Masculine Cards

My husband had a birthday this past week and I was looking forward to making a card for him... but what?  I find it so difficult to make a masculine card.  I have flowers and butterflies on my brain so I have to use the other side when making a card for a male.  I love the technique called the Distressed Newsprint.  It gives the card exactly what it needs to look masculine, vintage, etc.  You can use any stamp with this technique.  I'm going to show you one card that is brown all the way through and the other has color.  See which one you like best.


This is the card I made for my husband because he loves airplanes. I cut a piece of newspaper to fit my card.  (later I discovered that I adhered it upside down - oops) and then I used Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink and I Foam Blending Tool and gently rubbed some of the tea dye in different places on the paper to give it some color.  Next, I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink and gently went over the paper but just touched it on the 'veins' of the paper sticking up to give those a darker color.  Then I went around the edge with the vintage photo.  I used Memento Rich Cocoa to sponge around the focal image.  I used Gina K Designs Ivory and Chocolate Brown card stock.  The image and greeting is from Hero Arts Past Times set.  I used Spellbinders Label 13 for the image.  

 So, that's how you distress newspaper, easy huh?  Here are a couple more cards using this technique.  

This card uses a stamp from the same set, Hero Arts Past Times and greeting from Gina K Designs Garden Silhouettes.   I still used the chocolate brown card stock but this time I went around the edge of the ivory card with the tea dye and then the vintage photo with that foam applicator.  I used Gina K chocolate brown ribbon and sponged vintage photo around the image and greeting.  I used the classic square spellbinders nesty.  

I did the same thing here except I used the sailboat and waves from Stampin' Up and the greeting from the Petals and Wings Gina K Designs Stamp TV Kit.  I used Memento Ladybug and Danube Blue for the image and sponged around it with Summer Sky.  I used Spellbinders Labels 1 and a grommet tag.  

See what a difference some color can make?

This is another masculine card I made just using patterned papers.  I made this for someone's Grandpa, sweet huh?  Again, the stamp came from Hero Arts Past Times, the sentiment is computer generated, the ivory and chocolate brown card stock is from Gina K Designs as is the chocolate brown ribbon.  The patterned paper is from Paper Wishes.  I used the classic square spellbinders dies.  I sponged around the image with vintage photo Tim Holtz distress ink.  

I hope you like the newspaper distress technique and will try it.  I'd love to see your creations using this technique and what you use to make masculine cards.  

Thanks for stopping by!!!  Make it a crafty kind of day!!