Check stamp for a checked background. This was then layered on a piece of Crumb Cake with a narrow margin showing.

After I stamped the Buffalo Check design, I used a ruler and an Old Olive Stampin’ Write Marker to draw lines in between the checks for a little extra color and interest.

The greeting and the tree are from the Rooted in Nature Stamp Set. I don’t think I have a “Happy Father’s Day” stamp in my current stamp sets (and I didn’t want to dig in my retired stuff!) so this sentiment will be fine (and truthful!). It is stamped in Crumb Cake ink on a Whisper White strip, then layered on a piece of Garden Green Cardstock that was embossed with the Subtle Embossing Folder. I tied around a piece of Linen Thread (or a scrap of something I found that I think is Linen Thread!) and then popped up the tree on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

About the tree…..I inked up the tree not with ink pads but with a marker and Sponge Daubers! I chose several green ink pads, from light to dark, and used individual Sponge Daubers to tap on the tree leaves. It’s difficult to see where you have “daubed” on the ink and it looks like I mostly covered the lighter ink with the darker. But I like the tree anyway. Then I colored in the trunk with the Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker and tried to find a few branches inside the leaves to ink up. I think it turned out fine!

As I said, I have most likely made this card for my husband for Father’s Day on Sunday, unless I make another one I like better. He opens the card, looks at it, then puts it down (and I get a hug and kiss!). Then a few days later, I pick it up off his table and put it with my other sample cards I have made! But I think you can see that while this card will work for Father’s Day or a birthday card for a man in your world, this card could be for anyone anytime. I wanted to use a stamp set from the old catalog in case you don’t have your new stamp sets yet. Maybe you have this one!

And if you need another idea with this Rooted in Nature Stamp Set, here is another “masculine” card I made for a birthday, but again, just put on a Father’s Day greeting (or something similar) and you have a great Father’s Day card! And if you have Lovely As a Tree (retired), that’s another great stamp set for making a Father’s Day card!

Need Super Bowl Football Card Ideas?

Today is Super Bowl LIII, the New England Patriots playing the Los Angeles Rams, so if you would like to make a card for your favorite football fan, here are some Super Bowl Football Card Ideas from years past!

Super Bowl 2017 Owl Punch Art Football Game Card

Super Bowl 2017 Punch Art Football Game Card

One of the most popular punches of all time (I would think!) was the Owl Punch, used to make these football players out on the field! Just using a couple of narrow strips of paper can make a card look like a football field.

Super Bowl LI Football Card

A Football Card For Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas

A couple years ago we were so excited and proud in Houston to host the Super Bowl! Maybe someday our Houston Texans will actually be IN the Super Bowl!  Maybe!

Super Bowl 2017 Card With Punch Art Football Helmets

Super Bowl 2017 Card With Punch Art Football Helmets

Make some football helmets for your card with a few punches!  Use your team colors!

Super Bowl Sunday 2016 Football Owl Punch Card

Super Bowl Sunday 2016 Football Owl Punch Card

Here are these owls again playing football!  Substitute one of our current animal stamps if you don’t have the Owl Punch in your stash!

Rooted in Nature Masculine Birthday Card

Rooted in Nature Masculine Birthday Card

This Rooted in Nature Masculine Birthday Card was fun and interesting to make and you could use it for other occasions as well.  I hadn’t used this stamp set and designer paper yet (amazingly!) so I looked in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog for inspiration.  This card is my take on one of the samples in the catalog!  Can you tell which one?

I wasn’t planning to make it a birthday card and I planned to use one of the greetings in the Rooted in Nature Stamp Set. And this is why you should always check everything in your Stampin’ Up! order when you get it!  I’ve never had this happen before, and honestly, rarely have any problems with my orders.  Rooted in Nature is a two-pack stamp set with so many stamps.  I had only used the tree from the first pack.  Then I opened the second case for the greeting I wanted to use. That sheet of rubber was the same as the stamps in the first case!!  The labels for the stamps were correct and the cover on the case was correct….just the stamps weren’t!  Of course I called Stampin’ Up! and of course, they are sending me a correct set!!  So I had to choose a greeting from another set! And I remembered I needed a birthday card for my nephew!

The card base is Cajun Craze and then there is a layer of the Nature’s Poem Designer Series Paper. Too bad it doesn’t show up more!  I should have made the top layer a little smaller! I chose Shimmery White Cardstock for the stamping because I knew I would be doing some watercoloring in the background and Shimmery White holds up to the water. Regular Whisper White Cardstock is likely to pill or get rough from the water.

I stamped the tree with Mossy Meadow Ink, trying not to get the tree trunk inked up and then used a Soft Suede Marker to color directly on the rubber for the tree trunk. Sometimes I stamped directly but usually I stamped off once or even twice.  Then I stamped one tree and die cut with the Nature’s Roots Framelits Dies.  It is adhered with  Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop it up.

Before adhering the tree, I watercolored the background with some Balmy Blue Ink and Soft Suede for the ground.  I used my Aqua Painter and just tiny bits of ink in the lids of the ink pads. So fun!

For the greeting, I chose a birthday greeting in the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set because it was the right size for the space.  It is die cut with a Layering Oval Die and layered on a piece of Tranquil Tide cardstock die cut with a scalloped oval die in the same set. For a little extra, I cut a small piece of the 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon to go under the greeting.

This card shows that even though what you thought you had planned to make, various factors, including maybe your creativity, may change that!  In this case, partly my own idea of stamping more trees than the sample in the catalog and then not having the greeting I thought I was going to use changed the original idea of the card!  But now I have a birthday card for my nephew that I might not have had otherwise! (Also a good idea to check your birthday book of dates before the middle of the month to see what birthdays are coming up!)

Remember, Bonus Days are going on, so if you were interested in the Rooted in Nature Bundle of stamps and dies, you would save 10% with the Bundle and also get a $5 coupon code to use with Stampin’ Up! in September (when the Holiday Catalog goes live!)   This has been a very popular Bundle, I’m just slow in getting around to using it! You can make many cards like this Rooted in Nature Masculine Birthday Card.

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Last Minute Father’s Day Card Ideas for Dads

Fathers day. Hands of dad holding greeting card

Happy Father’s Day to the wonderful dads out there…….the dads of our own kids and our own fathers and grandfathers!

If you need some last minute Father’s Day card ideas today, you might want to check out my blog post from a year or two ago with some of my past ideas HERE.

If you are in a big hurry, if you have a stamp with a tree (like Lovely As a Tree or Sheltering Tree) you can make a nice Father’s Day card.  Or some stars or hearts or an old alphabet stamp set to spell Dad……lots of ideas you can make in a hurry.

Enjoy your Father’s Day Sunday!

Tailored Tag Punch Father’s Day Wood Tile Card

Tailored Tag Punch Father's Day Wood Tile Card

If you need a Father’s Day card on Sunday and you have the Tailored Tag Punch, you can make a fun card like this Tailored Tag Punch Father’s Day Wood Tile Card.  I don’t know who thought of this idea of using the Tailored Tag Punch like this, but it is perfect for a Father’s Day card or any masculine card.

The card base is Early Espresso but the pieces are also layered on a piece of Early Espresso. I used the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack for the paper punched with the Tailored Tag Punch to make the “wood tiles”.  You can start anywhere placing the punched pieces.  Just leave a little bit of space in between each of them to form your pattern.  For the very small spaces around the edges, you can just punch an end in the punch and glue onto the Early Espresso piece.  It’s easiest if you let the pieces hang off the edge and trim them later when placing them so you don’t have to cut smaller pieces.

Tailored Tag Punch Father's Day Card Assembly

Choose the pieces so they contrast or whatever effect you are going for.  I just chose different shades of the wood colored paper and kind of balanced them out.

For the greeting, I stamped the banner from Thoughtful Banners and then added the words, slightly curved, onto the block.  Luckily, they just fit!  When I punched the banner, stamped on Whisper White, it left a fair amount of white space, so I trimmed that off, which narrowed the banner, then I could punch out an Early Espresso banner on which to layer the stamped banner. It still needed something, so I grabbed a piece of 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon which I loosened up a bit by pulling off the two outer large threads.  It just adds a little texture to the card.

With the Tailored Tag Punch you could make a card with a bowtie like this one!

You could use other cardstock or other papers for the tiling. Let your imagination go! And change the greeting for whatever occasion.  But if you need a Father’s Day card idea, try this Tailored Tag Punch Father’s Day Wood Tile Card.

Did You Make a Father’s Day Card Yet?

Bubble Over Bottle Father's Day Card

Did you make a card for Father’s Day yet?  Father’s Day is Sunday, June 17th!  Although masculine cards seem to be a bit more difficult to make, I think there are actually lots of ideas to use with the products in the Stampin’ Up! Catalog now.  I had several different ideas I planned to try for a Father’s Day card, but once I looked in our inspiration book – the Stampin’ Up! Catalog – I found two ideas that I decided to combine!  Look on page 56 at the top.

I was thinking of using the Bubble Over Photopolymer Stamp Set for my husband’s card and making the bottle look like a beer bottle since he likes to try different kinds/flavors of beer.  When I looked in the catalog at the page with that stamp set,  I saw the sample on page 56 plus the actual Father’s Day card made by using stamps from the Thoughtful Banners Stamp Set.  This sample actually shows that you don’t need a “Father’s Day stamp set” to make a Father’s Day card!  I thought it was clever how they stamped a lot of words on the piece of cardstock from that stamp set.  You could choose the words that describe the man you are making the card for or you could even just stamp “Father’s Day” all up and down the paper.

Thoughtful Banners Words on a Stamping Block

To make my card, I chose Soft Suede for the card base and used a piece of the Nature’s Poem Designer Series Paper for the layer.  The bottle is stamped with the new Mango Melody ink on Whisper White and die cut with the Bottles & Bubbles Framelits Dies. I stamped the bottle a second time in Crumb Cake Ink, just the middle, so I could cut out that center section and adhere it to the bottle. For a decoration for the bottle (rather than a label) I stamped in Cajun Craze ink and punched with the 3/4″ circle punch the star stamp.

The Crumb Cake cardstock is stamped with a whole bunch of stamps on the acrylic block! I just chose words from the Thoughtful Banners Stamp Set that would be appropriate for a Father’s Day card. I tied a piece of the 1/4″ Copper Trim ribbon around the stamped piece, tied on another piece in a knot, and frayed the ends a little.

Bubble Over Bottle Father's Day Card Closeup

For the greeting I stamped the banner with the Thoughtful Banners stamp set and punched out with the Duet Banner Punch. Since I was using the sample in the catalog as an example, I punched out the Crumb Cake cardstock with the Tailored Tag Punch and stamped the extra words on it above and below the banner.

The greeting and the bottle are popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.  Don’t forget about these minis because they are very handy on small pieces.

Here’s another idea for a card, one that I made my husband last year using the ever-classic Lovely As a Tree Stamp Set.

If you start early on a Father’s Day card, you can come up with more than one idea and choose which one will be best! Sunday will be here before we know it!  Time to make a Father’s Day Card!

Make Your Own Soda Pop Bottle Greeting Cards and Projects

Make your own soda pop bottle greeting cards and projects with the fun Bubble Over Photopolymer Bundle from Stampin’ Up! This Bundle comes with the Bubble Over Stamp Set and the Bottles & Bubbles Framelits Dies together saving you 10%! Add a little more to your order and you can earn the Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper FREE during Sale-A-Bration!

If you are new to Stampin’ Up!, Sale-A-Bration is the annual promotion, a favorite of everyone’s, where you can earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product with every $50 purchase! This year Stampin’ Up! has added a $100 choice or two as well! And there are other benefits as well, like an extra $25 in Stampin’ Rewards with a $250 or more order, and a chance to earn two FREE stamp sets if you decide to join Stampin’ Up! as a Demonstrator!

This Bubble Over Bundle is of particular interest to me because I’d always heard my dad talk about when his father owned a “soda factory” in the small Illinois town where he grew up. They would deliver “sodie” (as I sometimes heard it called) to various school picnics, homecomings, etc. around the area. I’m not really sure how else it was sold. My dad enjoyed sometimes getting to drive the delivery truck (even though he was underage to be licensed at the time, but back in those days I doubt it mattered!). It turns out it was my great-grandfather who started this soda bottling works. I’d always heard my grandpa invented a certain flavor soda that everyone liked, although I don’t recall ever having any.

Amazingly, through a Facebook group about this town, I discovered that people were collecting and selling these bottles on Ebay!  In fact, there are plenty of bottle collectors and bottle cap collectors out there! Since I have discovered this, I have purchased several different glass soda bottles on Ebay, some with my great-grandfather’s name on them, some with my grandfather’s name.  I even found a photo of the inside of the bottling works and several of decorated cars in homecoming parades advertising the company! It is just so amazing to me that I have found these treasures that are part of my family history! If only I could tell my dad and grandparents!!!

You can make lots of cute cards and other projects with this Bubble Over Bundle and the FREE Sale-A-Bration paper, Bubbles & Fizz! Wouldn’t these be fun card ideas for teenagers?  And certainly the bottles might hold something other than soda!!  The bottles can be embossed with clear embossing powder to look like shiny glass.  The bottles can be die cut out of vellum cardstock to look like glass or frosted bottles.  These products would also make great birthday, congratulations, and celebratory cards and gifts!  Lots of creative ideas!

Watch and enjoy the Stampin’ Up! video above, and be inspired to make your own soda pop bottle greeting cards and other projects!

Father’s Day Card Oval Window Using Lovely As a Tree

Father's Day Card Oval Window Lovely As a Tree

Here’s my idea for a Father’s Day card using stamps that you may already have, a Father’s Day Card with an oval window using Lovely As a Tree.  Since Lovely As a Tree has been around “forever” in Stampin’ Up! and I hope it never retires, I thought it could be one stamp set lots of you have and could use to make a Father’s Day card since Father’s Day is sneaking up so fast! Father’s Day is next Sunday, June 18th! I thought we just started June!

On this card, one new product I used was the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack. It is layered on the front on top of Chocolate Chip Cardstock.  If you don’t have this paper, you can leave it plain or use an embossing folder or whatever you like.

Before I die cut the oval with the largest oval in the Layering Ovals Framelits DiesI stamped the inside and watercolored the trees with my Aqua Painter and ink inside the lids of my ink pads (several greens and a touch of yellow).  I adhered this piece inside my card, then die cut an oval out of scrap paper, laid it over the trees on the inside, put a small piece of Snail Adhesive on the top of the scrap and closed the card so that the scrap oval would be attached to the inside front of the card.  In this way, I could place the oval die exactly where I wanted the window to be on the front of the card to showcase the trees on the inside of the card, and then I die cut that oval.

The greeting is from one of my favorite sets, Teeny Tiny Wishes. It’s just stamped on a scrap strip of Very Vanilla and I cut the little banner ends with my Paper Snips.

Here is the inside of the card.  Don’t worry about perfect watercoloring and don’t fuss too much or the paper will pill or the brown ink on the trees might smear.  Just apply some color as if you were an artist!  Just blob some down here and there, not totally solid, not too much.  And I used some Soft Sky for a bit of sky color.

Father's Day Card Inside With Lovely As a Tree

Now as I was uploading my photos for this blog post, I realized I had already made a very similar card!  Check it out in THIS BLOG POST!  They say “Great minds think alike.”  Maybe the same mind thinks alike!  The cards are basically the same but have some differences, so choose whichever one you like!

Don’t delay in making a Father’s Day card for the father (or husband) or special man in your life! Lovely As a Tree has always been a classic stamp set to use for masculine cards or really any kind of card!  If you don’t already own it, you might want to add it to your order of brand new products!

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Thinking of You Oval Window Card

Thinking of You Oval Window Card

This Thinking of You Oval Window Card could be used for many occasions, not just “thinking of you”. We often are looking for a masculine card, which this one could be categorized under, but it could be for anyone for any occasion.

However, since we are only two days away from the Stampin’ Up! Catalog changeover, I wanted to use a bit of old and a bit of new to make this card!  And what could be better for “old” than the classic Lovely As a Tree Stamp Set! If you are new to Stampin’ Up!, you might not realize how long Lovely As a Tree has been in the catalog! It’s been there as long as I’ve been a Demonstrator and that’s getting to be pretty long! It will be a dark stamping day if they ever retire this stamp set!  It’s not referred to as “classic” for nothing because it just is SO versatile, and that’s what we love with our stamp sets, ones that can be used for many types of cards or projects. I’ve made Christmas cards with it (one of my favorite easy cards ever!), sympathy, Father’s Day, birthday, you name it.

For the inside of this card, I stamped the trees with Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White Cardstock and then colored in the leaves and grass with Sponge Daubers and three colors of green ink (Lemon Lime Twist, Old Olive, and Pear Pizzazz).  If you don’t have the Sponge Daubers, use a piece of a Stamping Sponge or the Aqua Painter. For the sky, I did the same with Soft Sky ink.  The coloring is not meant to be perfect as you can see, but in the end, it all looks good!  I left a bit of white at the bottom for signing the card.  If you wanted to write a note inside, I think you would have to do it on the back of the card or enclose a written letter in the envelope with the card. (Wow!  A letter!  How nice would that be to receive?!)

The card base is Crumb Cake die cut with the largest Layering Ovals Framelits Dies. For “something new” (almost like a wedding!) I used the upcoming Colorful Seasons Stamp Set and the coordinating Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies.  When the new catalog begins June 1st, you will be able to purchase the stamp set and dies as a Bundle and save 10%.  And from the samples I have seen from Demonstrators during our preorder period here in May, I think you will WANT to have this set!  I LOVE the Andirondack chair and the other lounge chair in the set. Plus there are images and dies to make projects for all four seasons. I die cut this chair out of the new Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack, a new package of papers you will want to have right away! The card still needed a little something, so I die cut some leaves and stamped with the larger stamp in the set to get the leaf veins. The greeting is in the set.

In case you were wondering, here is one of my favorite and easiest Christmas cards I have ever made! Click HERE to see my card made with Lovely As a Tree and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter!  Some of my customers have also copied and sent this card at Christmas time, too!  It’s just that easy and classic!

Remember, you have today and tomorrow to shop the current Stampin’ Up! Catalog and DON’T FORGET the Occasions Catalog!!!

I hope you were inspired by my old and new mix to make this Thinking of You Oval Window Card! Lovely As a Tree is NOT retiring, so you can order it along with your new products if you like.

Ways to Use the Stampin’ Up! Owl Punch

Owl Punch for a Baby Card

There are so many ways to use the Owl Punch by Stampin’ Up! and for those reasons I really hate to see the Owl Punch on the Retiring Products list. In looking back, I see that it has been around for many years, but the punch is so versatile I cannot believe that we will not have it available soon.  If you do not already own the Owl Punch, I would urge you to grab one before they are gone. I’m sure most serious stampers already have one, but if you are new, you may not be famiiar with all the creativity this one punch affords.

The baby card I have posted above has been one of my most popular cards! All I did was punch out the portion on the Owl Builder Punch that would be the chest area of the owl. Yes, you can make baby clothes out of this piece of the Owl Punch! Click the link or the card photo above to go to the blog post for more information.

Owl Punch Anniversary Card

Here’s an anniversary card I made using the Owl Punch to make a couple of loving owls in silhouette! And I can’t tell you how many times I have punched those little hearts to use on various cards and projects!

Owl Punch Monsters Birthday Card

The Owl Punch can also be used to make monsters for a birthday card! Just add some arms and scary faces!  Click the link or the photo to go to my blog post for details.

If you have made a great project with the Owl Punch, click the “Leave a Reply” button at the top of this post and leave a comment! I’d love to hear!

These are just a few examples of ways to use the retiring Owl Builder Punch, and I can’t begin to tell you about all the creative ideas I have seen out there using the Owl Punch.  Do a search online and you will find them.  If you are so inspired, be sure to purchase the Owl Punch on the Retiring List before it goes away May 31.

Stampin' Up! Owl Builder Punch

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Baseball Opening Day Card For Baseball Fans

Baseball Opening Day Card for Baseball FansHooray! Today is Opening Day for Houston Astros Baseball here in Houston, Texas! Here is an opening day baseball card for baseball fans nationwide, no matter what day your Opening Day is on. Any time I think about baseball, it takes me back to so many memories, and the sounds remind me of summer time during my childhood.  The first baseball game I ever went to was with Girl Scouts and I wasn’t even that excited about going.  My mother, a baseball fan, told me it would be fun and that she loved the hotdogs at the ballpark. Maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but in my memory, the best hotdog I ever had in my life was at that ballpark at my first baseball game! That game was at the old Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, long gone now. Later, Busch Stadium was built and that was where I attended the rest of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball games. Now there’s another new stadium in St. Louis!

My family didn’t attend many baseball games at all, we probably didn’t have the money to spend at that time, and my dad wasn’t that big of a sports fan to say the least, although he thought baseball was okay. Being a baseball fan really came from my mother’s side of the family, especially my grandpa. One time when his eyesight was failing, he said he would buy the tickets if a family friend (huge baseball fan!) would drive him and us kids to the game. We had field boxes that night so he could sit as close as possible to see! Schools often gave free baseball tickets if you got “straight A’s” and sometimes my brother or I earned those and we got to go to the game. When I was in 6th grade, I got in trouble for bringing my transistor radio to school and loaning it to a classmate to listen to a Cardinals World Series game during class. She had the earplug in with the wire underneath her sweater but we still got  caught!

After my husband and I moved to Houston, one of the first things I wanted to do was go to a ballgame at the Astrodome! Back when it was new, my family visited Houston and we went on the Astrodome tour, something I loved and still remember, and how I wished I would have bought a square of the AstroTurf in the gift shop I think for a dollar! When my husband and I went to our first game at the Astrodome, I remember even dressing up a bit because I thought going to the Astrodome was a special experience. Now, of course, the Houston Astros have a newer stadium, but I still like seeing the Astrodome, dwarfed by the big new football stadium!

So for Opening Day, I made this baseball card.  You can copy it or be inspired by it to make one to send to your favorite baseball fan! Click here to see a class valentine I designed for a boy who is a big baseball fan.  The card base is Night of Navy with a little strip from the Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper.  You wouldn’t think this paper had anything to do with baseball, but when I saw the white with blue stripes pattern, it reminded me of the pinstriped uniforms some baseball teams wear.  The “hooray” is from the Watercolor Words Stamp Set, which I love.  The baseball is die cut with the Layering Circle Framelits Dies and the faux stitching is made with a Paper Pumpkin stamp. The stars I found in my box of scraps already die cut from Gold Glimmer Paper. I added a Real Red layer on the front to help everything stand out.

The Stampin’ Up! Retirement List comes out a week from today!  The only thing we know is that the In Colors from 2015 will be retiring so if you want any of those colors or coordinating products and especially the reinkers, I suggest you grab them now while they are available because they could go fast once the list comes out!

Enjoy baseball’s opening day by making a card for a baseball fan!

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Super Bowl 2017 Card With Punch Art Football Helmets

Super Bowl 2017 Card With Punch Art Football Helmets

Super Bowl LI is almost here, although for those of us living in Houston, Texas it IS here! Time to celebrate with a card for Super Bowl 2017 Card With Punch Art Football Helmets. I wanted something to commemorate this big event for our city, so here is a card celebrating the best in football here in Houston!  The greeting from the Watercolor Words Photopolymer Stamp Set expresses it perfectly!

The city has been spruced up for the Super Bowl, and the George R. Brown Convention  downtown and Discovery Green, a park outside the convention center, have been transformed for many events held pre-Super Bowl this week. There are games, parties, celebrity sightings, concerts, shows and more and that’s all before the championship game even starts!

To make my Super Bowl card, I used a Soft Suede card base with a layer of Emerald Envy on top. Before I adhered the green piece, I scored it with lines about 3/4″ apart with my Simply Scored scoring board  to represent the football field with the yardage marks. Then I stamped the greeting with the Watercolor Words stamp set I mentioned.

For the football helmets, made with punches, I punched a circle with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch. Then I used a 1 1/4″ Circle Punch  to punch the indentation for the front of the helmet and the 1/2″ Circle Punch for the little indentation. To make the face guard I used a retired triangle punch. I also used my retired Crop-A-Dile tool to punch the little black circle on both helmets and a retired small star punch for the stars.  Just use whatever you may have! Or you can just snip parts by hand.

It is fun having stamping and papercrafting supplies on hand for commemorating these special events and occasions going on, just for fun. But this card isn’t just for the Super Bowl in Houston, you could make something like this for a man’s birthday. As we have discussed before, it often is difficult to come up with a masculine card…..not that this couldn’t be a card for a woman or a girl.

If you need supplies to make fun cards like this Super Bowl 2017 Card With Punch Art Football Helmets, get the best at Stampin’ Up! 

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Easy Masculine Birthday Card to Make

Easy Masculine Birthday Card with Serene SceneryFor some reason, we all seem to find it difficult to make a card for the men in our lives, but here is an easy masculine birthday card to make. I think often in the whole crafting world, there is a lot for women but not so much for men. But if we look carefully and think outside the box creatively and often with the help of Stampin’ Up!, we can always find something appropriate for any occasion.

Sometimes an idea just pops into my head, and the other day it was to use the Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper Stack. I find that I often get carried away with the seasonal catalogs, like the recent Holiday Catalog and now the spring/summer Occasions Catalog, and forget all the great products in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. I paged through the stack of designer paper and choose the pattern that looks like wood strips (it would make a pretty wood floor!) What I wanted to do was make a simple card with designer paper and a bold greeting stamped on the front.

The card base is made with Soft Suede Card Stock, incidentally not one of the coordinating colors with the Serene Scenery paper, but I liked it better with this paper than Crumb Cake. Then I stamped in Early Espresso Ink the birthday greeting from the stamp set Big on Birthdays which is in the Occasions Catalog on page 6. There are so many birthday stamps sets with fabulous greetings to choose from in the Occasions Catalog this year!

To embellish my masculine birthday card, I tied on a piece of 5/8″ Burlap RibbonBurlap is not just for masculine cards and projects at all. It’s a very thin and loose weave ribbon, not big and bulky like you might think of burlap ribbon. It’s very nice and I think something everyone should have in their stash for certain cards and other projects.

Often we don’t show the inside of cards, usually just stamping a greeting or writing a note inside is all that is required and is personal to your recipient. Since I was using Soft Suede, I added a piece of Whisper White cardstock inside, stamped another greeting from the same Big on Birthdays Stamp Set. Since I had a strip of the patterned paper left over, I just added it to the bottom of the inside piece of cardstock. Often it works to turn the paper over and show the pattern on the other side of the paper!

Easy Masculine Birthday Card with Serene Scenery Inside

Put this Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper Stack on your list to order and choose a stamp set you like in the Occasions Catalog for birthdays or whatever occasion you are looking for. If you don’t have lots of cardstock colors, you hecan make an easy decision by choosing the Serene Scenery pack of cardstock which contains Crumb Cake, Pool Party and the Whisper White Thick Cardstock. That will at least get you started! Maybe choose some ribbon or embellishments you like, extra paper, and probably you will get up to $50. Then choose something for FREE from the Sale-A-Bration Brochure!  We always like “free”! You’ll be all set to make some easy masculine birthday cards or other occasions.

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